The third ODI finished a few minutes before midnight but that was far from the end of the production with Podcasts needing to be recorded and the real workers left with much to do before departure. After many years of touring I’m perfectly clear about who works hardest on outside broadcasts, and it’s not the broadcasters. Behind TalkSport’s commentary team are three men who put in double the hours of those whose voices you hear. Engineer Adam Reed is actually a highly social creature but you might not think so because you hardly see him. He departs for the venue before everyone else and is the last out. Producers Sal Ahmad and James Savundra aren’t far behind. On Wednesday night Sal and Adam wouldn’t have eaten for 14 hours had somebody not brought dinner to them, so devoted they were to ensuring the coverage was flawless. That depends, of course, on the men behind...
Play started eight hours after the TalkSport commentary team arrived at the Pallekelle International Cricket Stadium, the length of a standard ODI. But it didn’t feel like that, it felt like eighteen, such was the apparent futility and hopelessness of the situation. But when every tarpaulin cover was on the ground, not a single blade of grass on the entire playing surface was exposed to the rain and the 120+ ground staff are experts at dragging them all off, whilst barely spilling a drop. If it had been only the square and the run-ups which had been covered, the rest of the outfield would have been saturated and the match would have been abandoned. Criticism of the scheduling during monsoon season was answered by a statement from the ECB rather than Sri Lanka Cricket which has more important things on its corporate mind at the mind, like the ICC ACU’s...
If the rumours are true about Boland Park becoming home to the sixth team in the CSA’s new T20 competition are true, it will be a well deserved accolade. Bloemfontein has done nothing wrong in its efforts to remain in sixth place on the pecking order behind the five regular Test venues but Paarl has made massive strides to improve and impress. SAA’s decision to cut flights to the Free State capital has led to a feeling of isolation and concern amongst potential investors – like CSA. The new T20 league will be squeezed into a month – 30 matches in as many days. The logistics are frightening. The organisers will struggle to cope with one flight in and out per day. Boland Park has now proved three times that it has the infrastructure to handle international cricket with aplomb. Relying on a host of volunteers prepared to work an...
Zimbabwe were made aware of a record they weren’t keen to extend, the longest streak in ODI history between victories against another team. Duncan Fletcher was captain when Zimbabwe claimed one of their most famous wins against Australia at the 1983 World Cup but it was to be their first and last for the next 28 games. It took 31 years to play those matches and it ended in dramatic fashion with Prosper Utseya hitting the last ball for six to win at the Harare Sports Club in 2014. That record was shared, however. Until today South Africa had also gone 28 matches unbeaten against their northern neighbours and the Zimbabweans were determined to put an end to the unwanted piece of history on the occasion of captain Hamilton Masakadza’s 200th ODI. "We need to bat for a bit longer than we did in Kimberley, that’s obvious. We’re bowling and...
 Imran Tahir’s ‘rest’ from the tour of Sri Lanka certainly wasn’t requested by the player. That much became abundantly obvious today, not that anybody needed it to be confirmed. “I played in England and the CPL, I was playing all the time. I want to play, I need to play,†said the 39-year-old who proudly lists 31 teams on his playing biography – not including 2nd XIs. He confirmed he’d been “working hard on my fitness because there are so many fit players in this team that you need to keep up the standard.†Although he was careful not to take anything for granted, he mentioned next year’s World Cup on three or four occasions and admitted it was his priority and prime focus. So when might he call it a day? “It’s too early to talk about that,†he said, “but if we win the World Cup then...
There is something quite peaceful about an international venue 48 hours before it hosts an international fixture, especially one of the smaller venues. The administrators and ground staff are quietly pottering about their business in the knowledge that ‘the world’ will start descending on them the following day. It’s the last few hours of relative peace and quiet before they have to start worrying about television rigging, press conferences and VIP suites. The Mangaung Oval was bathed in warm sunshine today as the Free State Cricket Union prepared to host the second ODI against Zimbabwe. It’s hardly an event to ruffle the sporting schedule on a global scale but it is another opportunity for the region to prove its mettle as a host. And yet, right next door, in full view, is the Free State rugby stadium – I think it’s officially called the Toyota Stadium now. It towers over...
There is no time to be spared for anybody who complains about coming to Kimberley for an international. It still provides one of the oldest and most persistent heartbeats of the game in South Africa and they did themselves proud once again with a fine production for the first ODI against Zimbabwe. The worry must be greater than ever that Griquas’ isolation from the rest of the country will increase with less flights to the city from the major centres but they remain determined to be relevant, And they will be. For those of you who haven’t ever visited, and there are many, it is something of a throwback to a bygone era. Your lives will be no poorer, but they will be richer for a visit. A mining and railway city with a rich (literally and metaphorically) history, there is much to cherish about the resilience of the population...
Financial reporting is best left to financial reporters, I’ll be the first to admit. It would be as unfair and unkind (but amusing) to expect them to explain reverse swing as it would be for a sports reporter to explain macro-economics. Or macro anything for that matter. Many years ago one of the ‘real’ journalists arrived at a Sunshine Tour event clearly out of her comfort zone. But she had taken the trouble to do her research and, abiding by the unwritten rule amongst hacks that you ‘contribute’ at press conferences rather than piggy-back on the efforts of others, duly raised her hand to ask the tournament favourite, John Bland, a question after the first round. “John, did you have any holes-in-one today?†Without so much as a blink, never mind a pause, Bland replied: “No, not today, but I’m hoping for a couple tomorrow.†So it is with caution...
    The T20 Global League’s collapse is having a far greater impact on South African cricket than any of us could have imagined. Instead of a scenario in which the country’s best player are incentivised to stay at home and commit themselves to playing in, and for, South Africa, they are now facing the same financial conundrum that existed in the early 2000s when rewards were so overwhelmingly weighted towards playing overseas that many felt they had no alternative.     It’s not just the likes of established internationals like Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw – they were offered the security of four-year contracts amounting to more than they could have earned for the rest of their careers in SA, even if they played international cricket on a regular basis.     If the contracts awarded players in the Global League draft had been honoured, over 120 players would have earned between 200 and 500% of their provincial...