Tag Archives: cricket

Cricket: Graeme Smith retires

March 4, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , Leave a comment

Graeme Smith, South Africa’s captain and opening batsman, has announced his retirement from cricket effective at at the end of this current test match at Newlands against Australia.

He said of his decision:

“This has been the most difficult decision I have ever had to make in my life. It’s a decision that I have been considering since my ankle surgery in April last year. I have a young family to consider, and I felt that retiring at Newlands would be the best way to end it because I have called this place home since I was 18 years-old.

“I have always been someone who has left everything out there on the field for my team and for my country. I’m extremely honoured and proud to have had the privilege to lead so many wonderful players and to have been a part of building the Proteas culture to what it is today. It is a culture that every player can be, and is, immensely proud of,” Smith continued.

“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the support from my parents and brother, my wife and children, my friends, my sponsors, my fans and to Cricket South Africa. I thank and honour the players who I have played with and those who have supported me and helped me to be the person and captain I am today. I have been fortunate to have had many highs, amongst them leading and being part of the best Test team in the world. I will cherish these memories for the rest of my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I bid my career a fond yet sad farewell,” the 33-year-old added.

Two memories of Smith’s career immediately spring to mind as a fan from Australia: the first showed his absolute devotion to the cause of South African cricket when he came out to bat with a broken hand in Sydney in 2006 and the second showed his utmost respect for the game when he organised an honour guard for the retiring Ricky Ponting at Perth in 2011.

He did not have the best or most attractive of techniques but when he got in he was very hard to get out and his record shows his penchant for big runs.

As a captain he played a massive part in bringing the Proteas to the top of world cricket, particularly in the test arena.

Just like Jacques Kallis in the series before this one, this is a sad farewell to a giant of the game and another hint at a time for regeneration in cricket in the Cape.

Thank you for the memories Mr Smith.

PostScript: Already I am reading smug comments from Australian fans to the effect that Australia and Mitchell Johnson have “caused” another retirement. Such comments are not unseemly but arrogant. Can we let this great player retire on his own terms without the hyperbole please?

Cricket: Sheffield Shield and the Pink Ball experiment

March 3, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Cricket Australia’s experiment of day/night first class cricket kicks off today in Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane amid much fan fare and with the ultimate goal of holding a day/night test match in 2015/16.

The minutae of how day/night fight class will work includes:

  • The use of pink kookaburra balls.
  • Black sightscreens will be used.
  • Clothing will still be white.
  • Play will commence (Brisbane time) at 1:30pm with the usual game conditions to apply: 2 hour sessions, 40 minutes for lunch and 20 minutes for tea.
  • Play is scheduled to finish at 8:30pm with a possible extra 30 minutes available to finish the allotment of overs.

When I originally heard of day/night first class cricket I confess my first thoughts were significantly negative.  I saw it as solely a money grab but I now see the following benefits:

  • It makes cricket at a first class level more accessible to those who work, allowing those fans to attend a game they otherwise wouldn’t have.
  • Cricket, at test match level, could, if this trial is successful, be played in prime time which opens the game (again at test level) to a broader audience.
  • If cricket in the long form of the game does not innovate it will die a withering death: the crowds in the first and second test matches in South Africa are indicative of said indicative of said withering death.

It goes without saying that traditionalists, of which I am one, are not going to be massively enamoured with this change straight out of the gate. Equally, if Cricket Australia listens to feedback received and also refrains from making the day/night first class games too much like T20 games I believe this can be a move for the betterment of the game.

If I had to be negative about this trial, the thing I am disappointed in is the timing of the games. A Monday kick off to these fixtures means they will end on Thursday. If the ideology behind the day/night games was to get more fans in the gates then surely at least one day of the games had to be on the weekend.

I, for one, would love to attend the game at the Gabba and I work some 5 minutes from the ground but I am unlikely to attend because at the end of my working day (which is most often at around the start of the 3rd session) all I want to do is go home. A night of cricket on Friday / Saturday would have seen me there with bells on.

All in all today presents an opening of a door into, possibly, the future of first class cricket in Australia. It is also the penultimate round in the Sheffield Shield with a number of teams still chasing a spot in the finals. It will be exciting to see what happens!

Australians in South Africa 2014: 3rd Test Day 2 … Rain, rain go away

March 3, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

The second day of the third test match was drowned out from the middle of the second session with Australia in a dominant position at 7/494.

Before the rain came it was the Michael Clarke show as the captain of Australia went on to his 27th test match century.  Clarke has commented over night that this may well be the best hundred of his career but only if Australia win.

The fact is though: if this is not Michael Clarke’s best hundred then it is certainly his most courageous.  After surviving the day 1 onslaught from the South African bowlers and the agony of 24 balls on 99, getting to three figures must have been massively satisfying for him.  Now 161 not out overnight, he has the chance of pressing on to 200 at the start of day 3.

In the shadows of Michael Clarke’s epic innings was the batting of Steve Smith.  His 84 here was replete with some spectacular shots, none more so than depositing Morne Morkel back over his head for 6.  From a career in test cricket that seemed resigned to be a footnote in the anals of cricket history, Smith has become in less than 12 months a key member of this Australian team.

Looking forward to day 3, I would be astonised if Michael Clarke did not declare overnight.  He is nothing if not an aggressive captain and if Australia is to have any chance of getting 20 wickets one has to think Australia has to have South Africa 7 or 8 wickets down by stumps today.

What will not help Australia’s drive for victory is the pitch.  I have had many readers try to convince me that the pitch will break up and suit Australia’s spinner.  If that was correct before the rain, it stirkes me that the rain will have freshened up the pitch which will only make it less likely to break up over the remainder of the test match.

The weather may also have a part to play in the course of play on day 3.  The South African Weather Service predicts a mostly fine day for day 3 with a 30% chance of rain.  If that rain does arrive, every minute lost will reduce the probability of an Australian victory.

I will repeat what I said at lunch on Day 1 on twitter: this game will be a draw.  A freshened pitch with some rain around does not bode well for a result.  If there is to be a winner there is only one team it could be: Australia.

Play will be extended by an hour each day to make up for day 2’s lost time so the first ball will bowled at 5:30pm Brisbane time.

Australia in South Africa 2014: 3rd Test Day 1 … Warner’s Wonder and the Captain’s Courage

March 2, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Everything went Australia’s way on the first day of the third test at Newlands overnight: right from the minute Australia won the toss and batted they had the advantage in the game.

David Warner, much maligned by many during the week including me, finally did what many want from him: he let his bat do the talking. This was another innings of quality from Warner that mixed outright aggression at the start with graft to get to his hundred when the South Africans lifted their performance. Now if only he could stop doing all the things that fail to endear him to fans of the game he could be a world beater!

The loss of Dale Steyn with a hamstring strain is a massive one for the South Africans who, as happened in Port Elizabeth, find themselves a bowler down. Morne Morkel was excellent for the Proteas on what was a tough day at the office otherwise for them.

The highlight for me, despite the Warner hundred, was the innings of Michael Clarke: it has been a long time since a fast bowler has attacked a batsman as overtly as Morne Morkel attacked Clarke early in his innings and whilst he looked equal parts ungainly and lacking in technique he deflected the blows Morkel struck, got through the tough period and the thrived. Out of form going into this fixture it was almost as though the speed of Morkel energised Clarke and it now looks like there is little to stop another hundred for him on Day 2.

A final note: I see no other result in this game other than a draw. The pitch is flat. Scratch that: the pitch is very flat. It does no favours to cricket and its fans when wickets like this are trotted out in such important fixtures.

Play commences at around 6:30pm tonight Brisbane time.

Australia in South Africa 2014: Teams for the 3rd Test

March 1, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , Leave a comment

The toss has been won by Australia and it is batting at Newlands. Both teams have made two changes.

Australia:
Warner, C Rogers, A Doolan, M Clarke, S Smith, S Watson, B Haddin, M Johnson, J Pattinson, R Harris, N Lyon

South Africa:
G Smith, A Petersen, D Elgar, H Amla, AB de Villiers, F du Plessis, JP Duminy, V Philander, K Abbott, D Steyn, M Morkel

Pattinson in for Siddle the big surprise in all of this. I do not think Siddle is in form, now has been a for a while, but selecting a player who has not bowled a red ball in anger since August 2013 must be a risk.

Australia in South Africa 2014: 3rd Test Preview

March 1, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , Leave a comment

So it has all come down to this: the series is level at 1-1 and it is all to play for Australia and South Africa at Newlands. Both test matches to date have had as their cornerstones some exceptional individual performances: Marsh and Johnson for Australia in the first test and de Villiers, Duminy and Steyn for South Africa in the second test. This test match, one suspects, will rest more on team performance as a whole than the brilliance of a handful of individuals.

Here are my 5 keys to victory for the third test at Newlands:

1. Battle of the Leaders: Clarke v Smith

With the willow neither captain has set the world on fire and, when their respective sides have been winning, they have not really needed to. As captains, the current score line represents which captain has won the battle of the tacticians with Clarke monster in Smith first up only for Smith to bounce back in the second test. The captain who wins both the battle with the willow and tactically will be the captain raising the trophy at the end of this series.

2. Steyn v Johnson:

This battle has intrigued and teased us throughout the series and again it has been a battle of extremes: when one of the has been down on form the other has been dominant. Both bowlers possess the ability, above all others in this test match, to take wickets in clusters and thus can turn a game in a 5 over spell. The spearhead that performs the best will be in the winners circle at the end of this test.

3. The Pitch

The fact is that the home side has every right to prepare a wicket that is going to suit their strengths and they did so brilliantly in Port Elizabeth. If that wicket is the same for this test match then it is will advantage South Africa right out the gate because they are clearly the superior team on pitches that are slower and conducive to reverse swing. A bit of life in the wicket swings the metronome more to the favour of the Australian team.

4. Australia’s Demons: 9/21 and 47

The baggy greens return to the first time to the site of one its greatest embarrassments. The title to this paragraph says it all: there will be demons for the Australians from the last time they were here and those demons will only be exacerbated if they loose a couple of early wickets. Getting past 21 and 47 with no wickets down will be important milestones for Clarke’s men.

5. The Warner Factor

I am not talking about his batting here. After baiting the South Africans with cheating allegations during the week and subsequently being fined one can expect that David Warner will be the subject of some special attention from the Proteas and their fans. If the South Africans can harness their anger and direct it well it could prove a very powerful ally. Equally if they go over the top and press too hard it could distract them from their task which plays right into the hands of the Australians.

This will be a fascinating game between two quality teams. I, for one am already on the edge of my seat in anticipation.