Saturday, 15 December 2012

Rain Kills the final twice


There are a lot of interesting things going on in cricket these days, such as Russell Domingo becoming the coach of the Proteas T20 squad, Faf du Plessis becoming captain of that squad, a number of new call-ups into the Proteas T20 squad including Henry Davids, Quinton de Kock, Chris Morris and Aaron Phangiso. Let’s not forget the controversy around New Zealand cricket management and Ross Taylor taking a break from cricket. The Momentum 1 Day Cup final looked like it would have been a very interesting game but the weather saw that it would not be played.

The final was scheduled for 14 December between the Lions and the Cobras but it was rained out. The game was then moved to the next day, but it was rained out again. The Cobras and the Lions ended up sharing the trophy. It was a match I was really looking forward to, and I am a bit disappointed there was no completed contest. 

I have to say though that I think Stephen Cook, the Lions captain, was right when he said that neither team deserved to lose. I believe it was a bit strange that the rain caused the abandonment of the same game, on two different days, oh well, next time.



Stephen Cook (30) - Lions Captain and Justin Ontong (32) - Cobras captain. Pictures taken from  espncricinfo.com and supersport.com

Monday, 03 December 2012

Number 1 still, and a look at team selection

The Proteas beat Australia with class by 309 runs, helping them retain their number one test ranking. 


The Proteas after winning the test series against Australia 1 - 0 on the day of Ricky Ponting's international retirement, holding on to their number one ranking. Picture taken from http://sports.ndtv.com

With so  many good players being available for test selection, the choices regarding selection are hard. This is a very good thing. Duminy got injured, so du Plessis played for him, and he played brilliantly. The Proteas have immense depth in batting. Even if Duminy does not play for a long time the squad still includes Elgar, Duplessis and Rudolph to choose from. I think David Miller and Richard Levi deserve a look at for test cricket.



All three of our fast bowlers did well in the last test. However, the Proteas should look at the reserves. Rory Kleinveldt is obviously a good player. However, he didn't impress me when he played in the second test match. Ryan McLaren is also good, but I think the selectors should try find a better bowler than either of these two. I think McLaren should stay as a back-up all rounder in case there is an injury, but it would be nice to have another good fast bowler in reserve, Marchant de Lange perhaps, or Parnell. 

AB Devilliers is doing well with the gloves, but prudently, we still have Thami Tsolekile as back-up. This is perfect. But maybe some work should be done by selectors to look for young keepers who we could call on in the future.

Selecting a spinner has always been hard for South Africa. Between Robin Peterson and Imran Tahir it is hard to pick a favourite. Tahir has done better in domestic cricket but has not done as well as Peterson internationally. For me they are both almost equally good spinners. I think though that because Peterson is better with the bat and in the field, he should play more in tests. Of course, I also think younger spinners should be looked at. Dane Piedt of the Cobras is possibly a future option for SA.