Gibson — good man, good coach

November 28, 2017 by neil manthorp

Ottis Gibson is a good man, first. He is also a good coach, second. They are not mutually exclusive. His backroom staff is a clever mix of the old and the new although there have been some unfortunate casualties. Dale Benkenstein goes back over two decades with Gibson – apart from provincial cricket here and county cricket in England, they have a strong Barbados connection, so it was no surprise to see him appointed batting coach. It would have been the decent thing to do, however, for CSA to have given Neil McKenzie more than a few days notice. Nothing is guaranteed in this business but I suspect there will be no shortage of job offers for Neil Mac. Probably from overseas. Pity. It was also curious that no explanation was provided for the axing of team manager and Doctor, Mohammad Moosajee – after 15 years service. I am reliably...

Ashes watch is for all

November 28, 2017 by neil manthorp

Much as some South Africans try to adopt a take-it-or-leave-it approach to the Ashes it’s hard not to take an interest given the intensity with which the contest is always contested and the saturation media coverage. It’s hard to get away from. We don’t need to apologise for being interested. Part of the problem, secretly, is the fear for some Proteas supporters that their desire to see Australia beaten may be interpreted as support for England which, of course, is a no-no. But any contest which started over 130 years ago is bound to be of interest to sports fans. If you stumbled across a documentary on a flick through the channels about two Nepalese villages which had been staging an annual yak race for two centuries the chances are you might stick around to learn more. So there’ll definitely be an element of ‘Ashes Watch’ here for the next...