CricketZA

In a quiet court in Pretoria on a cloudy Friday afternoon in Pretoria, Gulam Bodi became the first South African athlete in history to receive a criminal conviction for match-fixing. He has pled guilty to all eight charges brought against him, and to quote him, "The accused pleads to the mercy of the courts. He fully understands the seriousness of his offences and begs the state for forgiveness", was the statement read out in court. Sentencing has not yet been brought down. Bodi, along with Ethy Mbhalati , Thami Tsolekile, Jean Symes, Alviro Petersen, Lonwabo Tsotosbe, and Pume Matshikwe were all suspended from South African cricket operations, following allegations of match fixing during the 2015 RAM Slam T20, with Bodi accused of having been the link between the match-fixers and pros.

Due to the ever expanding international fixture list, it is becoming more and more difficult to squeeze full tours in, so international teams have taken to completing tours in pieces. Not the worst idea, but it does mean we are left with things like seemingly arbitrary one-week tours, over three games, which have no discernible benefit. But, this is the lead up to a World Cup year after all, and with that comes a few questions that need to be answered before the big thing actually happens. Is Aiden Markram our answer at #4?  The retirement of AB de Vlliers has created a power vacuum of sorts in the national team. Now shorn of the value of one of the five greatest ODI players of all time as well as unarguably the most destructive, possibly of all time, but most definitely in his era, the team has spluttered along a bit at the death. It must be said,that AB was present for when India completely ran us over at home, 5-1, in the ODIs earlier this year, with only our Pink ODI kit'