Alviro – A player of the past

Alviro Petersen (34) recently announced his decision to retire from international cricket. This will come into effect from 01 April. The Proteas opening batsman made his Test match debut for South Africa in February 2010, in India. He scored 100 in his first innings.

Alviro Petersen did the right thing by retiring from international cricket now. Photo taken from www.allthingsjabu.co.za

For me, Petersen joined the national side when we were struggling to find good opening batsmen. He did well. His respectable performances seemed like an answer to our need. Establishing himself as a reliable Test opener, he attacked from early on in his innings, slowed down later, and often finished on a good score.

But as with every cricketer, as the years went on he struggled more and more to turn out the good performances we saw from him in the past. The inevitable effect of time influenced his career, and his batting average dropped to less than 40. Then it dropped to the mid thirties, where it will probably stay forever.

Do not misunderstand me. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Alviro Petersen open the batting for South Africa. He displayed great technique and played with confidence. He also played very well for the bizhub Highveld Lions, the domestic cricket team in Johannesburg. I will miss Petersen. But it is time for him to go.

Even the greats Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar had to retire when they could not go on. It is part of life. The spirit may endure but the body and mind will eventually fail. Farewell Alviro Peterson and thanks for five years of good cricket.

Below are Alviro Petersen's statistics as of 12 January 2015:

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	36	64	4	2093	182	34.88	4044	51.75	5	8	256	12	31	0
ODIs	21	19	1	504	80	28.00	610	82.62	0	4	54	3	5	0
T20Is	2	2	0	14	8	7.00	19	73.68	0	0	1	0	1	0
First-class	188	330	17	12191	210	38.94			35	50			148	0
List A	168	161	11	5083	145*	33.88			7	31			64	0
Twenty20	109	103	17	2445	84*	28.43	2005	121.94	0	16	231	59	53	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	36	7	114	62	1	1/2	1/2	62.00	3.26	114.0	0	0	0
ODIs	21	1	6	7	0	-	-	-	7.00	-	0	0	0
T20Is	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
First-class	188		1582	809	16	3/58		50.56	3.06	98.8	0	0	0
List A	168		394	361	8	2/48	2/48	45.12	5.49	49.2	0	0	0
Twenty20	109	19	199	215	9	1/4	1/4	23.88	6.48	22.1	0	0	0

What has happened to Australia?

The Proteas' next series is three weeks away (in SRI: 5 ODIs, 3 T20Is). Even more prevalent though is the question: what has happened to Australia?

It is in disarray. The cricket team of course, not the country.

George Bailey (30) was run out for 4 against SRI in this ICC Champions Trophy. Image taken from: http://www.cricket.com.au/images/australian-men

When I was growing up I watched Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden fiercely dominate any bowling attack they played against. Now there is only Shane Watson and Michael Clarke.

When I was young I admired the sheer brilliance of Glenn McGrath, the tenacity of Brett Lee and the wit of Shane Warne. Now there is only Mitchell Starc and the tired Mitchell Johnson.

What has happened?

Can you just blame poor succession planning?

Was it perhaps just a coincidence that the next generation of Australian cricketers could not live up to the past one? Was it is just life, just something that happens, that the Australian cricket team has lost quality over time?

I am sure they have not always been good. I think every country has its good periods and bad ones.

But the fact that Australia is going through one of its least successful periods now, that it has just sacked their coach Mickey Arthur and replaced him with Darren Lehmann and that it is facing discipline issues leaves me wondering if something is causing the country's cricket to deteriorate.

Don't get me wrong, Australia is still decent. But compared to how they used to be...

If there is something hurting Australian cricket it may go deeper than the players. Officials, bureaucracy, politics, the food they eat, I don't know. Something.

For the champions to get knocked out in the group stage, and not only that but be last in the group and leave with only one point in three games thanks to a no-result against NZ, something must have gone wrong.

Michael Hussey retired from international cricket last December, the last great Australian batsman I think, apart from Michael Clarke, at least as far as I can tell for a while.

As a rule in South Africa, that we can't support Australia and should even despise them, I grew up anti-Ausie. However it was a love-dislike relationship. I loved to dislike Australia. Things have changed now for two reasons: as a journalist I try to play down my personal preferences in everything and I just feel sorry for Australia. They were our arch-nemesis. A bit like Vageta was to Goku, so Australia was to us. The 'villain' was stronger than the 'hero' for ages until the villain joined the good guys. Then he became undoubtedly weaker than the 'hero'.

Why can't Australia get better again?

Ponting retiring

What can you say about the retirement of Ricky Ponting. Ex-Australian captain in Tests and ODIs and legend with the bat and in the field. He who once led one of the best cricket teams in history.

There is not much to say. He was brilliant as a captain, a batsman and a fielder. He led Australia to numerous wins as the best team in tests and ODIs for many years. He captained Australia in their 2003 and 2007 world cup victories. He was Australia's most successful captain, being the skipper in 48 victorious test and 164 one-day matches.

For me Ponting, Kallis and Tendulkar make up the Big Three in our age of cricket batsmen. In terms of lengthy and successful batting careers, they are the best. Of course Ponting had to retire one day, but it is still strange to think about what Australian cricket would be like without him.

I take my hat off to him. He served Australian cricket for so long and with such vigour. Well done Ricky Ponting. I hope he, his wife and two daughters can benefit from the time he has available after finishing with Tasmania in a few months.

Ricky Ponting (37 years old). Picture taken from http://www.bolegaindia.com

Was he Australia's greatest ever cricketer? What do you think?