SA vs Australia – the ultimate contest

Every South African cricket lover knows that the matches between South Africa and Australia are either the best or worst ones to watch. There is no middle ground, no run-in-the-mill "let me see what else is on TV because this is so boring" kind of match. Games between these proud, sports-obsessed nations are always exciting and memorable. 

You may remember watching for hours with eyes transfixed on the screen, ignoring your tummy moaning for food, as JP Duminy (166) and Dale Steyn (76) put on a ninth-wicket partnership of 180 to turn the fortunes of a Test match in Melbourne in 2008. Or you may remember the time Allan Donald dropped his bat and was run out in the 1999 Cricket World Cup semi-final. 

The contest between SA and Australia has always been heated. Here Proteas batsman Hashim Amla plays a ball from Australian bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile. Photo taken from www1.skysports.com

Yes I am bringing to attention the nightmare of how we tied with Australia but did not progress in the world cup because the Aussies finished higher in the Super Sixes stage, all because Donald dropped his bat and did not start running early enough to score us the winning run. Indeed, the ferocity of the contest between the nations goes back to the famous 1969-70 tour in SA, which SA won 4–0, through the likes of Barry Richards and Graeme Pollock.

With the current One Day International (ODI) series between the teams at 2–1 to Australia with two matches to go, we can expect the rest of the series to be exhilarating. The last two games will be played on 21 and 23 November. The current series includes mini-contests: Dale Steyn (SA) and Mitchell Johnson (AUS) will be gunning for the unofficial title of best bowler in the series, by taking the most wickets. 

AB de Villiers will look to score many runs against Australia in the current ODI series.

This while Glenn Maxwell (AUS) and David Miller (SA), who play together for Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL), will want to see who finishes with more runs and the highest strike rate. India are currently rated the best ODI team in the world by the International Cricket Council (ICC), with 117 points. SA are second with 115 points, and Australia are third with 114 points. A series win for either the Proteas or the Aussies could put the team at the top of the table.

Expiration date of players (Kallis, Jayawardene and de Kock)

Quinton de Kock (21) is a superb young batsman. How many other young cricketers do not receive chances because older players are given positions ahead of them? Photo from CricInfo.

It was nice to see the Proteas beat Sri Lanka in a One Day International series in Sri Lanka for the first time. South Africa won the series 2–1 on 12 July thanks to centuries by Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers in the deciding match. SA posted 339–5, their highest ODI score against Sri Lanka, and de Kock's 128 was the highest ODI score by a South African batsman against Sri Lanka. In response, Sri Lanka could only muster 257 all out.

But the series highlighted a prevailing issue: the expiration date of players.

Jacques Kallis (38 years old) again failed in a series, scoring 0, 1 and 4 (average of 1.67). At least he can say his scores were increasing. Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka's veteran/legend also struggled with scores of 10, 48 and 2 (average of 20). Whereas South Africa's upcoming batsman Quinton de Kock (21 years old) scored 27, 4 and 128 (average of 53).

Jacques Kallis is a true servant of South African cricket. But perhaps it is time for him to retire. Photo from www.dailymail.co.uk

Kallis and Jayawardene have performed heroically for their countries since 1995 and 1997 respectively. Kallis is SA's best ever all-rounder and leading run scorer in Tests and ODIs. Kallis retired from Test cricket at the beginning of this year, and Jayawardene retired from International T20s at the end of the T20 World Cup.

But if both these legends keep failing, no past success should allow them to keep their positions.

Mahela Jayawardene. Photo from http://sports.ndtv.com

Incomparable conclusion

I have been away from the blog due to surgery on my wrist, a bone sticking out where it is not supposed to, coupled with a ganglion (two cists in the wrist), were promptly removed. I am now recovering.

The Proteas' failure against Australia was made up for in our success so far in the T20 World Cup. The four remaining teams should provide an awesome conclusion to the tournament.

India and West Indies have both won T20 World Cups and Sri Lanka is the second best T20 International team in the world, according to ICC rankings (http://www.icc-cricket.com/team-rankings/t20i). Yet against all odds, South Africa, with its questionable limited overs squad and performances, finds itself in the semis.

The semi-final fixtures: 
Sri Lanka vs West Indies, 03 April, 15:00
India vs South Africa, 04 April, 15:00

The final will be held on 06 April at 15:00 and all these games will be played in Mirpur, Bangladesh.

India has classy players. MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli can both hit the ball from Bangladesh to Australia with little effort and Ravichandran Ashwin takes wickets while keeping economical.

West Indies, though weaker in Test matches, is more dangerous the shorter the format is. Needless to say teams must watch out for Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard, who can both hit the ball to the moon with no effort. Amid the team's mediocre bowling lineup stands Sunil Narine, who is also one of the best spinners in T20s.

Sri Lanka has the legends Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene (who are both retiring from T20 Internationals after the tournament), but Angelo Mathews is easily one of the best all-rounders in the world.

Last, but hopefully the winners, South Africa's AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Imran Tahir are key.
Interestingly JP Duminy is doing very well for us. But I think if we are to win our most destructive batsman needs to have a good innings. If Quinton de Kock does well at the start of the innings it should motivate the rest of the team to perform really well.

South Africa will hope Quinton de Kock (21) will perform well near the end of the T20 World Cup. Image taken from http://sports.howzit.msn.com/

Three players who should not be in SA squad

Whenever a Proteas squad is announced I consider whether we have selected the best squad out of what is available. Usually I only think one or two changes should have been made, but now I am unhappy with the selection.

The Proteas squad to play Australia in the three tests starting on Wednesday in Centurion:

Graeme Smith (captain), Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Rory Kleinveldt, Ryan McLaren, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Alviro Petersen, Robbie Peterson, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, and Thami Tsolekile.

For me three of these players should not be in the test squad.

Thami Tsolekile (33)

Tsolekile bats in the lower order for the Lions. Image taken from http://www.iol.co.za/.

While he is a good wicketkeeper, he is old and is an average if not poor batsman.
Wicketkeeping is very important in cricket because the guy behind the stumps has to be able to catch a ball and whip the bails off quickly if need be. 
But a guy who is at least decent at that, while being able to bat well, is a better option.
Mark Boucher was a world-class wicketkeeper but also a finisher with the bat. 
Sangakarra, Gilchrist and Prior were also good wicketkeeper-batsmen.
The best sides always had wicketkeepers who could bat a little, and Tsolekile's first-class average of 30.26 is not impressive.

I think Quinton de Kock would have been a better choice. 

Rory Kleinveldt (30)

I have seen him bowl, get hit for a few boundaries, and still not change his line and length. Image taken from http://www.thebounce.co.za/.

To be brutally honest, he is the worst bowler I have seen bowl for SA since Roger Telemachus.
He has average speed, little movement and petty strategy.
He can bat a little but otherwise is a mediocre player.
Hi test bowling average is 42.20 and in ODIs it is 37.33. 
His first-class bowling average is not even that good (29.09).

Abbott should be in the squad instead of Kleinveldt.

Wayne Parnell (24)

To his advantage Parnell is a left arm seamer. But just because you are left handed does not mean you should be selected. Image taken from http://www.ghkothari.com/. 

Parnell and Ryan McLaren are the allrounders selected to replace Kallis.
I understand that our batting is deep with Philander and Peterson so perhaps an allrounder will ensure all bowlers have breaks while a strong batting order is maintained.
Nevertheless the choice to replace Kallis with an allrounder is illogical to me.
With Duminy helping the bowlers, we can afford to have seven good batsmen.

They should bring in de Kock or Elgar at seven instead, but if the Proteas insist on playing an allrounder, they should play McLaren instead of Parnell. 
McLaren is better in both departments.
Parnell should be replaced with de Kock or Stiaan van Zyl; or McLaren if an allrounder is the preferred option.

There are also three T20s after the three tests.

Kallis - What he means to me

I had prepared a long blog post about Jacques Kallis, who recently retired from test cricket.

It was about how I believe we judge people by their deeds and character, and how I think you can judge Jacques Kallis by his. 

However, he kept things simple, even his farewell.

Jacques Kallis (38) scored a century in his final test innings, taking him to third in the highest all-time run scorers list in tests. Image taken from http://www.cricketdawn.com/.

So I will briefly tell you what Jacques Kallis means to me, Nicholas Zaal.

Jacques Kallis showed that a nation like mine is capable of dominating in a certain field, forgive the pun. Like Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, Kallis gave his nation hope that they can be as good, if not better, than the countries which were traditionally seen as the best in cricket (England & Australia) - although Lara's nation already dominated world cricket once before him. 

Of course these people were not alone in this, they were assisted by their side-kick contemporary teammates. Tendulkar was assisted by Dravid, Sehwag, Kumble etc. and Lara was assisted by Chanderpaul (one of my favourite batsmen), Gayle and Sarwan. Kallis had Pollock, Ntini, Smith, Gibbs, de Villiers, Amla, Steyn and more.

While Barry Richards, Graeme Pollock, Peter Pollock, Eddie Barlow and Mike Procter did the same for South Africa in the previous century, Kallis took it much further. 

What I am trying to say is that Jacques Kallis has shown me we have tremendous potential in this country. I think that his success in cricket has raised the bar in South African cricket. Our modern batsmen are not content with test averages in the forties or even ODI averages in the thirties (think Amla, de Villiers and Smith). 

Kallis is living proof that we as a nation are as good as any other, and I believe his effort and success is linked to our own country's in cricket. South Africa is the number one test nation, having kept the test mace since we first won it on 1 April 2013, and we look set to retain it for a while.

PS: For those of you who are interested, I have been away from my computer for a while because I have developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in my right hand. I was prohibited from using the computer or playing guitar. It will get better, but I will probably have to have an operation. I am unable to avoid using the computer now with my new job.

The irrationality factor of sport

The three match ODI series between South Africa and India was supposed to be one of the most competitive this year. 
It was not.

South Africa dominated India in the first two ODIs and scored 301/8 in the third before rain prevented a result. SA won the series 2-0. In all three games Quinton de Kock (20) scored a century. He received man of the series for this.  

Quinton de Kock (20) scored his first century of the series in pink. sports.ndtv.com aptly gave this photo the caption: "Baby-faced 'pink panther' Quinton de Kock takes Proteas to win in 1st ODI". Image taken from sports.ndtv.com.

This is why I love sport: Things happen that shouldn't.

Wigan beat Chelsea last season (football), Ireland nearly beat New Zealand this year (rugby), football players are judged to he worthy of extreme prices but profusely fail to live up to their designated values, and a 20 year old scores three consecutive centuries against the world number one ODI side (cricket).

These are all unpredictable occurrences that defy logic. Common sense cannot comprehend these events and has to turn its face away.

For English football fans this picture needs no explanation. For everyone else: A few years before Fernando Torres (29) came to Chelsea he was one of the best strikers in European football. Going to Chelsea, one of the better clubs in England, he received a contract worth 50 million pounds. Since then Torres has not been nearly effective. Image taken from http://www.lfcreds.com/.

In this ODI series the Proteas batsmen actually played spin better than pace, dispatching the spinners all around the ground for numerous fours and sixes. I have never seen South Africans do so well against spinners, and against Indian spinners nogal! India does not just have world-class spinners, they have world-class spinners on the bench, or unselected. Think Ashwin, Jadeja, Mishra, Ojha, Chawla...

India were (and are) the number one ODI team. South Africa are currently tied fourth with Sri Lanka. The demolition of India in the ODI series demonstrates either two things: 

1) India are still very poor away from home and their success in cricket and position in the ICC rankings is primarily due to the abundance of cricket they play at home.
2) The Proteas were simply much better than the Indian team.

Why is it that in sport we see the best lose against the worst and the most unlikely and unpredictable things happen? 

Whatever the reason, this factor makes sport all the more interesting. 

Despite the ODI series going the way it did (illogically), I am still looking forward to the Test series as I think it will be more competitive.

One last thought: the Proteas' dominance of India was predominantly facilitated by the brilliance of Quinton de Kock. Why can't he be placed in the Test squad?

Sachin

In a game where false starts can end your international career before it really gets going.

In a game where media scrutiny and public criticism can smother one's self-confidence to the point of paralysis.

In a game where foul play and match-fixing abound and honesty is unexpected.

One man stood up as a shining symbol.




Image taken from http://htmlgiant.com.

 
Sachin tendulkar (40) stood up to the challenges of cricket and prevailed as a symbol of skill, resilience and integrity.
 

Image taken from http://sportsupdate360.blogspot.com.

Image taken from www.hdwallpapersinn.com.





Image taken from http://tendulkar.co.in.

Sachin Tendulkar is one of the best batsman the world has ever seen. He is the leading run scorer in tests and ODIs. He has scored 15,921 runs in tests at an average of  53.78, including 51 centuries and a best of 248*. He has scored 18,426 runs in ODIs at an average of 44.83, including 49 centuries and a best of 200*.
 
His ODI 200* was scored at the age of 36 against South Africa on 24 February 2010 and was the first ODI double century. Since then Virender Sehwag (219) and Rohit Sharma (209) have passed Tendulkar. 
 
A myriad of Tendulkar records can be seen on his website (http://tendulkar.co.in/) and at http://www.thatscricket.com/india/players/sr-tendulkar.html. My favourite is that he has the record for most number of man of matches and man of series in ODIs and man of matches in world cups; because that shows how superior he is to other players.
 
Tendulkar was just as good away from India. He scored a record 8,705 runs in tests away from home, including a record 29 centuries. He scored 3,630 test runs at an average of 55.00 in Australia.
 
Tendulkar began his career at the age of 16 and was the third youngest player to make a test debut. He then played international cricket for 24 years. As his records show, he was a brilliant batsman. As a bowler Tendulkar also took 46 wickets in tests (ave. 54.17) and 154 wickets in ODIs (ave. 44.48).

Image taken from www.examiner.com.

 

As a person Tendulkar showed integrity and humility right up until his departing speech, thanking and honouring everyone involved in his development in cricket. He began his speech by thanking his father.
 
Cricket South Africa Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said of Tendulkar, "Sachin has been one of the best role models the game of cricket could have ever wished for... we would all love our children to play the game in the same spirit that he does... I would argue there is no better modern cricketer in the complete sense than Sachin Tendulkar."
 
The few controversies Tendulkar was involved in can be found here http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130424/sports-cricket/article/controversies-involving-sachin.

I believe that Virat Kohli will be the next super-batsman, not just for India but for world cricket.