Cricket season

The West Indies only exists for two purposes...the collective of independent islands form the cricket team and their is a University of the West Indies...for everything else they stand by themselves...

The athletic ability enables persons to be good at many sports but poverty is high and money is good if they can make it in basketball in the US...also, , the performances of he team does not lend itself to youngsters flocking to the sport...they will play sport that they can see their elders excelling at and cricket is not currently something they excel at...and each country wants to see people from their area play and there have been boycotts of matches in which their favourites have been omitted...there was a test in the West Indies that SA played in that was boycotted and so the ground was empty...

And it does not help that they are still recovering from Allan Stanford's meddling in cricket as well as a board that places it's own interests above that of players...

Michael Holding is probably seen by the administrators in the West Indies in much the same light as Ray Jennings or Kepler Wessels in South African...they speak (uncomfortable) truths to those in power and so have no role in the sport even thought he contribution they can make and the passion they have for cricket is greater than the collective that run the sports in the two regions...sad indictment and probably the real reason why our cricket is going to get just as messed up as the West Indies' is...

Too many administrators (who are either lawyers and / or politicians) who know nothing about the game are running the game whilst those who have played the game and know the game are sidelined...

So so so true Tnaicker.....

In the test at the Wanderers last week, the protea's brought in Greame Smith as a "batting consultant"... Before the series started, Klusener was named as a consultant (I have not seen him once)... Smith was commentating throughout the game, (I am sure he still got a healthy wage)... Never the less, disregarding them, at once stage while we were batting, the camera's turned to the change rooms.... There were more coaches/consultants/administrators than actual players..... With all those people what has the coach really got to do???? Watch the game and ask the specific "bowling or fielding or batting" coach what he has been doing?????

I had the privilege of watching the cricket live yesterday. It was great to see Stephen Cook finally get an opportunity and then take it. It was absorbing to watch the contrast in batting styles. # being cool, calm and collected where he gets the Poms to change their game i.e. bowling wide outside off and putting 8 fielders in the covers. Our domestic game is weak compared to test cricket but Cook definitely has the skills to make the place his own. Bairstow must be ruing his dropped catches. The best thing about the day however, was the feeling of walking out the ground knowing that whilst we have a long tail, the 2 not outs have real skills and I have a feeling of optimism that Broad, Anderson and Stokes are not going to just turn their arms over and roll us in 10 overs.

Hopefully De Kock can get to a fully deserved ton.... Abbott and Piedt have done really well to stick around with him... Hopefully Piedt and Morkel can hang around with De Kock for another hour or so....

Karma wrote: Hopefully De Kock can get to a fully deserved ton.... Abbott and Piedt have done really well to stick around with him... Hopefully Piedt and Morkel can hang around with De Kock for another hour or so....

Abbott and Piedt did well to hang around...credit to De Kock though...has taken his chances and got an unbeaten century to show for his efforts...average into the 40's now...

As an aside, I took Aus in running at 7/2 when Sharma was accelerating towards his 100...bet looked good for a long while...the Indian batsmen did well and though Dhoni was slow, his 6 sealed the match...you win some, you lose far more !!

Bad luck TNaicker... Was def worth a nibble after last match's choke.....

On today, really happy for De Kock.... I think the morning session tomorrow is going to give the result of the match away.... If England stay strong, Draw written all over it... If we are able to get 3-4 early wickets in the 1st session, we can win this test.....

@Karma...not too concerned as re-cycling profit from the other day !!

I actually hope we don't win this match as it will mean business as usual in 7 months when test matches next played by SA...it will just serve as papering over the cracks when the wall needs to be torn down and rebuilt from top to bottom...

De Villiers needs to go and enjoy the T20 circuits and make his money...Duminy and Bavuma are not test match level and will end up with test averages below 35...even Jonty Rhodes had a test average of just over 35 and he was not deemed anything special as a batsman...De Kock will be found out as technically he plays too far away from his body to be successful at test level...his hand / eye co-ordination is helping him now as he has youth on his side...Philander and Steyn should retire with Morkel to follow in a year or two...don't ever call Morris back as he is not a test bowler...Rabada, Abbott, Viljoen, De Lange and Piedt or Harmer are bowlers for the future and find an all rounder that is currently 21-23 years old and stick with him for +-2 years as that will bring balance to the team that is currently missing...

Enjoy the Big Bash Final tomorrow...Melbourne Stars to win with KP dominating the biggest stages as he always does !! :whistle:

Lol TNaicker..... If you have to go back a few pages ( before Morris made his debut, I said he was not a test player, he was a ODI player), and I totally agree with you....(Although I doubted myself after his 1st batting performance, at the end of the day he was employed as a bowler.........).

I must say, I cannot disagree with what you say, except for De Kock. Yes, he isn't the most correct test player around, but was Adam Gilchrist? (Another keeper that batted 7). He too same mould as Quinton, open in ODI and bat 7 in test.... He was very succesful and often turned a test match in favour of the Aussies in a matter of hours.... At 22 why can't Quinton become that for us???

@Karma...with reference to the De Kock question...from the movie Highlander:"There can be only one !!"...look at the players that came before Gilchrist that created the platform for him to have a dash...he played with a freedom that was amazing when it came off but was no loss if it didn't as Aus were likely well ahead in the game by then...I suspect that De Kock will not have as many opportunities in which the match is set up as it was in the latest inning and when playing properly (tightening up, buckling down and showing some grit) is required, his technique will fail him...with the middle order that precedes De Kock, he will have to do a bail out job too often for his dashing cricket to succeed...

Anyway, we can only speculate...the administrators have their agendas so leave it to them to mess the game up while they sit in their cushy seats in Executive boxes...I don't enjoy watching sport much these days...I have become a bit cynical as one never knows how contrived the result is...if Serena Williams can lose after being a set up and a break up in a Grand Slam semi (was 1/100 in running betting) on course to win the calendar Grand Slam and tie the record for most Grand Slams, then I have little to no faith in the results we see so do not waste my time watching a match wherein the result may already have been pre-determined...

And the questions marks in horse racing are far worse...dodgy riding, changing winning tactics, odd betting patterns, odd dividends after race run as compared to when race closes, etc, etc...so I stay away and I'm a lot better for it...I take the odd sports bet if the odds in running change a lot from start of match but cannot watch a full match...

I support United but I have yet to see a full match played by them this season...guess I have not missed much !! Was at a movie and dinner with the wife and only saw United loss to Southampton last night when we got home...so missed nothing but gained a lot from time out...

Most exciting event today will be Big Bash final...will see how match progresses and then have a small dip if odds change too much from when match starts...enjoy...

KP playing a blinder...50 not put off 25 balls...keeping Stars in the game...and a competitive total...

De Kock will become a world class bat.wk. Not in the class of Gilchrist but close. He is still only a kid so give him time. Look at his record in the one dayers already. 8 hundreds and 5 50s in not many ODIs. AB must take his sarnies and duck. He was all mouth before the tests and he has scored 2 ducks in three knocks. Radaba as i stated in an earlier post will get 500 wickets in his career. I think i was wrong. He will get 600.

The SA selectors all need the sack. How they left out Cook until this match proves that they are not the right people for the job. England have picked 12 players for the 4 tests. How many have SA picked? at a guess 17, thats why England have outplayed them.