Gareth Mason

For many years now the overseas people have been negative towards our S.A. sportsmen. I find that the overseas people forget what we have come from as a country, and have overcome apartheid, and still we are able to produce brilliant sportsmen. I find it very irritating that our players aren’t given the credit they deserve for their achievements, whether it is at home in S.A or in an overseas country under all the circumstances they have faced.

A comment that annoyed me the other day was when Ian Chappell failed to mention Jacques Kallis as a great batsman of this era. He mentioned all the greats but left out the South African great Jacques Kallis who has been a rock in the South African innings for many years now. Kallis has sparked for S.A on all levels of the game and the fact he failed to mention it. I find it very disrespectful towards a man of his class.

In both rugby and cricket, overseas commentators hardly ever compliment us on the things our players do right. For example the Springboks score a great try and the commentator says the try wasn’t too bad or they were lucky to score it. I find that really annoying for players who work so hard playing the sport they love and then the commentators speak of them as if they where nothings. I think it’s time these commentators grow up and give these players the respect they deserve.

I also find that the overseas referees constantly penalise our players for things that they don’t do and I find it pathetic that the IRB take a referees side even though they know the referee is in the wrong. Examples of these types of referee’s are Bryce Lawrence of NZ, Nigel Owens of Wales and Stuart Dickenson of Aus, there are obviously more but in my opinion these ref’s are the worst.

I really hope from now, continuing into the future that all this negativity stops and that these people grow up and actually see us as an up and coming sports country. We are a proud country that unites together as one when our national teams play and I think we should be congratulated for it!!!

The Proteas have a massive cricketing year ahead and I hope it is going to be a successful one. They have many tours coming up and I don’t think they are going to be easy but I do believe we have the ability to win these up coming series. Gary Kirsten and the rest of his coaching staff have the experience to take us to having a successful tour. I think we have chosen a strong team for NZ but there are a few changes I would make, I would bring Tahir into the ODI Squad because I believe Tahir had a magnificent world cup and I think he should be given another shot in the ODI team. I also believe Colin Ingram and David Miller should be in the ODI squad aswell. The T20 squad I’m happy with I’m glad to see that they are bringing Rusty Theron back because I think he is a brilliant player and deserves to play for SA but overall I think we have a good team and I’m sure they can take us to a successful series victory.

What I think they should focus on this year is to firstly get to the Number 1 position in all formats of the game ODI, Test and T20 cricket. We also need to concentrate on our weaknesses and we need to try to concur them. We were the best fielding team in the world by far and I personally don’t think we are any more and I think that needs to change and our fielding needs to improve. The Batting of the Proteas isn’t up too standards we can’t keep relying on the likes of Amla and Kallis we need our other batsmen to come to the party which I’m glad to see they are slowly doing as I saw during the series against Sri Lanka. So I’m pleased to see that that’s improving. I’m impressed with the teams bowling however I find our fast bowler bowl a lot of short balls and I think that is risky because certain teams find short balls there strength but other than that I don’t see a massive problem with our bowling.

The Proteas seem to get along well and they know how to work together so I’m really hoping that we can do well in NZ and England because it will be really great if we can come away with series wins.
There are different pitches over there and I think we need to prepare for those types of pitches so that when we play them we will be well prepared.
I really hope the Tours is going to be a huge success

Good Luck SA Make Us Proud!!!!

Sport has helped me many ways in life, because it teaches us how to grow as a sportsman and it also teaches us how to work together as a team, it also teaches us how to win and loose which will help us later in life.
I wanted to just write a brief blog on my experience in life and also explain how sport has helped me get on in life.
I am a Dwarf, and when I was a lot younger all I wanted to do was to play cricket. When I went to high school my cricket coach told me that I will never be able to play cricket for my school which upset me but I never gave up, I just kept on trying and every Monday and Wednesday I went to cricket practice, 3 Years after that I became captain of my high school cricket team which was a dream come true for me and it showed me that you should never give up on your dreams because if you don’t try you might regret it in the future.
Even with my shortness I still play cricket today maybe not in high levels but I play cricket for fun at Varsity and I also play golf so I haven’t let my size bother me at all.
Another dream that I’ve accomplished is to coach cricket and I now coach cricket for youngsters at a school in Port Elizabeth, and to teach people how to play the sport they love and have a passion for is a great privilege for me and I’m honoured to be coaching cricket.
No matter what problem or disability you have in life try to never give up on what you believe. If you want it really bad you can achieve it because anything is possible.
I have been made fun of and laughed at many time because of my size but even with all that I still over came it and did all the things that I wanted to do and I’m really glad I did it because if I didn’t I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Man United has been Kicked out of the FA Cup by Liverpool due to a late goal by Dirk Kuyt.

United havn’t been playing there best this year, they have been kicked out of the UEFA Champions League and now the FA Cup. They are a team that has the ability to dominate and they have the players to do it but the problem is that when they have a chance to score a goal they don’t, they are finding it hard to capatilise on the opportunities they create and to me thats not good at all. They need to find a solution to this problem and they need to fix it ASAP

Even though they are second on the log in the Barclays Premier Leagues they still not capitilising on the opportunities. The games they should be winning they draw or loose and that effects them because as they keep doing that Man City keeps staying strong at the top of the log. 3 points isn’t alot but if they don’t start improving they could go ahead by more.

As a Man United Suporter myself I am disapointed by the way they are playing and i really hope that they can start changing things and start playing the way they should be, they have the management staff and players to do so. Manchester United can still win the league and i think they need to focus 100% on doing it.

I personally find that cricket players who have shown what they can do and show there passion for there country don’t get selected and either we loose them and they go to another country to play cricket, some good are examples Johnathan Trott and Kevin Pieterson and many others who we have lost to other countries due to poor selection. Another problem is that the players just play provincial cricket and get selected when they of an age where they probably on have 3 – 4 years of cricket left, a good example is Jacques Rudolf the man is a brilliant player and because he had a bad season along time ago he was dropped, alot of people will then say why wasn’t Smith dropped for his poor form. If we want to grow as a team we need to find these players and use them.

This problem is going to occur when the players who have been playing for a while now finally retire, example Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Graeme Smith. When these players retire who is going to replace them. I think CSA selectors should starting finding players now because we are going to need good players to replace these guys.

Colin Ingram & David Miller are two brilliant young Batsmen and there are many others in our country and I believe these players should be playing a bit more International Cricket so that they can grow as players and then when the time is right these boys will become greats and will have the expierence to play against the top Nations.

Charl langeveldt is another example, he has been bowling brilliantly for the Cape Cobra’s but where is he? Hes also a player who is getting older now and we have probably lost him due to poor selection…

My personal opinion on the whole wicket Keeping story is that we need to find a wicket keeper batsman when Boucher retires, AB is a brilliant fielder and i think it will be a great pitty to loose him as a fielder, faf and Ab together could make a great team like Herchelle Gibbs and Johnty Rhodes those two were brilliant in the field together and i think AB should be a fielder not a Wicket keeper.

I strongly believe that alot more consetration is needed on the new up coming players and I really hope CSA starts to see that because when these brilliant players go we are going to be left with nothing…

Herschelle Gibbs Former SA opening Batsman and Currently playing for The Cape Cobra’s. His Autobiography caused a stir last year and some people say it destroyed his International career.

Herschelle Gibbs is a Brilliant batsman who did alot of great things in SA Cricket who can forget his great Innings of 175 in the famous 438 game. He is a player who plays his way and is good at it.

To The Point was a book he wrote to tell people exactly what goes on behind the scenes in cricket and what he has done in his career and life and obviously he told everyone exactly whats going on, which I think was brave.

Some people say it was stupid thing to do and maby it was, but the thing is now we know what goes on behind the scenes. Not all players drink or party but some do and some get out of control, Gibbs admits to his Mistakes.

Players sign a contract and to me that contract should state that players should not be aloud to drink during a Series reason why I Say this is because, what if a player gets involved in a fight, scandal or even a serious accident, that destroys there reputation yes players must be able to enjoy themselves and celebrate when they win a Match or series but then there should be a limit and to me that should be obeyed.

Gibbs has done many wrong things which he admits to in his book and some things he does isn’t right at all! but you can’t forget the player he is. Hes helped us many times and I hope people havn’t forgotten that. People would have lost respect for him due to the things he has done and thats why players must have a limit so that they won’t get into trouble so easily.

This does’t just go for Cricket i think other sports should have there limits to in the Party Life.

Children look up to these players and it hurts them when there hero’s are hated.

Again thats my opinion, some people may disagree. But i believe sportsmen must be responsible and must have a limit.

Heyneke Meyer is the new Springbok coach, and i Believe he can take us far in South African Rugby. Hes a man who has been in the Coaching Business for 24 years now and i think he can bring good things to the team.

He knows what he is doing and has the expierence to prove it.

We have had many coaches coaching the Springboks and we have had some good ones and some bad ones. I believe Heyneke is going to be a great coach. His Career with the Bulls has been Excellent, coaching them to a Super 14 Cup win, Currie Cup wins and others, hes coached school level Rugby, First Division, Currie Cup, Emerging Springboks and has been assistant coach to the Springboks. So he is bringing alot of expierence to the team.

Pieter De villiers coaching expierence with the Springboks to me was not that great, in my opinion he didn’t do all that much. When games were being played to me it looked like his assistant coaches were wrighting down all the things going on in the game. Don’t get me wrong he did achieve a few things with the Boks but i found that his assistant coaches were doing most of the work and i believe that Heyneke Meyer won’t do that, his assiatant coaches will obviously give him advice and help him along the line but i believe he has the knowledge to coach this team and i Believe he is going to do the Job well.

GOOD LUCK Heyneke Meyer!!!!