CricketZA

 Cricket South Africa has revealed the fixture slate for the 2020/2021 season. The season promises to be a jam-packed one with England, Sri Lanka, Australia and Pakistan all slated to tour South Africa, while South Africa has a potentially historic tour to Pakistan on the horizon following the home stand. South Africa have not toured Pakistan since 2007. The biggest shock of the fixture list sees the New Year's Test match, long the fiefdom of the Newlands Cricket stadium, being hosted by the Wanderers Cricket Stadium as CSA attempt to minimize travel.  “We are delighted to announce the schedule of men’s international cricket for the home season,” commented CSA Acting CEO, Kugandrie Govender. “It is an absolute pleasure to deliver more good news for our cricket-loving fans to consume, following last week’s confirmed tour against England and domestic season launch. “The COVID-19 pandemic predictably forced many changes to the ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP) and the traditional ...

 The South African men's cricket team is set to go on a culture camp this week. The camp, which  is to be held at the Kruger National Park, is being held with the aim of facilitating engagement on team elements that require attention. The touring part consists of mostly Proteas, with only four uncapped players set to attend. Faf du Plessis has been excused from the camp to attend the birth of his second child, while Theunis de Bruyn has been excused to attend to a family matter. The attendees for the camp are:  Aiden Markram, Andile Phehlukwayo, Anrich Nortje, Beuran Hendricks, Bjorn Fortuin, Daryn Dupavillon, David Miller, Dean Elgar, Dwaine Pretorius, George Linde, Glenton Stuurman, Heinrich Klaasen, Janneman Malan, Jon-Jon Smuts, Junior Dala, Kagiso Rabada, Keegan Petersen, Keshav Maharaj, Kyle Verryenne, Lungi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla, Pieter Malan, Pite Van Biljon, Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, Reeza Hendricks, Rudi Second, Senuran Muthusamy, Sisanda Magala, Ta...

Cricinfo once described Graeme Smith as "Meaty, Mighty and Muscular", quite fitting given the fact that he is 6'4. His nickname, "Biff" is born from the way he muscles a cricket ball. Basically, Graeme Smith is if "Power and Aggression" was a person. But there's a little more to Smith than just sheer force. There's also an almost reckless sense of bravery. Much like the good Lord, this bravery giveth (after all, you need to be quite brave to accept the job of national team captain at the humble age of 22). It has also most definitely taketh (South Africa found themselves 27/5 in a World Cup Semi-Final while playing "Brave cricket"). There was obviously a high level of Cricket and general intelligence, and there was definitely a sense of ambition. Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa to Graham (yep) and Jane Smith, Smith showed early leadership qualities from a young age while attending King Edward VII. Having moved down to...

It was a long and at times torturous season for Theunis de Bruyn as he lost his national contract, got dropped from the national team and had his future Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith basically undress him on global television for his dismissal on the fifth day against India. His domestic form was not poor, it just wasn't very long. Injury reduced his participation to three First-Class games were he scored 183 runs at an average of 36.7. Still, despite this he was still very upbeat about his chances for representing the national team in the future. as he told The Citizen  It was just one of those seasons and I have no answers to the questions why? But we need to put the situation in perspective with what is currently going on: we can’t even play cricket now, businesses are closing and it’s a crazy time. We can only hope this pandemic unites the nation and then we can stand up and rebuild. So, we need to take all that on board for perspective,’ De Bruyn told the  Citizen...

If there is anything we can learn from every World Cup since the 1992 World Cup, it is that it is ridiculous that South Africa managed to get to a Semi-Final in the first place. Kenya, Bangladesh, Ireland and Afghanistan won five of the twenty-nine games between them in debut World Cups from 1996 on-wards. South Africa, who at the time had played all of three One-Day games before the World Cup, had absolutely no business making the Semi-Finals. From that perspective, it could be argued that they over-performed massively during that World Cup. In an interview, Meyrick Pringle, South Africa's ODI fast bowler said members of the squad were not even sure as to whether or not the team would be going to the World Cup. Unlike other teams, South Africa also had to deal with a political twist to their mere participation. It had only been two years since Nelson Mandela had been released and, it was probably not a good look for a largely lily-white national team to land in Australia, ostens...

In the wonderfully entertaining Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Brad Pitt's title character notes that "In the end, you start to think about the beginning". Philosophically, this tends to be the case. As the end of anything draws nearer, we tend to remember the spring of that thing, be it a relationship or a life. In sport though, in the end, we tend to think about the end. This can be seen no clearer than in the case of Hashim Amla. A career which had over 18 000 runs and 55 centuries - both marks good for #2 on the all-time list in South African terms - seemed to really drag on by the end, with many calling for Zubayr Hamza to become his successor as it became clear that the well had run dry. Very few people, if any, called for him to stay once he did retire, and there has been no clamoring for his return in the way there was and continues to be for his 2004 debut alumni, AB de Villiers . Some of this obviously is because AB de Villiers was a superstar in global terms, and as ...

In boxing they say Father Time is undefeated, an idiom which  essentially means that there is no fighter alive who has ever managed to defeat the onslaught of the passage of time. Reflexes get slower, the ability for the brain to tell the body what it's seeing slows just enough to allow gaps that were once huge openings now pass by without incident.  Twelve months ago, Faf du Plessis would have been on top of the world. Sure, South Africa had just lost to Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, but they had beaten both Australia and India within 3 months of each other, and then they would go on to whitewash Pakistan to complete a rare series whitewash. There could have been an argument that had du Plessis retired then and there, he would arguably have been South Africa's greatest Test match cricket captain of all time.  What happened next beggars belief. Firstly, Sri Lanka came to town. At the time, Sri Lanka had lost five Test matches in a row, and had only...

In possibly the least surprising about turn of all time, especially considering he tried a very similar change of plan a season ago, AB de Villiers has once again raised the possibility of a return to international cricket. de Villiers, who is in Australia for the Big Bash League, confirmed in a press conference that he is in discussion with the new hierarchy in charge of South African cricket to possibly play in the T20 world cup. "There's a lot that needs to happen before that becomes reality, I would love to," de Villers said after making a fine 32-ball 40 in Brisbane's win over Adelaide Strikers. "I've been talking to Bouch, Graeme Smith and Faf back home. We are all keen to make it happen, it's a long way away still and plenty can happen - there's the IPL coming, I've still got to be in form at that time. I'm thinking of throwing my name in the hat and hoping everything will work out. "It's not a guarantee, I don't wan...

Rassie van der Dussen and nightwatchman Anrich Nortje put a stop to any thoughts England had of a quick morning session with a dogged half-century partnership which  helped lift South Africa to 197/7, and the lead to over 300. The lead, which already appears insurmountable will likely balloon past 350 in the next session with the mood and form which Quinton de Kock is in. He is currently at the crease with Vernon Philander. de Kock has already taken a liking to Jofra Archer's pace bowling dispatching him for three sixes and a four. The English will be hoping for a miracle on a ground which  has never seen 300 chased, and has only seen 200 scored by the side batting last once in  the last 10 years.

For all the talk of the changes which were being introduced to the South African cricket team, Day One of the domestic summer revealed the same problems. Joe Root won the toss, and inexplicably decided to bowl first on a deck which has a reputation for being incredibly up and down towards the end of the game. When you opt to bat last in Centurion, you really do basically have to roll the opposing team, and set yourself up to either bat only once, or only chase like 100 to win on the final day. With South Africa already on 278/9, chances are pretty high that this will not be a situation where England will only bat once. From that perspective, you could argue that honours were even on day on. Add in that England won the toss, and you could say that South Africa won the day. With that said, however, it did seem like much of the same problems remained. South Africa, who it must be remembered are in the middle of a five-game losing streak, showed many of the same batting frailties which...

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 ...

ZA cricket : Thank you for joining us, Enoch. Enoch Nkwe : Ja no, it is great to be hear and thank you for having me. ZAC : Alright, for those who don’t know who you are, or didn’t follow you as a player, could you explain your first exposure to the game, and how you came up through the ranks. EN : I could almost write a book (laughs/). I started playing cricket at eleven years of age. I took part in mini cricket. It was called Bakers mini cricket back in the day, and obviously today it is called KFC mini cricket. I was based in Dobsonville (Soweto). I played that (mini cricket) for about two weeks and then graduated into hard-ball cricket for the under elevens. Ja things happened quite quickly. So ja, then I had to learn my trade in this new sport, which wasn’t so popular back in the days, in the nineties. My background was football, as is the case for most kids, especially in South Africa. I had to invest a lot of time and I had a very good coach as well as a good supp...

Standing at 4 feet 9 inches tall, Kruger van Wyk is officially the shortest cricketer in the history of the international game. But what he lacked in height, he more than made up for in determination, intelligence and a never-say-die spirit. Van Wyk left South Africa to pursue dreams of a career in international cricket, moving to New Zealand as a young adult. A successful career which included nine Tests for New Zealand was to follow. Following his retirement from the international game, van Wyk took up coaching, as the head coach for the Assupol TuksCricket academy (University of Pretoria). He recently tasted success with the team, winning the latest edition of the Varsity Cup (South Africa’s premier inter university tournament). ZA cricket : Mr. van Wyk, let’s start with the latest news, congratulations on the Varsity Cup victory. Kruger van Wyk : Thanks a lot. It was an exciting week for the lads, and they performed beautifully. ZAC : Could you take us through the d...