CricketZA

Cricket South Africa has a lot of problems. It has gotten to the stage where they probably have more problems than they have positives. This year, for the first time, the Proteas lost to a subcontinental team at home. Not only did they lose, they got whitewashed by a Sri Lankan team which was without their two best batsmen. This disastrous home summer was then followed by a disastrous World Cup where South Africa went a month without a win and managed to lose every single must-win game they had that tournament. On top of all that, they then had a PR nightmare when it was revealed that AB de Villiers had had a literal last minute change of heart and wanted to go to the World Cup. In whose stead we can not say. Finally, South Africa went to India and outside of the first innings with the bat, where they scored over 400, they were basically pummelled from pillar to post. As a rule, with very little exception, a team needs 20 wickets to think about winning a Test. South Africa didn't ...

Jozi Stars The defending champions have managed to retain some of their best players from last season. Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen were in incredible form and we can expect more of the same this season. Temba Bavuma, who recently made his T20I debut for the Proteas, has been named captain. Chris Gayle will feature for the Stars in the early stages of the tournament and will then be replaced by another veteran – Shoaib Malik. Two of South Africa’s most highly rated young batsmen – Ryan Rickleton and Sinethemba Qeshile are also part of the squad. Qeshile is the main wicket-keeping option available to them and is likely to play in all their matches.   He has already made his T20I debut and has an opportunity here to make a case for the WT20 next year Nono Pongolo’s story was one of the highlights of the inaugural MSL tournament. He was initially only selected as a back-up and was involved with SABC’s commentary team. Pongolo went on to pick 10 wickets in the tour...

The second season of the Mzansi Super League is upon us, amid an ongoing crisis regarding payments from last season. Broadcasting the matches on SABC instead of Supersport was not Cricket South Africa’s first choice, but it has worked out well for the fans. Many people tuned in last year and the same is expected this season. With the World T20 in Australia just under a year away, the local players will be looking to make an impact. Rassie van der Dussen, for example, had a great season last time that saw him receive a call up to the one-day side, where he has performed well. Cape Town Blitz The Blitz reached the final last season but were beaten by van der Dussen’s Jozi Stars. Quinton de Kock finished as their highest run-scorer and was second on the list overall. He finished with 412 runs, averaging 58.85 at an incredible strike-rate of 169.54. He has had some captaincy opportunities with the Proteas lately and was named as the captain for the Blitz earlier this week. He ...

Paarl Rocks Home ground: Boland Park Home City: Paarl Cool factor: B- Established: Like one day ago Squad: Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dane Paterson, Aiden Markram, Mangaliso Mosehle, Bjorn Fortuin, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Grant Thomson, Paul Stirling, Tshepo Moreki, Henry Davids, Cameron Delport, Eathan Bosch, Patrick Kruger, Kerwin Mungroo First things first: It should really be noted that Paarl Rocks is quite possibly the worst name in the history of cricket franchises. Yes, even worse than Rising Pune Super Giants, which was literally only so named as a marketing ploy for its owners, RP-Sanjiv Goenka group, aka RPSG. But no, the team is not named Paarl Rocks as an ode to the idea that Paarl is a nice place to be. Paarl sleeps, yes. Paarl makes wine, yes. But Paarl most definitely does not rock. It is in fact so named after the Paarl Rock,  a rock- climbing mecca of some sort for rock climbers. Apparently on a clear day, one can see Table Mountain from Pa...