Gareth Mason

The New Age Cup T20 Match between India and South Africa will take place on Friday 30 March 2012 at the Bidvest Wanderers and Johan Botha will Captain SA. The match is a follow-up to last year’s one-off T20 match held at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, which attracted the largest cricket audience on the African continent. Cricket South Africa (CSA) have agreed with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to make this an annual fixture, to celebrate the bilateral ties between South Africa and India.

This will be a great match between these two sides and I’m glad to see that we are going to give some of our younger players a chance in this match. Johan Botha is a great captain which we have seen previously and I’m really happy that they have given him the captaincy for this game. I hope he does us proud.

Cricket South Africa has chosen a squad of 13 as there is some doubt about the fitness of Kallis who has been ruled out of the current test match against NZ. The team management needs to have plenty of options available such is Kallis’s all-round value to the side. I really hope Kallis will be fit enough to play but we will just have to wait and see how it all plans out.

PROTEAS’ T20 SQUAD: Johan Botha (Chevrolet Warriors, capt), Farhaan Behardien (Nashua Titans), Faf du Plessis (Nashua Titans), Jacques Kallis (Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras), Colin Ingram (Chevrolet Warriors), Richard Levi (Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras), Albie Morkel (Nashua Titans), Justin Ontong (Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras), Wayne Parnell (Chevrolet Warriors), Rusty Theron (Chevrolet Warriors), Lonwabo Tsotsobe (Chevrolet Warriors), Morne van Wyk (Chevrolet Knights), Dane Vilas (Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras)

Congratulations
to Pakistan for Winning the Asia Cup. Pakistan won their second
Asia Cup cricket title when they beat Bangladesh by two runs in a thrilling
final in Dhaka on Thursday.

I have so much respect for Bangladesh and the
way they have been playing cricket lately is brilliant. Also big congrats to them making
it too the final. I love watching the smaller countries fight there way to
victory. There team is growing by the day and I hope it continues for them.
They beat Sri Lanka to make it to the final and they are coming up in the
cricketing world and sooner or later they are going to be a force to be reckon
with.

Well done to Pakistan again and also well
done to Bangladesh and I hope your current form continues.

Keep it up

The series is
just about over and this final test match decides whether we win the series or
draw it. I think we have been successful and I hope we can finish it of with a
series win. We played well in the 2^nd Test and came away with a
great win I only hope we can do the same in the final test.

Vernon
Philander has once again proved his position in the team by bowling extremely
well and I’m glad that he is in good form and I only hope it continues. Our
batting seems to be good so far and I also hope that continues because it will
benefit us a lot and we will need to be strong in it in the final Test and also
against England.

Next Series
is in England and that is going to be an awesome series. England is in great
form and they are going to be very tough to beat. I love it when we play in
England because the crowds in England are great to watch and hear. The famous
Barmy Army singing and telling us who there team is, is great to hear because
they are so passionate about there country and I think it’s great because it
shows there passion.

I really hope
that SA play well and it will be great if we can have a successful series but
we will just have to wait and see what happens but I’m really excited for the
series against England because its going to be a tough series and it will be
very exciting to watch. The players need to do there homework and need to
prepare well if they want to win the series.

Looking
Forward to it!!!   

It’s still
early days in the tournament and it just keeps on getting better.  Teams I thought would be dominating the log
aren’t and the smaller teams are fighting hard which is great to see. I’m proud
to see that all the SA teams are doing there best I just hope they can keep it
up and play well

Super Rugby
is extremely exciting to watch and I am really enjoying this season. All the
teams are playing there hearts out and it’s great to see the passion that these
players are bringing out on to the field. It’s still anyone’s game and I’m sure
its going to keep on being an exciting tournament.

Looking
forward to the rest of the games!!!

Luke Donald has taken back the Number 1 position in the Golf rankings from Northern Irelands Rory McIlroy who had been No 1 in the world for two weeks until Donald reclaimed the position.

Luke Donald went back to the top of the rankings after beating Americans Jim Furyk and Robert Garrigus and South Korean Bae Sang-Moon in a four-way playoff on Sunday. All four players finished 72 holes on 13-under-par and Donald took the first prize after drilling a brilliant 150-yard approach shot out of the rough at the opening sudden-death hole and rolling in his birdie putt from seven feet.

Luke Donald and Rory are both phenomenal golfers and they are in great form and it is great to see them fighting for the No1 position. Luke has more experience than Rory but that doesn’t take away Rory’s accomplishments. Tiger Wood became No 1 Golfer and held the position for a very long time, who says Rory can’t do the same.

Donald is a brilliant golfer to watch and I believe that he will stay No 1 for a while but anything is possible because Rory is not far behind and lets not forget Lee Westwood he is also wanting the position back so its going to be great to see how it all plans out.

This year is going to be a great Golfing year with all the Championships as well as the Ryder Cup which is always exciting to watch, I really hope Europe win but will have to wait and see how it all turns out all I know is that it going to be great.

Latest Golf Rankings Top 20 in the World:

1. Luke Donald (ENG) 10.03
2. Rory McIlroy (NIR) 9.85
3. Lee Westwood (ENG) 8.16
4. Martin Kaymer (GER) 5.87
5. Steve Stricker (USA) 5.81
6. Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 5.25
7. Webb Simpson (USA) 5.13
8. Justin Roe (ENG) 5.11
9. Adam Scott (AUS) 4.94
10. Jason Day (AUS) 4.93
11. Dustin Johnson (USA) 4.90
12. Hunter Mahan (USA) 4.90
13. Phil Mickelson (USA) 4.81
14. Matt Kuchar (USA) 4.64
15. Bill Haas (USA) 4.57
16. Bubba Watson (USA) 4.39
17. Graeme McDowell (NIR) 4.35
18. Tiger Woods (USA) 4.26
19. Nick Watney (USA) 4.26
20. Keegan Bradley (USA) 4.16

The 2nd Test between NZ and SA gets underway tonight and I’m really hoping the weather stays away because that unfortunately changed the game for us in the 1^st test. We looked good in the previous test and need to win the next two matches so that we can keep the No 2 position in Test cricket.

The batting was good in the previous test was glad to see that Smith is finally scoring runs just hope he can keep it all up. Philanders bowling was once again brilliant which helps us out a lot and I am glad to see that we are playing with good confidence.

It’s going to be a great Test Match and I really hope it goes well and that we come away with a win. As we saw in the first test we have the ability to do so, we just have to keep it up!!!

Its time for the Test Series and I know it’s going to be one
awesome series.  After coming off a
brilliant ODI Series I think we have what it takes to win another series. I’m
Happy with the squad selection and I hope they can pull it off.

If Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander keep up there good test
cricket form then our bowling is going to be strong and it will be hard for the
NZ to bat against. I really hope our batting does us proud for a change because
if we can improve there we will be a strong team. It would really be great if
we could become number 1 in the world in Test Cricket so I really hope everyone
does there bit and that they do well.

It’s going to be a great test series and I believe we are
going to win it; we have the Players and the Coaches to do so.

Good Luck Protea’s keep on making us Proud!!!!

The Protea’s are back!!

Was great to see them win the series, well done to all they players on your great victory I really hope that it continues. It was a great ODI series to watch and I’m very happy that we white washed the Black Caps. Congrats to AB on his victory as captain im very happy to see that you are growing and improving as captain.

Keep it up boys and I really hope our winning form continues in the Test series.

Good Luck!!!!

The Protea’s are 2 – 0 up in the ODI series against NZ and I
believe they have the ability to make it 3 – 0. They are in good form and I am
very glad to see that they are improving on there weaknesses.  The team is looking a lot more confident and
are starting to grow more as a team under the captaincy of AB De Villiers. AB is
staring to improve more and more and I hope it continues.

The previous game showed a lot of potential and it was great
to see that Morne Morkel had a great game and was bowling like a champion. AB is batting like a true captain
leading from the front which is also great to see. He is in good form and I
really hope he can continue batting this way because with him in good form it will really help us a lot.

Its going to be an interesting game because NZ won’t want to
be white washed so they are going to be giving it there all. NZ are a very good
team and they too have the players to win the game but at the moment I think we
are the stronger team and I think we are going to take the series 3-0.

Overall I think this tour has been a success sofar. We pulled out a good
T20 series win and we have won the ODI series with one game still to play. Each
game has shown a lot of improvement in the team and as I said before I hope it
keeps on Improving. The test series is going to be great to watch and I really hope
we do well in the series but for now lets see what happens in tomorrows final ODI.

Good Luck SA!!!!