Talking Sports like gals do shopping

When looking at an ODI batting line up comprising of: Smith, Amla, Ingram, de Villiers, Duminy, du Plessis & Miller / Behardien, the first thoughts that pop in my head is solid & attacking. I think at first glance any Protea supporter will feel that these guys can get the job done on the batting front. However at 2^nd glance most Saffers will notice that one name isn’t on the list: Jacques Kallis. In my previous blog I said that if JK was match-tested , available And on form, I’d definitely play him, however I think we all can agree he’s none of the three if you consider: he didn’t play in the 5 game series against Pakistan, he made himself unavailable for the championship and he’s not exactly playing Hussey like innings there in India. So lets move on the 3^rd glance.Feel free to correct me, but of those 8 batsmen mentioned, AB & Miller are the form batsmen & are the only 2 that’s actively batting for their respective IPL clubs. Faf (even though back with CSK) & JP are coming back from long injuries, Biff (apart from a lovely 70odd he scored) is struggling with the bat in Surrey, Ingram & Behardien aren’t playing any professional cricket at the moment and Hash dropped (probably willingly) off the cricket world radar since the Pakistan series. Worried yet? I know I am when I see countries like India, Sri Lanka, Australia, West India & England (through county cricket) playing their players regularly in world class & very competitive leagues & tournaments while building up for the ICC Championship.

Lets go the bowling department. Of the 7 bowlers in 15men squad it’s safe to say Steyn has been the pick of the bunch if current form is anything to go by. In the IPL Morkel has been inconsistent & McClaren has only played one game so far. Phangiso last played in the T20 finals for the Lions and Rory, Tsotsi & Robby P hasn’t played cricket since the Pakistan series. Ok now I’m really worried considering we’re only playing one warm up game against minnows Netherlands before we kick off our championship against world cup champs India. 

What I’m not worried about is that the coaching staff of Kirsten, Upton and others will make sure that the team will be as best prepared as they can be in this short amount of time.  In fact I just read that Kirsten will once again make use of adventurist & motivational speaker Mike Horn to give the squad some oomph prior to the championship. The coach also mentioned that because of the short preparation time he’ll be a little bit more consistent in selection which is pleasing to hear pending he picks a starting 11 based not only on consistency but form (Miller) & experience (JP & Faf) as well. The latter being on very thin ice in my book, much to the disagreement of one of my best buds. My friend is one of those guys that when he likes a player, blindly believes that player is the best in the world, can walk on water & turn pepsi into coke. He also suggested that Faf should open which according to him will improve that stinking average of 27 of his but I really doubt Kirsten would do that.

But like my friend, I too have my favorite players & obviously love it when they’re doing well but cricket is a team sport & when I pick my starting 11, I do it based on whether I’m confident enough that those guys can do the job . But I’m not the coach and It will be interesting to see who Kirsten picks for that middle order. Miller just played the innings of his life, Ingram did just about enough to validate his place in the team, Behardien began to find his feet in that Pakistan series, Faf’s struggling with form as well as coming back from an injury & so is JP even though the last 2 are the more experienced of the 5.

Who would I pick for that 1^st game against India? We’ll after giving it some thought; my first 11 batting order would look like this:

Smith, Amla, Ingram, de Villiers, Duminy, du Plessis, Miller, McClaren, Petersen, Steyn, Morkel.

I have to say that I’m not over the moon about just having 4 bowlers with JP being the 5^th bowler and considering how comfortable India is against spin bowling, I was tempted to go with Tsotsi instead of Robby P but all in all, I think the 11 above will be able to beat them. Look, luckily for us (or unluckily depending on how you look at it), that irritating ‘C’ word is as reputable for the Proteas as the word ‘great’ is in Naas Botha rugby’s vocab, so we shouldn’t have as much pressure to win as say host England or other favourites like India or even Sri Lanka. My expectations is therefore not so high however I do have the confidence that we’ve as good a chance as any team to win the ‘ship a second time around.

I’m outy

Even though the Proteas’ middle order finally came to the party in the 1^st ODI last Sunday, they still have to do a lot more and do it more consistently to convince me that they can go into the upcoming ICC Championship tournament with at least 1 less thing to worry about (the other being death bowling but more on that later).

I’m very happy for Colin Ingram adding another ton to his name to go with that 70-odd he got against NZ but he will know that he’s not out of the woods yet when it comes to cementing a place in the 1^st eleven. The same could be said about Behardien who also showed what he’s capable of doing when in the mood. Their biggest obstacles (in my opinion) is one of South Africa’s greatest sports legends as well as a middle order stalwart with a 2 part name but known by his team mates simply as ‘Koppe’. I’m ofcoz talking about Kallis & JP Duminy. Luckily for the 2 incumbent middle order batsmen, it’s not that cut & dry. Kirsten mentioned earlier in the year that he’d like Kallis to stop playing the shorter formats of the game & concentrate only on test cricket which I guess is a reasonable request. But surely he’s got one (MAYBE even 2) high profile ODI tournaments in him. Yes, he did win the inaugural ICC Championship Trophy back in ‘98/99 & got 2 man of the match awards (1 in the semis & then in the final) but that was so long ago & given the Proteas’ reputation in major tournaments I’m sure he’ll want to win one again. So if Kirsten is in fact going to use him for the upcoming tournament, JK should at least get 2 – 3 matches under his belt which could spell trouble for Ingram… Or maybe not. A Biff, Hash, Kallis, Ingram, AB & Faf top 6 doesn’t look that bad does it. But the trouble comes in when/if JP’s fit to participate in the tourney. 

With the emergence of Faf du Plessis (especially in Test cricket), many fans forgot about Koppe & what an important role he plays in the team with his steady batting in the middle order (40+ average) & his spin bowling. What saddens this blogger is that it kind of looks like Faf has surpassed JP in the squad with naming him captain of the T20 squad & if I’m not mistaken vice-captain of the ODI squad while sporting a poor 27 batting average. I don’t want to come across like I’m bad mouthing Faf but stats don’t lie & all I’m saying is that if JP was fit, I’d pick him over Faf, Ingram, Behardien any day of the week because he has proved himself & the latter hasn’t… well not yet anyways. Would I pick JP for this ICC event if he hasn’t played any matches prior to the tournament, I don’t think so but I’ll definitely consider it.

So below I’ve illustrated my ideal 1^st eleven & the eleven I’ll pick for the championship considering injured or ‘dropped’ players

So in my ICC championship team I still chose Ingram coz I think he has done just about enough to be in my team regardless if Kallis plays or not. With regards to my ideal team, we all know that Johan Botha isn’t exactly mr. popular with CSA at the moment but that doesn’t deny the fact that he’s very good at building pressure by keeping the opposition’s run rate in check with his offies & he’s also got a very good cricket brain but whether he’ll be selected, I’m not so sure or in fact I sincerely doubt it. I couldn’t decide who I want at 7 coz lets be honest, ever since post-Klusener, we haven’t had a guy who could up the ante in those last 10 – 15 overs on a consistent basis. However, come the 2015 CWC, I really hope that de Kock would’ve cemented his place in the squad by then & taken over the keeping duties from AB.

The bowling or more specifically, death bowling has always been a bit of a weakness for us & that’s why I’ve got so many names at 10 & 11. Steyn & Morkel are at least familiar with the conditions in England but having said that, their performances in ODI’s are a distant second when compared to their test careers. No one has really put their hand up but if I was forced to pick 2 guys, I’d probably lean towards Steyn & Morkel. Having said that, I can’t understand why our pace bowlers don’t make use of the yorker more often. Who can forget during the T20 CWC when Albie Morkel was being dispatched to boundary time after time by Umar Gul coz he was bowling length ball after length ball. However the bowlers can’t take all the blame as they’re only doing what their captain asked them to do & the captain is only following a plan discussed by the team & coaching staff.

Speaking of plans, I also hope that Kirsten is done with rotating the middle order. Yes guys like AB, Faf, JP & Ingram can bat anywhere between 4 – 6 but as in the words of Kumar in Harold & Kumar goes to white castle ‘just coz you’re hung like horse, doesn’t mean you have to do porn’. And I’m especially referring to AB de Villiers coz he’s not just an exciting, talented cricketer anymore but now also the permanent captain of the side.  If you look at all the reasonably successful ODI captains (that was naturally attacking) like your Pontings, Gangulys, Flemmings, Smiths etc. they all had a preferred position & played that position most of their careers & I think it’s about damn time that AB should be allowed to follow that trend.

I’m outy