Paterson could become the last of the Kolpaks

“As a 30-plus year-old bowler you don’t have that many years left in you.” – Ashwell Prince sends Dane Paterson, freshly 31, on his way with a backhanded hug.

TELFORD VICE in Cape Town

DANE Paterson could become the latest and perhaps the last South African to take the Kolpak route out of the country’s cricket structures. Fast bowler Paterson, who has played a dozen white-ball internationals since January 2017 and featured in two Tests against England last season, is believed to be in discussions with Nottinghamshire.

“We’ve been informed he’s doing so,” Paterson’s Cobras coach, Ashwell Prince, told an online press conference on Monday, without naming the county concerned, when asked whether Paterson had agreed a Kolpak contract. “But he needs final boxes to be ticked by the ECB [England Cricket Board]. We’ve been told it’s going to be done.”

If the deal is sealed Paterson will become the 69th player to exercise the Kolpak option. Only 20 have not been South African. But the arrangement could be shortlived. The United Kingdom (UK) left the European Union (EU) on March 31, which spells the imminent end of the Kolpak ruling’s impact on cricket. Currently, the measure enables counties to thwart the England Cricket Board’s (ECB) rules on how many foreigners they are allowed to field. Kolpak privileges are extended to the citizens of the 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries whose governments are party to the Cotonou agreement with the EU. Essentially, Kolpak makes the citizens of 105 other countries — the remaining 27 in the EU and the 78 Cotonou signatories — English in terms of their eligibility to play county cricket. That will change on December 31 this year, which marks the end of the UK’s transition period out of the EU. So, unless the transition is prolonged, the Kolpak window will close at the end of the year.

But Paterson would seem to have a plan B up his sleeve. “He has signed a Kolpak deal effectively,” Cobras spokesperson David Brooke said. “He is just awaiting the final rubber stamp from the ECB. If Kolpak falls away then he will be playing as an overseas pro for the county. We have been requested not to mention the name of the County until Dane has had his final interview with the ECB to ratify it.”

The news has probably come as a surprise to Cricket South Africa, who it appears were under the impression Paterson had turned Notts down. But there is unlikely to be major disappointment about a player who turned 31 on Saturday leaving a country not short of fast bowlers. “As a 30-plus year-old bowler you don’t have that many years left in you,” Prince said. “I’m sure they sit down and calculate what realistic opportunities will they have of playing for the Proteas. If not, they’ll consider other options.”

Of course, all avenues for making a living by playing cricket — along with vast swathes of the global economy — have been thrown into doubt by the coronavirus pandemic. On Monday, Yorkshire revealed they had become the first county to furlough their players and staff. Salaries are covered for now, largely by the UK government’s job retention scheme, but the situation remains fraught with uncertainty. The most high profile Kolpak defector in recent years, Duanne Olivier, played his first match for Yorkshire in March last year.

First published by Cricbuzz.

Bedingham bye-bye prompts Prince pout

“The reality is that we can’t keep pretending there is nothing wrong.” – Ashwell Prince

TELFORD VICE in Cape Town

ASHWELL Prince has come out swinging like he never did in his years as a circumspect Test batter in the wake of David Bedingham agreeing to play for Durham for the entire 2020 season. Prince now coaches the Cape Cobras, Bedingham is one of his players, and the county complication means he will miss South Africa’s 2019-20 franchise one-day competition.

“It’s about opportunity, it’s about uncertainty for the players,” Prince was quoted as saying in a Cobras release on Friday. “We tried everything to keep David here. In my honest opinion he has a better chance to play international cricket for South Africa if he had to stay. It’s high time that CSA [Cricket South Africa] sit down and look at things a little bit closer and get to the fact of the matter of why players are leaving. Don’t beat around the bush. That’s where we’re at. I have a good understanding why he left. If anyone at CSA has spoken to him, they will also understand the reason.”

Cricbuzz has learnt that the matter was indeed raised with CSA acting director of cricket Graeme Smith — who in December talked Dwaine Pretorius out of signing a Kolpak deal with Nottinghamshire, which would have precluded him from playing for South Africa. But Pretorius, then uncapped, was in South Africa’s squad at the time and has since played three Tests. Bedingham, 25, has played for the country’s Colts and under-19 teams but has yet to attract the attention of the national selectors.   

“If I have to criticise, people who can play at the highest level cannot just be seen around every corner; you just don’t see it — it’s 1% of players who can play at the highest level,” Prince was quoted as saying. “Yes, there’s no guarantee that David could go on to play at the highest level. But in my opinion I feel that he had a good chance to play international cricket. Some people might say he has not done enough yet, but you can argue that he should be around the South Africa A squads at the very least and he hasn’t had an opportunity at that level. The reality is that we can’t keep pretending there is nothing wrong.”

Like Pretorius, Bedingham is white. And in terms of CSA’s selection policy teams for franchise matches must include three black African players and three more who are generic black: typically of mixed race — or “coloured” — or of Asian descent. South Africa’s demographics mean the Cobras have an abundance of homegrown coloured players to choose from but struggle to groom black Africans. And when they find them, white players could lose out. So Prince’s issue is likely with the quota for black Africans — though he didn’t spell that out in his comments, perhaps because that would provoke outrage in black cricket circles.

The ink was still wet on the news of Bedingham’s imminent departure when it emerged that Durham had also acquired Farhaan Behardien’s services in a Kolpak deal. Unlike Bedingham, Behardien is coloured. Also unlike Bedingham, Behardien is 36 and in the autumn of his career. But South Africa’s structures can ill afford to forego the knowledge and experience he has amassed in 114 first-class matches, 59 ODIs and 38 T20Is.

Bedingham averages 45.75 with seven centuries in his 55 first-class innings. In 23 trips to the crease for the the upper tier Cobras he has made three hundreds and averages 50.42.

In an interview with SA Cricket Magazine in November he was quoted as saying: “My dream is still to play for my country. Once you believe you can’t play for your country, though, you do have to look at options like Kolpak. There is obviously money and security abroad, as guys like Simon Harmer and Duanne Olivier [who have signed Kolpak deals] have shown. One doesn’t always know how they will fare abroad, though, with the different conditions, pitches, lifestyle, etcetera. It’s different for everyone. Some are happy to take the risk to earn the money. Others are more family-orientated and might need to decide otherwise. I’m not there yet, but if I do get there, I’ll look at all the aspects with perspective and decide accordingly.”

Bedingham’s decision to sign as an overseas player rather than a member of the Kolpak crew means he may yet be back to stake his claim to a place in South Africa’s team. But he is now a big step removed from doing so.

First published by Cricbuzz.

On a good day, Pieter Malan can see forever

“That’s not pressure, that’s privilege. Pressure is playing out there in a semi-pro game, nobody watching, and you’re fighting for your career.” – Pieter Malan on reaching the Test arena.

TELFORD VICE in Cape Town

SEVERAL minutes after the end of his press conference at Newlands on Tuesday, Pieter Malan popped back into the room. “I don’t get them for free — I still have to pay,” he said as he retrieved the sunglasses he had left behind.

That wasn’t his only zinger. There was this, when he was asked about the pressures of playing Test cricket: “That’s not pressure, that’s privilege. Pressure is playing out there in a semi-pro game, nobody watching, and you’re fighting for your career. Being out there, the Barmy Army cheering, Jimmy Anderson running in, it felt like a video game at some stage. It was unbelievable. I felt very privileged to be in a position to fight for the team and try and bat long and just be there for as long as I can.”

There was also this, on the challenges of making his debut: “For me the most difficult parts are away from the ground; when you’re in the bus or in the hotel and your mind starts racing and you can’t do anything about it. If you’re in the middle, as soon as you walk down the stairs … I’ve walked down the [Newlands dressingroom] stairs a lot of time, playing for Western Province. I’ve even played a club game here, so you walk down the stairs and always take a second or two looking at the mountain, appreciating where we play because then you end up playing in Kimberley and there’s nothing to look at.”

Malan spoke with the authority earned by lived experience. As recently as December 1 he was playing in a semi-professional one-day game for Western Province against Northern Cape in, yup, Kimberley. Officially, that’s two levels below the international arena. In real terms, it’s a world away from where Malan was when he opened the batting for South Africa in the second men’s Test against England at Newlands.

His first innings was over in a minute less than half-an-hour in which he faced 17 balls for five runs: he steered to first slip a Stuart Broad delivery that was veering away. “That shot was so out of character it was ridiculous; I don’t play that shot,” Malan said. “It was probably a bit of Test debut nerves, taking in the situation too much and then I end up sparring at a ball I should have left. Second innings, I just tried to knuckle down and play the way that I normally do and it seemed to work better.” Indeed, there was no getting rid of Malan that easily once he took guard again, this time on a pitch significantly flatter. He scored 84 off 288 balls in a marathon of more than six hours and showed his mastery of the important art of knowing when not to offer a shot. “In the last three or four years, that’s been a massive part of my game — leaving the ball well and eliminating dismissals that I felt were soft. Especially as a new-ball player, you want to make them bowl at you. In South Africa, it’s tough opening the batting. There’s a lot of things happening; there’s nip, there’s bounce. So the less you can give the bowlers, the better. In their third and fourth spells, that’s where the real runs are.”

If all that makes Malan seem suspiciously grown up for a debutant, that’s because he is. He turned 30 in August, and went to Newlands with the experience of 245 first-class innings and 10,161 runs in his kitbag. In the process he has lived a chunk of life. He made his debut for Northerns in January 2007 and was playing for the Titans two years later. Because of a glut of batting talent at Centurion he moved to other end of the country, where he has turned out for Western Province from November 2013 and the Cobras from February 2015. “I don’t think I did myself any favours when I was younger,” Malan said. “I took a lot of stuff for granted, and didn’t put in the hard work that, in hindsight, I needed to put in. It’s also a matter of opportunities and them being limited and not taking them when I got them. It’s been a long road but it’s a road that I am glad I’ve been on because I am a better cricketer and I am a better person.”

Did he wonder if Test cricket had passed him by? “I thought it was never going to happen but life works in funny ways. I decided if it’s going to happen, it will happen. That it’s not something for me to worry about. Luckily it did happen.” But earning his chance for South Africa depended on him making the right choices. Like putting himself in the hands of Ashwell Prince, the Cobras coach who, like Malan, took plenty of obduracy to the crease in his 66 Tests. “Ashwell has been massive in my career,” Malan said. “He gave me my first chance for the Cobras, and back into franchise cricket. He has played 60-odd Tests, averages over 40 and has scored hundreds. So when he tells you something, you listen. He has lived it, he has done it, he is not making it up as he goes along. We work on small technical stuff that we just keep refining because you need to keep improving. It’s a bit of a cat-and-mouse game. You improve something, then the bowler spots another weakness, and you end up going back and forth. He is very good with that. And also from the mental side: he pushes you all the time and I enjoy that. You can never be comfortable, you can always be better, you can always do more. He is that type of coach.”

A picture doing the rounds on social media shows Malan in sleeveless training gear about to catch a tennis ball with his biceps bulging as if he has stepped straight out of the pages of super hero comic book. How long does he spend in the gym? “I’ve seen that photograph. I don’t do a lot of arms, actually. They should have taken a shot of my legs — that’s where I spend most of my time. But I do enjoy the gym. That’s where I go to switch off, put the music on and train and get away from whatever is going on around me.”

Like the fact that, even though South Africa lost by 189 runs at Newlands, Malan’s debut — which only happened because Aiden Markram broke a finger in the first Test at Centurion — was a solid success. And that, for all its weaknesses and limitations, South Africa’s domestic system clearly does prepare players for the international arena. The gym might also be where Malan goes to not think about the fact that, because of his age, his time in Test cricket could be limited.

Even so, his future promises to be bright. Don’t forget the shades.

First published by Cricbuzz. 

Morris in the money for 2020 IPL

Six South Africans in IPL squads have not played a single game.

TELFORD VICE in Cape Town

CHRIS Morris could buy a luxury villa in South Africa’s most exclusive neighbourhoods with the Rs. 10 crore Royal Challengers Bangalore pledged for his services in the 2020 Indian Premier League player auction in Kolkata on Thursday.

The lanky allrounder with a wingspan to match went for more than R20-million, and almost seven times his base price of Rs. 1.5 crore. But he was among only three Saffers who found buyers for their wares. The others were Dale Steyn, who was snared — at the third time of asking — by RCB for Rs. 2 crore — and David Miller, who went to the Rajasthan Royals for Rs. 75 lakh. Steyn and Miller sold for their base prices.

South Africans will no doubt read the fact that the money earned by Morris, Steyn and Miller can’t touch Pat Cummins’ Rs. 15.5 crore — the IPL record for a foreign player — as a further sign of decline in a game plagued by damagingly inept administration that has been a significant factor in the wilting of performances at international level.

Closer to the truth is that the South African IPL contingent have punched above their weight. Fifty-four Saffers were on the books of the tournament’s franchises in its first dozen editions. There were 10 in the inaugural event and one more than that last year, but of the first intake only AB de Villiers and Steyn made it to 2019. Of those originals, Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis now hold prominent positions in South Africa’s administrative and coaching structures.

De Villiers is the only South African among the four foreigners — Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle and Shane Watson are the others — who have featured in all 12 IPLs. At the other extreme are the six Saffers who were on rosters but never got a game: Ashwell Prince and Loots Bosman (both with the Mumbai Indians in 2008), Robbie Frylinck (Delhi Daredevils in 2011), Jonathan Vandiar (Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2011), Gulam Bodi (Delhi in 2012 and, impressively in its own way, 2013) and Cameron Delport (Kolkata Knight Riders in 2018).

Six South Africans were retained by their franchises this year — Quinton de Kock, De Villiers, Faf du Plessis, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir and Hardus Viljoen. That’s one fewer than those who were released — Beuran Hendricks, Colin Ingram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Morris, Anrich Nortjé and Steyn. Their IPL-minded compatriots will be happy that Miller and Steyn landed deals to swing the national equation into positive territory. But there will be disbelief that players of the stature of Ingram and Nortjé went unsold, as did Klaasen and Andile Phehlukwayo.

The IPL is despised and delights in almost equal measure in South Africa. It is a monster that feeds on the energies of the national team’s best players, as well as a showcase for the calibre of cricketers the nation produces. But it will not be ignored, not least by estate agents who work in South Africa’s most exclusive neighbourhoods.

First published by Cricbuzz.

Sunshine in SA cricket’s scrapyard

“I felt the Proteas needed a really hardened, internationally experienced guy.” – Graeme Smith on why Mark Boucher has replaced Enoch Nkwe.

TELFORD VICE in Cape Town

ENOCH Nkwe was about to take a seat at one end of a top table of four places for a press conference at Newlands on Saturday when his new boss, who was sat in the middle, held out a halting hand and waved him over to another empty space directly to his right.

Graeme Smith, as of Wednesday Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) director of cricket, if only for the next three months although he is open to a longer tenure, has been away from the glare of the game for more than five years. But he hasn’t forgotten the importance of how things look, perhaps because he was never far from uncomplimentary opinions on his rough-hewn batting technique. Smith knew Saturday’s optics demanded that Nkwe, who has been jettisoned as interim team director — or coach — of South Africa’s men’s team should not be seen to have been sidelined. So he drew him closer to the light.

Also in Smith’s halo, at his left, sat someone who he knew, as a player, never walked onto a cricket ground without enough confidence to power an entire team, and then some. Mark Boucher, who had Smith as his captain in 85 of his 147 Tests, has been appointed South Africa’s coach until after the 2023 World Cup. Nkwe will serve as his assistant.

The return of Smith and Boucher to the international stage after spells spent in the relative deserts of commentary and franchise coaching, and the appointment of the respected Jacques Faul as acting chief executive, have been antidotes to months of mounting damage that has resulted in four CSA board members resigning and seven staff suspended, among them the chief executive, Thabang Moroe.

“What’s been happening of late has been disappointing for everybody,” Smith said. “We need to turn around the image, and a lot of things still need to shift. My goal is focused on getting the Proteas and the structures performing well. We know that cricket is a big part of bringing in budget, and we know that a high-performing Proteas team goes a long way to providing some confidence.”

Smith has stepped into a scrapyard strewn with the wrecks of a CSA board that has abdicated its responsibility to the game in favour of its own self-interest and survival, the severing of a longstanding sponsorship relationship and threats of the same from another, a men’s team who have dwindled to a shadow of their former flinty selves, and outright anger from a cricketminded pubic who have had enough of all that.

Importantly, the board have been removed from the process of trying to fix what is so obviously broken. “There is no relationship [with the board] at this stage,” Smith said. “My point of call had been Jacques. We’re trying to sort the game and take it forward.” Smith said he had yet to talk to any board members since his appointment, and none of the remaining eight were present on Saturday. His agreement to take the position, which followed him refusing weeks ago, is thought to have hinged on Moroe’s axing.

“I didn’t have a lot of confidence in the leadership of CSA,” Smith said. “I made the communication very clear that I didn’t feel you could achieve in this role with the leadership that was there at the time. You need a robust CSA for people to be able to challenge each other. You need trust, and you need to have an environment that’s ready for that. I didn’t feel the environment was ready before I took this job. If I’m going to come in I want to be able to do the best [I can]. I feel that opportunity is there now. I have a lot of confidence in Jacques as the CEO.”

Boucher said players were not immune to trouble at higher levels infecting their performances, as was suggested by South Africa’s poor World Cup, where they won only three of their eight completed games, and a 3-0 thrashing in their Test series in India under Nkwe in October: “When you lack leadership from up top it does seep into the lower sections of the train,” Boucher said. “Guys start getting away with murder at the bottom. If we get the right leadership at the top it’s going to filter down. I’m very confident that we’ve got the right leadership at the top and it will filter down to all sections of the game in our country.” He acknowledged that there was plenty of repair work to do: “The game has been hurt. The bottom line is that myself an Enoch have been put in place to get the Protea team doing well. If we look after that space I do think we’ll get the crowds and fans behind us again.”

Linda Zondi, who convened the selection panel that was dissolved in the wake of the World Cup but not replaced, returns as an independent member of a committee to pick South Africa’s squad that features captain Faf du Plessis along with Boucher and Nkwe. On Monday they will name the squad for the first two Tests against England in a four-match series that starts in Centurion on December 26. Ashwell Prince, who insiders say refused an offer to act as the team’s batting consultant, will coach South Africa A on a part-time basis and retain his position as head coach of the Cape Cobras. Batting and bowling consultants will be appointed in the coming days.

But it is the replacement of Nkwe with Boucher that sticks out as potentially contentious. Both have won titles at franchise level but Nkwe has coached for longer and, as the holder of a level four certificate, is the more qualified of the two. Nkwe is also black in a game that is determined to transform itself to better reflect the majority of its players and supporters, as well as the wider nation. Boucher is white. But he comes with the credibility of a successful international career — which Nkwe never had.

“I felt the Proteas needed a really hardened, internationally experienced guy,” Smith said. “Mark is tactically very knowledgeable. We all know what qualities he has as a man as well. I felt those decisions were the best for the current Proteas set-up. We’ve had a number of chats with Enoch in terms of his path going forward, and developing him into a high standard international coach. We feel he has a lot of qualities that are going to be very useful to Mark, and in progressing his own future in South African cricket.” Smith said he was braced for questioning from a society that unflinchingly interrogates racial issues: “I expect that. My job is to create cricket excellence. I 100% feel I’ve made the right decision for the Proteas in terms of cricket excellence. I feel Enoch’s appointment as assistant coach is the right thing, also for Enoch’s future. We also need to think about managing people and not just a number. I’m very aware of transformation. I led my country for 11 years. I had to be very much part of managing those processes. Mark’s appointment, as a battle-hardened international cricketer, is what was needed.”

Did Nkwe consider himself demoted? “Not at all,” he said. “Whatever decision that gets made, if I’m not involved then I go back to franchise cricket and do my utmost to impact the system positively. I’ve been fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to remain in the set-up. There’s a lot of room for growth, but I feel I’m going to make a massive impact — not only in the team but in our country. We’re going through a bit of a tough time, but there’s no better opportunity than to be inside and help transform the team to become the best in the world.”

A team like the side Smith and Boucher used to play for, perhaps, and which they seem determined to re-invent in that image. “I think Faf is happy that there’s a bit of leadership around,” Smith said. “It’s been very frustrating for both him an Enoch — there’s been almost no communication [with CSA]. I’m glad we were able to come in and provide some leadership for them. Hopefully we can take away some of the drama from them so they can focus on playing cricket well. That’s what we need from them. It’s going to be our responsibility to clean up the rest.” Boucher sounded like he knew how to do that: “Our confidence is a bit down. We need to get our confidence back. There’s a wealth of knowledge in this country that can be utilised; to get consultants in, to try and get the confidence up, to try and get as much information going in the right direction through to the players and give them the space to try and perform at their best. We’ve got that talent in this country but that’s got to be nurtured.”

Right now, however, the priority is to stop the series against Joe Root’s team catching fire in the wrong way. With Nasser Hussain posting on social media that he could pick a team of Kolpak players that could beat South Africa, the sparks are flying already. “I know they’ve been saying quite a few things in the media, and probably rightly so,” Boucher said. “But I’ve got one thing to say to them: beware a wounded buffalo, especially in Africa.”

Fighting words. But you wouldn’t expect anything else from someone who knows no other way. For his next trick, could Boucher convince AB de Villiers to come out of international retirement for next year’s T20 World Cup? “When you go to a World Cup you want your best players. If you feel he’s one of the best players, then why wouldn’t you want to have conversations with him? If there are a couple of issues you’ve got to iron out, if it’s for the best of South Africa, absolutely. Let’s try and do it.”

Suddenly, and for the first time in a while in South African cricket, all good things seem possible.

First published by Cricbuzz. 

CSA miss own deadline on Cobras transformation issue

“I can’t comment on what goes on right at the top but I can certainly say there’s great talent in South Africa.” – Robin Peterson focuses on the positive.

TELFORD VICE in Cape Town

CRICKET South Africa (CSA) seem set to miss their self-imposed deadline for getting to the bottom of a transformation target transgression last month.

The Cobras’ XI for their first-class fixture against the Warriors at Newlands included seven black players — one more than the stipulated number.

But only two of them, fast bowlers Thando Ntini and Tladi Bokako, were black African — one fewer than the target.

“CSA has noted the submission by Western Cape Cricket [WCC] in lieu of a request for a deviation from the administrative conditions,” a CSA spokesperson said at the time.

But, according to Cobras coach Ashwell Prince, there was nothing “in lieu” about how he had approached the issue.

“I followed the protocol,” Prince told TMG Digital.

CSA also said they would “launch a further enquiry into this incident and will consider all the related and relevant information in order to arrive at a decision about the strength and the validity of the argument by WCC”, and that, “It is anticipated that the investigation may take up to 14 days.”

That was on October 29 — the 14 days expires on Tuesday.

Asked on Monday night whether CSA had reached a decision, a spokesperson said only, “We will announce the outcome once we have concluded the matter.”

Pressed for a better answer, he became defensive.

The Cobras squad contains four other black Africans — batters Aviwe Mgijima and Simon Khomari, and fast bowlers Akhona Mnyaka and Mthiwekhaya Nabe — while another, spinner Tsepo Ndwandwa, has played for them this season.

None were injured when the game against the Cobras started at Newlands on October 28.

Mgijima has scored just 39 runs in five first-class innings this season while Khomari made two and four in his only match of the campaign.

Mnyaka took 1/30 in the nine overs he bowled on his debut in January, his only first-class match to date.

Nabe also last played for the Cobras in January, and has taken 47 wickets in 31 first-class games at an average of 43.27.

Ndwandwa has claimed three wickets in the two first-class games he has played for the Cobras this season.

In cricket terms, none of those players are banging down the door for a place in the Cobras team.

Who might have been left out to make room for another black African is another consideration.

Five members of the top six who played average more than 30 this summer, with Kyle Verreynne topping the list at 70.66 and Matthew Kleinveldt weighing in at 56.00.

The only merely black — not black African — fast bowler in the side, Dane Paterson, has taken 18 wickets at 21.55 in four games.

The other three members of the team, Zubayr Hamza, George Linde and Dane Piedt, the captain, were all freshly back from South Africa’s poor Test series in India.

It was thus in the national interest that they played. 

And in the Cobras’ interest: before that match they had lost to the Lions and drawn with the Titans and Dolphins.

The game against the Warriors was also drawn, leaving the Cobras second from bottom in the standings.

There was, therefore, no good cricket case to be made for forcing an out-of-form player into a side that needed a win at the expense of someone better equipped for their role.

But, as the Springboks proved emphatically at the men’s World Cup in Japan, quotas can lead to triumph because they open eyes that were previously closed.

There’s a good argument to be made that the Boks would not have done as well as they did had teams not been forced to pick black players.

Decades of selection bias — consciously or not — robbed black players of their opportunities.

With their presence guaranteed, they could not be unfairly sidelined.

And, what do you know, they turned out to be among the best players South Africa had.

That Siya Kolisi, Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe merit their places is beyond question.

As is the likelihood that, without quotas, they would never have been given the chance to prove it.  

It’s a happy ending cricket is still chasing, and the dwindling confidence in CSA’s current leadership won’t bring it any closer. 

Perhaps that vital task should be left to people who know what they’ve doing, like Warriors coach Robin Peterson.

“I can’t comment on what goes on right at the top but I can certainly say there’s great talent in South Africa,” Peterson told TMG Digital during the now controversial Newlands match.

He is about 18 months from completing a Masters in sport directorship at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Peterson hasn’t yet decided what his dissertation topic will be, but he has an idea.

“Maybe I’ll do it on ethical transformation,” he said. “Is there such a thing as ethical transformation?

“I’m living in a situation I can write about, so why not.”

Given South Africa’s past and present, Peterson won’t want for research material.

“It’s very difficult to heal wounds, but if this is your only skill in life it’s very difficult to kill people’s dreams.

“You have to give them opportunities if they’re good enough to play.”

It seems a simple statement, but South Africans will know just how complex it is.

First published by TMG Digital. 

SA cricket fiddling with MSL while Test team burns

“I’m sure there are people in much higher positions than myself, at Proteas level and CSA level, who know exactly how they are going to go about improving the situation.” – Ashwell Prince keeps the faith.

TELFORD VICE in Cape Town

WITH South Africa’s men’s Test team at their lowest point and a series against England starting in just more than seven weeks, the responsible approach would be to divert all efforts into putting out the fire.

Instead, South Africa’s players will fiddle with the Mzansi Super League (MSL) for more than five weeks of that precious time.

Ashwell Prince, who placed a higher price on his wicket than most, and who consequently must have been more frustrated than most at South Africa’s flaccid batting in India last month, might have been able to help fix the problem if his Cobras were out there every week playing first-class cricket.

But that opportunity will be wasted because Prince will coach the Cape Town Blitz in the MSL, which starts on Friday.

“I don’t want to make comments about the Proteas and Test cricket at the moment,” Prince told a press conference in Cape Town on Monday. “I think we’re all here for the exciting second edition of the MSL.

“I’m sure there are people in much higher positions than myself, at Proteas level and CSA [Cricket South Africa] level, who know exactly how they are going to go about improving the situation.

“But at the moment I want to focus on the Blitz. We’ve got an exciting team with some exciting players, and we want to go out and enjoy that, and entertain.”

Except that figures who “know exactly how they are going to go about improving the situation” are thin on the ground.

Enoch Nkwe’s appointment as South Africa’s team director is interim — he was in place for the India tour only — and last week CSA suspended director of cricket Corrie van Zyl, another interim appointee, and sponsorship and sales head Clive Eksteen, the only members of their staff who have international playing experience.

Reality will resume after the MSL ends on December 16 — three days before the start of the only remaining round of franchise first-class games before the England series.

Not that there’s certainty that all or even most of the Test players will be in action in those games.

Only half of the 12 fit players who, in India, presided over South Africa’s worst performance in a series in 83 years turned out for their franchises in last week’s first-class matches.

Given all that, cricketminded South Africans will be desperate for a silver lining.

The closest their going to get to that is Hashim Amla’s appointment as the Blitz’ batting consultant, which was announced on Monday.

Like Prince, who faced 100 or more balls in 28 of his 104 Test innings and more than 200 in a dozen of them, suffered only one first-baller — six innings before he retired — and was dismissed in fewer than 10 deliveries just 12 times, Amla valued his wicket greatly.

He was there for at least 100 balls in 61 of 215 trips to the crease, had just 20 innings of fewer than 10 deliveries, and was also out first ball only once — in the first innings of his last Test, when an inswinger from Sri Lanka’s Vishwa Fernando nailed his middle stump.

Contrast that with the facts that 20 of the 60 wickets South Africa lost in India went down in fewer than 10 balls, that only nine times did a player face more than 100 deliveries in the series and only once more than 200 — Dean Elgar’s 160 in the first Test in Visakhapatnam came off 287 balls — and it isn’t difficult to see why Amla’s insight could be important.

That will, hopefully, be the case even though T20 batting is hardly about occupying the crease.

“There’s been a lot of comments lately in the media lately about the lack of our former national players’ involvement in the game,” Prince said when asked about Amla’s involvement.

“I approached him and he was very open to the idea. I don’t think he’s charging us a penny for his services, which is very rare these days.

“To have him share some of his knowledge and ideas would be invaluable.”

What might Blitz captain Quinton de Kock, who shared 125 partnerships with Amla for South Africa across all formats — 13 of them century stands — have learnt from cricket’s calmest player?

“Yoh! There’s a lot he’s taught me,” De Kock said. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career, and he’s been the one guy to be there — backing me and helping me.

“‘Hash’ will know what to do. He will see how he can get the best out of them, whether it’s from a mental or a technical point of view, or just hitting more balls.

“He’s really good at one-on-ones; individual chats rather than in team spaces.”

Warriors coach Robin Peterson thinks so, too. That’s why he enlisted Amla’s help for his team’s first-class match against the Cobras at Newlands last week.

“His manner and the way he talks about batting, he’d be the perfect guy to get the knowledge across,” Peterson said.

Here’s hoping Amla’s wisdom sticks somewhere in the minds of De Kock, Vernon Philander, Anrich Nortjé and George Linde, the Test players in the Blitz squad.

But there’s a catch. Amla will join the side only on November 25.

What’s he doing until then? Playing in something less relevant than even the MSL: the Abu Dhabi T10 League.

Suddenly, that lining is not so silver.

First published by TMG Digital.

Domingo to head up Bangladesh’s burgeoning boerewors brigade

“There are many names of coaches that spring to mind including Duncan Fletcher, Graham Ford, Mickey Arthur and Adrian Birrell.” – Corrie van Zyl lists some of the coaches lost to the game in South Africa. 

TELFORD VICE in London

BANGLADESH’S burgeoning boerewors brigade gained another member on Saturday when Russell Domingo was appointed head coach of the improving Asians’ men’s team.

Many will see his success as another nail hammered into the coffin of an ailing game in South Africa.  

Domingo, a former South Africa assistant and head coach who is currently in charge of the A side, will join fellow South Africans Neil McKenzie and Charl Langeveldt — Bangladesh’s batting and bowling coaches — in Dhaka.

All three were in South Africa’s dressingroom during Domingo’s tenure as head coach, which ran from 2013 to 2017.

“We have been very impressed with his passion and coaching philosophy,” Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan was quoted as saying in a release.

“He has a clear idea of what is required to take the team forward.”

South Africa and Bangladesh had identical records at this year’s World Cup: three wins from eight completed games.

But the Bangladeshis’ successes — over South Africa, West Indies and Afghanistan — were signs of the gathering strength of their team, and the good work done by McKenzie and Langeveldt, who were both spurned by South Africa and have since had their Bangladesh contracts extended.

Indeed, the South Africans’ loss to Bangladesh, which followed their defeat by England and preceded being beaten by India, was the most crushing blow of a failed campaign that has prompted a rash of panicky restructuring by Cricket South Africa (CSA).

“I have followed Bangladesh’s progress with keen interest and I am extremely excited to assist the team in reaching the goals that they are capable of,” the release quoted Domingo as saying.

“I look forward to continuing the ongoing development of current players whilst also looking towards the future and developing some new bright stars from within the talent pool of Bangladesh cricket.”

In a CSA release, acting director of cricket Corrie van Zyl tried to put a positive spin on the news: “Russell has kept us in the loop throughout this process and, although we are sorry to lose his services, we wish him well and know that he will be yet another one of the coaches who have come successfully through our development system to coach at provincial or franchise level and end up at the very top.

“There are many names of coaches that spring to mind including Duncan Fletcher, Graham Ford, Mickey Arthur and Adrian Birrell.

“Gary Kirsten’s first significant coaching position was as batting consultant to the Warriors when Russell was in charge there and he has gone on to be a World Cup winner.”

Van Zyl neglected to mention that Kirsten didn’t win the World Cup with South Africa — he guided India to triumph in 2011 — and that none of the other coaches he named are still significantly involved in the game in the country.

New Zealander Daniel Vettori is the spin bowling expert in a Bangladesh coaching staff that, for their first trick, will take charge of a one-off Test against Afghanistan in Chattogram that starts on September 5.

Malibongwe Maketa, freshly fired as South Africa’s assistant coach in the wake the World Cup, is now the A team’s interim coach while Cobras coach Ashwell Prince will take Domingo’s place for a spin camp in Bangalore from August 17 to 23.

First published by TMG Digital.

Who, what, where, when, why and how of South Africa’s recovery unclear

Where will South Africa get what they need to repair the damage considering there is no trust in the domestic system to deliver the goods?

Sunday Times

TELFORD VICE in Chester-le-Street

FUTURES are on the line in South African cricket in the wake of a dismal men’s World Cup campaign, but the immediate future is murky.

What South Africa’s team will look like by the middle of September, when they go off to India to play three T20s and as many tests, is not at all clear.

For a start, who would want to coach them now? They are damaged goods.

Ottis Gibson is a respected and admired bowling coach, and has even gone where no South Africa coach has by winning a World T20.

But, on this evidence, he isn’t the coach to take the team forward. Who that might be is less pertinent than who would want to put themselves through what it takes to hold South Africa’s reins.

Paddy Upton has made it clear that plenty would have to change about the structures around the team before he would consider taking the role. He will not be alone.

It’s difficult to imagine straight arrows like Mark Boucher and Ashwell Prince putting up with what passes for cricket administration in South Africa, even less a respected foreign coach.

The best Cricket South Africa (CSA) can hope for is that a coach who has a point to prove will take on the challenge; someone in the Dav Whatmore mould. It will be a gamble, but beggars can’t be choosers.

South Africa’s post-World Cup rebuild won’t end there. Besides a new coach — and support staff — they will need new senior batters, new fast bowlers, new spinners, and, perhaps, a new captain.

Where will they get them considering there is no trust in the domestic system to deliver the goods?

It wasn’t an answer to the question, but reassurance that all is not lost came at the Riverside on Friday after Kusal Mendis cracked Andile Phehlukwayo square of the wicket.

The ball, a fluorescent dot in the neon sunshine and uncluttered air of England’s north, sped across the sprawl of greensward.

After the ball, as if it had been stolen something from him, sped Rassie van der Dussen, an unapologetically athletic figure refusing to concede defeat.

Here comes the boundary. Here comes the ball. And here comes Van der Dussen, a tumbling jumble of arms and legs and an eyeblink too late.

Although in vain, and in a match that couldn’t rescue South Africa’s woeful campaign, the feat was impressive.

After everything — the shattering injuries, the shocking batting, the cracks in the confidence — someone still cared enough to chase a certain four all the way to the boundary.

As he ran, Van der Dussen looked, in the best possible way, like a schoolboy: still thrilled that his body can do this, still in love with the game, still believing. It’s at times like these that we seek out moments like this.

“Hope’s a very dangerous thing for me,” Faf du Plessis said before South Africa’s match against Afghanistan.

But what if hope is all you have left? The sight of Van der Dussen hurrying in hot pursuit was that hope, and should be kept dear.

Thing is, Van der Dussen is an outlier who has made the leap to international level despite, not because of, franchise cricket. Just like Anrich Nortjé, who might have made a significant difference to South Africa’s World Cup had he not broken a thumb.

South Africa will depend on players like them — and on finding others — to clear some of the murk from their future.

“Guys who will carry on have to pick up some of the pieces that have fallen in this World Cup,” JP Duminy said on Thursday.

“But that is what makes a strong South African team. We have always been resilient, we have always had opportunities to come back. I have no doubt this team will come back stronger.”

How?

“I wish I could give you an answer. I’m not sure. We heard reports that heads will roll.

“The important thing for us is to take responsibility and stand up and be man enough to know that we have come up short.

“In terms of the decisions that CSA make, that’s out of my hands.

“But going on previous World Cups, there will probably be some shifting. That’s the reality that we all understand.”

Do CSA understand that reality? On Monday, the day after South Africa’s first-round exit was confirmed, the suits issued a release.

It surely offered leadership for the coming months, a plan to follow. Surely not. Here’s the headline: “CSA invites players to register interest for MSL 2.0.”

And we wonder why things are a mess. 

Coaches to salute in 2017

When you’re stuck in the bubble of unreality that is international cricket, you need Adrian Birrell.

TMG Digital

TELFORD VICE in Cape Town

THEY’RE the people who will be blamed for what goes wrong even though they’re on the other side of the boundary, and ignored when it goes right. They’re the coaches and here are five who have earned their salutes in 2017.

1. Titans head coach Mark Boucher

Boucher doesn’t care if you don’t like his methods or if your team’s progress is impeded by his decisions.

“I don’t get paid to look after other franchises — I get paid to look after the Titans,” he said after his team completed their march to the T20 title.

In an age when coaches talk too much and don’t do enough Boucher is a throwback to a time when performance mattered more than marketing.

2. Cobras head coach Ashwell Prince

Prince is cut from the same cloth as Boucher: tough, uncompromising, couldn’t give a damn about what people say.

There is about him a virtual obsession with fairness, hard work and success, and a seriousness that marks him out as a coach players will respect as well as follow.

Domestic cricket will be compelling whenever Prince and Boucher are in opposing dugouts.

So, with the first-class and one-day competitions still to be decided, prepare to be compelled to watch.

3. South Africa assistant coach Malibongwe Maketa

Growing up on the Border Maketa showed great promise as a fast bowler who could bat and seemed set to light up the game at whatever level he reached.

But he might have been ended up on cricket’s scrapheap after stress fractures limited his playing career to one match each in the first-class and list A formats.

Instead of bleating about what might have been like other former players Maketa set about building his career as a coach.

That the Warriors, his former employers, are sad as well as happy to see him elevated to the international arena tells us everything we need to know.

4. South Africa batting coach Dale Benkenstein

It’s a shame the thoughtful, competent, articulate Neil McKenzie had to be replaced when Ottis Gibson took over as South Africa’s head coach. The good news is that Benkenstein is at least McKenzie’s equal in all three respects.

The buck will stop with Benkenstein to sort out the batting problems that caused South Africa’s downfall in England this winter.

But Benkenstein has the skill and experience required for that challenge, and he comes with the added perspective afforded him by his current and ongoing work in the school system with Hilton College in KwaZulu-Natal.

5. Former South Africa assistant coach Adrian Birrell

Birrell, who lost his job to Maketa, will tell you that his major contribution to the national cause was to serve as a bottomless source of throwdowns.

Closer to the truth is that Birrell has been the national team’s reality check for the past four years.

He is steeped in cricket — his father, Harry, played for Oxford University, Eastern Province and what is now Zimbabwe and became a much-respected groundsman — but he is about much more than the game.

Birrell junior still farms, near Grahamstown, and can talk at length and passionately about everything from drought to beekeeping.

When you’re stuck in the bubble of unreality that is international cricket, you need people like Birrell.