Could CSA’s plan B be better than the T20GL?

A trainsmash is a trainsmash is a trainsmash, however much you ignore its shuddering impact and keep calm and carry on.

Sunday Times

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TELFORD VICE in Cape Town

WHATEVER happens, do not, under any circumstances, come hell, high water or anything else, mention the war.

“Focus now shifts to the shorter format, with the T20 Challenge scheduled to begin next Friday, November 10,” at least four Cricket South Africa (CSA) press releases have read, more or less, in the past six days.

Is this a plot to con us by rote?

“Please be advised,” another effort intoned, “that the changes to the franchise fixtures for the 2017-18 season has meant that changes have had to be made to the CSA provincial fixture lists as well.”

But a trainsmash is a trainsmash is a trainsmash, however much you ignore its shuddering impact and keep calm and carry on.

The bulletproof truth is that the T20 Challenge is desperate damage control for the failed inaugural edition of the T20 Global League.

CSA told us on October 10 that they had postponed the latter because it was going to run at a loss of US$25-million. They also said they would investigate. More than three weeks on, they’ve volunteered precious little else on the issue.

What does this mean for cricketminded South Africans, besides giving them still another reason to think the suits are dangerously negligent at best?

That they won’t be able to watch, in the flesh at a ground near them, fading stars like Chris Gayle, Kevin Pietersen, Lasith Malinga and Brendon McCullum inflate their bank balances in the pretend cause of teams that don’t barely exist.

Plan B is that they will be able to watch, in the flesh at a ground near them, playing for a team that has existed since the start of the franchise era 13 years ago, something as relevant as Dale Steyn’s return from a year on the sidelines with a calamitous shoulder injury.

And to see how seriously Vernon Philander, who has recovered from a back problem and has been playing first-class matches, which are not on television and therefore out of mind, has taken Graeme Smith’s blunt admonition in England this winter that he needs to lose the junk in his trunk.

Yes, Steyn and Philander would have played in the T20GL. But now they won’t have ballies like Gayle and Pietersen getting in their way.

The prospect of seeing Steyn steam in for the Titans in their opener against the Lions on Sunday is easily worth taking the Gautrain for those within striking distance of Centurion.

There are, then, reasons to look forward to plan B that don’t require the suspension of disbelief.

But, at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth, where the Warriors will be up against the Knights next Friday, there is a disappointment for what might have been.

“The T20GL was well-positioned in terms of the quality of the competition,” Mark Williams, the chief executive of the Eastern Province Cricket Board and the Warriors, said.

“The quality of player that the T20GL attracted will make it a really good competition [if the postponed tournament is played in future as promised], and the plans that our franchise owner had would have made it quite special.

“But we’ve got the Proteas back, which is good. Whether they play for the Warriors or not we’re still going to feature them at St George’s Park, and that’s going to help.

“So [the T20 Challenge] will be better than other years because of the Proteas being around. Whether it’s going to measure up to the T20GL, I’ll leave it for you to answer because …”

Williams didn’t finish his sentence. But at least he mentioned the war.

Leading Edge: Philander — bowler, batsman, human

Sunday Times

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TELFORD VICE in Manchester

WE’RE all Vernon Philander. Not as bowlers: none of those who have marked out a run-up since he made his test debut in that mad game against Australia at Newlands in November 2011 — 96 all out followed by 47 all out, half of them his for only 15 — are as good at making cricket balls lie through the teeth of their seams.

“I’m shaping in,” they say sweetly, and batsmen can’t help but believe them. “Ha! Gone away. Sorry for you …”

Among modern bowlers, few have more batting ability than Philander. He marries instinct to intelligence to intent and, more often than not, reaps the rewards that come with playing proper strokes.

We are nowhere near Philander as cricketers. So, how are we Philander? As humans.

There’s a frailty to Philander that makes him one of us.

Had a fight with the boss? Ah. Happens to everybody. Let’s have a beer and talk about the obscene outrage that is Neymar’s transfer fee.

Stuck in traffic? Sterkte, mate. I’ll keep your beer in the fridge.

Woke up with stiff lower back? Careful: you wouldn’t want to, say, bowl 20 overs today.

Not that people who dodge doctors in the dressingroom to go out and bat with a broken hand would understand.

“He can’t seem to make it through series; his body is maybe not fit enough,” Graeme Smith said on Test Match Special on Friday after Philander pulled out of the Old Trafford test with, wouldn’t you know it, a stiff lower back.

“It’s been an issue but it’s becoming serious. You’re trying to build a team and if your senior players can’t get through tours then you’ve got a problem.

“He took a blow [on the hand while batting] at Lord’s and it took a crane to get him back onto the field.

“There’s been too many times where you’re fighting to get him onto the field.”

Smith said Philander needed to “find a way to front up” and spoke of “so-called injuries”.

Those words will hurt Philander, and not only because Smith was his captain in 23 tests. South Africa’s players, particularly those of Smith’s and Philander’s generation and earlier, don’t blink at hearing that sort of thing said about them by friends and foes alike.

It’s at another level that Smith’s views will hit Philander for six; that level we all know, whatever our talent — or lack thereof — for playing games. You could call it ego or you could call it what it is.

It’s the human level, which can trigger punches if the words hit hard enough and especially if they are said in a pub after a certain hour.

Whether what Smith says is true hardly matters. What does is that it’s out there, and that people will believe it.

Smith slams Philander’s commitment

Times Media

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TELFORD VICE at Old Trafford

GRAEME Smith has slammed the commitment of fast bowler Vernon Philander, who was ruled out of the fourth test against England on Friday with a back injury.

“He can’t seem to make it through series; his body is maybe not fit enough,” former South Africa captain Smith said on the BBC’s Test Match Special radio programme.

Philander came into the series with an ankle injury he sustained while playing for Sussex.

He suffered a bruised hand while batting in the first test at Lord’s and was hospitalised with a stomach virus during the third test at The Oval.

Smith, who was Philander’s captain in 23 tests, said the fast bowler’s lack of availability was a growing frustration for South Africa.

“It’s been an issue but it’s becoming serious, more of an issue,” Smith said. “You’re trying to build a team and if your senior players can’t get through tours then you’ve got a problem.

“He took a blow at Lord’s and it took a crane to get him back onto the field.

“There’s been too many times where you’re fighting to get him onto the field.

“If you think about South Africa’s line-up, unless Philander is fit they can’t go in without the extra bowler.

“Him not being fit influences a vast amount of strategy in terms of selection.”

Philander has played in 46 of South Africa’s 57 tests since he made his debut against Australia at Newlands in November 2011.

Seven of those 11 games have been played since he was ruled out of the last three matches of South Africa’s series in India in November 2015 with torn ankle ligaments.

Philander’s other withdrawals came before the Kingsmead test against Sri Lanka in December 2011, when he hurt a knee during net practice, ahead of the Adelaide test against Australia in November 2012, with a back problem, and because of a hamstring strain that kept him out of the St George’s Park test against New Zealand in January 2013.

Will this SA team dominate like Smith’s?

Sunday Times

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TELFORD VICE in Nottingham

A leviathan loomed at Lord’s last week. Not that you could, in fairness, call Graeme Smith a sea monster. But he did loom and he was at Lord’s. And that does alliterate.

So does the thought of a titan towering over Trent Bridge. That’s what Smith is doing this week, thanks to his commentary gig on Test Match Special.

Smith’s jaw juts like a ship’s prow in an ocean of mere chins, his shoulders a yardarm that seem to span the cowering room. A big man in every way when he roamed the field with his fellow players, he is now Gulliver among Lilliputians.

That only means he dominates in England more, in some senses, than he did in 2003. And 2008. And again in 2012.

You can see it in the eyes of those who come to the sudden and terrible realisation: “Oh my God! He’s back.”

Scores of 277 and 259 in his first three test innings in this country, two more centuries five years later, another ton and a couple of half-centuries four years after that: perhaps Smith is a kind of sea monster, after all. At least, to the people of this island.

But the flash of fear soon fades as reality sets in: “He’s retired! Thank heavens!”

Still, it must have been cold comfort to them that Smith, on commentary, credited England as the place where he cemented his place in the game in only his third and fourth matches as South Africa’s captain.

“The big moment for me was the two double hundreds,” Smith said. “I had made some scores before that, but then the captaincy came and people wondered how I would handle it.

“The two double hundreds helped a great deal.”

To listen to Smith here is to hear a man who will not be argued with.

“I think South Africa made the right decision,” he said before lunch on the first day at Trent Bridge of Faf du Plessis opting to bat first in overtly seam and swing friendly conditions.

“They’ve fought well. If anything England have bowled short.”

No-one took issue with that, nor when Smith chortled at Ben Stokes demanding his captain refer a decision for not out after rapping Hashim Amla on the pads.

“I think Joe Root was bullied into that; that’s why I’m having a chuckle,” Smith said. Long before replays showed Amla had got the thinnest of edges to a ball that would have hit him outside the line, he added, “That’s hit him outside the line.”

Smith wasn’t done on the subject: “Joe Root is a young captain. He needs to at least talk to his ’keeper. I had that with Vernon Philander. He was always wanting to review.”

Ah, ‘Vern’ — a key member of the team that Smith took to the top of the test rankings here in August 2012.

Five years on, the only survivors of that squad are Amla, JP Duminy, Du Plessis, Morne Morkel and Philander.

Much has changed, even for that small group. Du Plessis, now South Africa’s captain, didn’t make his debut until the series in Australia that November and, on Friday, Duminy was dropped for the first time in 13 tests.

But Philander is still there. Then, he was disparaged early in the tour as a “club bowler”. He left with 15 wickets, five of them taken for 30 as South Africa clinched the series at Lord’s. Now he is the leader of the attack.

How did he gauge a team that doesn’t dominates as they did under Smith?

“There’s a different demeanour in the way the guys play now,” Philander said. “It’s a lot more positive than back in the day in the camp and in the brand of cricket we play.

“The generation before this would set up a game and then go for it, whereas now they’re going for it pretty much from the start and with bat and ball.”

Essentially, South Africa under Du Plessis take more risks than South Africa under Smith. Sometimes those gambles pay off, other times not.

That is as much an illustration of how test cricket has changed — and been influenced by shorter formats and concomitant brittle attention spans — as it is of how South Africa’s fortunes have changed along with their personnel.

Thanks to the team he had and his outsized leadership ability, Smith was able to buy his ticket and take his ride on the swings. Du Plessis is relegated to the roundabouts not by any lack of aptitude for the captaincy but by the hand of players he has been dealt.

But this South Africa team, Philander said, had a way to go before they could be considered the finished article.

“You are going to go through generations of cricketers, and each of them will come with their own brand of identity and the way that they want to play. This bunch is no different.

“It’s going to take time to get used to international cricket and what that’s all about, and we’ve got a lot of new faces.

“You’ve got to give them some time to get used to this level. I’m sure, once they’ve settled down, they’ll start performing to expectation.”

Fair enough. Except that those brittle attention spans do not brook such logic. Neither, too often, do the suits — especially when they have to explain to potential sponsors why they should pay their money and take their chances with a team who are good but not as good as those who came to England in 2012 and showed the poms what’s what.

That Smith’s team was the best South Africa has yet produced does not compute. If that lot could do it in 2012, what’s wrong with this lot?

Nothing. Or, at worst, not a lot. They are a fine side. Not as good as Smith’s, but precious few have been. And, you heard the man, they are not yet what they will be.

Smith, wearing his Protea badge on his sleeve in England’s commentary boxes this summer, can live with that. Can you?

Ex-players defend Rabada, but Boycott says ‘it’s his own fault’

Times Media

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TELFORD VICE at Lord’s

FORMER players from both sides of the divide have rallied in defence of Kagiso Rabada in the wake of the fast bowler being banned for the second test between England and South Africa in Nottingham.

Rabada will miss the match, which starts on Friday, because he was docked a fourth demerit point for telling Ben Stokes to “fuck off” after dismissing him in the first test at Lord’s on Thursday.

The comment, which Rabada bellowed at the top of his lungs, was picked up by the stump microphones and broadcast.

The ban was triggered because Rabada has, since February, had three demerit points hanging over him — his punishment for a physical confrontation with Sri Lanka’s Niroshan Dickwella in a one-day international at Newlands.

Players who accumulate four demerit points within 24 months face a mandatory ban for what would be their next match.

Commentating on the BBC’s Test Match Special (TMS) before the start of the third day’s play at Lord’s, former South Africa captain Graeme Smith took a dim view.

“It could have been handled better,” Smith said.

“I don’t think it was aimed at Ben Stokes; I just think it was [said] out of frustration.

“If it wasn’t picked up by the stump mics he wouldn’t have been done.

“No-one wrote about it. No-one spoke about it. It’s ridiculous.”

In fact, Rabada’s comment was published in the Daily Mail on Friday, which would only have added to the pressure on the officials to act.

Rabada was reported by the umpires, Paul Reiffel, Sundaram Ravi, Simon Fry and Rob Bailey, and sanctioned by match referee Jeff Crowe.

Smith took aim at Crowe: “He’s been out on this pitch every morning. Where’s he hiding?”

Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen vented on Twitter: “A dying global test game and the ICC (International Cricket Council) suspend a player for a naughty word!

“Rabada is a star!

“More stars out of the game damages the game!

“I played over 100 test matches. The F-word features heavily all day, every day!

“Suspension is f*****g silly!”

Also on TMS, another former England batsman offered a contrary opinion.

“It’s like mothers with their children: there’s got to be a line somewhere,” Geoffrey Boycott said.

“I’m sorry; [Rabada is] a lovely cricketer and I’d like to see him at Trent Bridge.

“But it’s his own fault.”

According to the ICC website, eight players are on the cusp of a ban on three demerit points.

Among them are Faf du Plessis — for the “mintgate” ball-tampering saga in Australia in November — and India left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja.

That will add spice to the contest when Jadeja bowls to Du Plessis on India’s tour to South Africa next summer.

Something old, something new as SA look to captain Elgar

Times Media

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TELFORD VICE in London

COUNT Russell Domingo among those who see more than a little old-fashioned South African gees in the way Dean Elgar plays cricket.

“He’s gutsy,” Domingo said on Monday. “He epitomises South African cricket to the T.”

That the pugnacious, hard-nosed, straight-talking Elgar has indeed done for 35 tests.

But No. 36 will be different.

Monday morning’s news that Faf du Plessis won’t be back from attending the birth of his and his wife Imari’s daughter in Cape Town in time to play in the first test against England at Lord’s on Thursday means Elgar will captain the visitors.

Elgar has seven captaincies to his credit among his 150 first-class games, the last of them in charge of the South Africans in their drawn tour match in Worcester at the weekend.

Before that, he was most recently in charge of the Knights against the Warriors in Bloemfontein in January 2013.

But the thought of Elgar walking out for the toss on Thursday despite his lack of captaincy experience won’t cause concern, not least because he is firmly established in South Africa’s leadership group.

Du Plessis’ replacement in the batting order on the team sheet Elgar will hand over to Joe Root — who will captain England for the first time — is likely to be Theunis de Bruyn.

The choice is between De Bruyn, who made his debut against New Zealand in Hamilton in March, and uncapped Aiden Markram, who was named in the squad as cover for Du Plessis.

“There’s been a sense of fairness to players,” Domingo said. “We haven’t really discarded players after one test match, or two or three innings.

“At the moment [De Bruyn] would be ahead in the pecking order, ahead of a guy like Aiden.”

Elgar wasn’t part of the squad who came to England in 2012 under Graeme Smith — another pugnacious, hard-nosed, straight-talking left-handed opening batsman — and went home with the No. 1 ranking.

Of that group only Du Plessis, Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel have survived.

“It’s a massively different team,” Domingo said. “The last team had Smith, [Alviro] Petersen, [Jacques] Kallis, [AB] De Villiers, [Dale] Steyn, [Jacques] Rudolph, [Imran] Tahir …”

But that didn’t mean South Africa’s mission had changed.

“We want to win, that’s the bottom line,” Domingo said. “We’ve set ourselves certain goals we want to achieve in terms of test cricket and we are very determined to tick those boxes.”

To that end, South Africa will be relieved that Philander is over the ankle injury he sustained playing Sussex, particularly with Steyn still recovering from a broken shoulder.

“[Philander] is probably the hardest bowler to face in our side, and when he is not there we tend to struggle,” Domingo said.

“He gives us that control but also gives us the cutting edge if there is something in the wicket, and also balances our side with his batting.”

South Africa’s one-day squad arrived in England midway through May. The test side will be here until August 8.

That’s a long time to be on tour, even in a country not short of healthy distractions like Wimbledon, apparently endless daylight and too many pubs to count.

And it gets even longer when a team is coming second — as South Africa have done in the ODI and T20 series, along with crashing out in the first round at the Champions Trophy.

“It was always going to be a long three months in England whether you are winning or losing,” Domingo said.

“[But] there are a whole host of new players that will bring unbelievable energy.

“It’s a wonderful place to be touring. This is where you want to tour; these are the tours you want to be part of.

“We’re only halfway through so it hasn’t been that long.”

The other half starts on Thursday. Elgar can’t hardly wait.

‘CSA talked AB out of quitting tests’ — Smith

Times Media

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TELFORD VICE in London

GRAEME Smith claims AB de Villiers was talked out of test retirement by Cricket South Africa (CSA), and has advised him to give up the one-day captaincy in the best interests of his performance at the 2019 World Cup.

“The last year to 18 months has seen AB criticised for ‘picking and choosing’ his tours, and I don’t feel that the PR around the issue has been handled at all well by those around him,” Smith wrote in a column published in The Independent on Monday.

“It’s my belief that AB was looking to walk away from the test game last year at some point, but has been encouraged to carry on by CSA.

“His personal prerogative is ensuring he does all he can to add as much longevity to his international career as possible, as well as taking in to account the harsh realities of touring such as the amount of travel involved, and the toll that takes on your body.”

Smith railed at disappointment in South Africa and England at De Villiers’ decision not to play in the test series against New Zealand, England and Bangladesh this year.

“What has AB de Villiers got to prove to anyone?” Smith wrote.

“He’s a star, and those players are often expected to be available all of the time no matter what the consequences might be personally.

“AB is due to assess his future with CSA later this summer, and my advice to him would be to step away from the captaincy and concentrate his energy [on] maintaining his levels in white-ball cricket for the next two years.

“Put simply, if that is what’s best for him and the longevity of his career, then that is what’s best for South African cricket.

“Those criticising AB, and this decision in particular, need to ask themselves whether they would rather De Villiers played in the upcoming series and walked away from international cricket in a year, or have the opportunity to see him go on and play for his country at another big tournament.”

Smith shouldn’t be surprised to hear that South Africans have asked themselves exactly that.

But, with De Villiers having passed 50 only twice in nine innings for South Africa on their tour of England and presided as captain over six losses in those nine games, Smith might be surprised at the answer.

De Villiers’ captaincy key to SA’s Champs Trophy chances

Sunday Times

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TELFORD VICE in London

AB de Villiers doesn’t seem susceptible to being ambushed, but he had nowhere to run nor hide when a couple of photographers snared him in their viewfinders, paparazzi-style, at The Oval on Friday.

“Just a couple of shots, please,” one of them said, motioning for him to pick up the sculptural slab of silver-and-gold gleaming on the table to his right as he walked in for his press conference ahead of yesterday’s match against Sri Lanka.

De Villiers looked slightly taken back at the request, as if he hadn’t noticed the shiny elephant in the room.

Perhaps he hadn’t. He is South African, after all. Ah, so that’s what one these looks like, he might have thought as he held the Champions Trophy itself and posed accordingly.

Reminded that Graeme Smith would refuse to touch a trophy before a tournament, De Villiers quipped, “I’ll take it to him when we win it.”

Whether he will be able to make good on that promise depends on how things went yesterday, and against Pakistan at Edgbaston on Wednesday and India back at The Oval next Sunday.

Nonsense. We all know that South Africa’s tournament starts, like most of them have, in the knockout stage.

How might they fare against, say, England in the semi-finals? Or India in the final?

And how that story is told will depend to an unfair degree on De Villiers’ performance.

Not with a bat in his hands and the world, seemingly, at his feet. He has answered that question many matches and many, many runs ago.

South Africa have always had the players to win tournaments. What they haven’t had are the teams – which are only, in important ways, as good as their captains.

Is De Villiers a good enough captain to go where no South African – not Smith, not Shaun Pollock, not Hansie Cronje – has yet gone: to the podium to collect a trophy his team have earned, not simply to pose with it?

The jury remains out on whether De Villiers is as suited to the role as Faf du Plessis, his test and T20 counterpart.

Du Plessis plainly enjoys pulling his team’s strings. To some, De Villiers looks like he isn’t sure how to untangle the same strings.

When Du Plessis is in charge, changes in the field and discussions with bowlers happen seamlessly. Blink and you’ll miss them.

When De Villiers is at the helm, it can seem as if South Africa hold committee meetings between deliveries.

That, his doubters say, is surely why he has struggled to manage his bowlers efficiently enough to avoid the attentions of the over-rate police.

“Yeah, it’s something we shouldn’t be talking about,” De Villiers said, mindful that he is one more minor infraction away from a ban. “We’ve pinpointed areas where we can get better at it.

“There’s no excuse for getting behind the rate in the first 10 to 15 overs. So we’ve targeted that as an area where we can make up time and get four or five minutes ahead.

“Where it does get a bit complicated us at the end of the innings when there’s a partnership going.

“The game slows down and it’s difficult to set the right fields at the right time.

“But that’s no excuse and it’s something we will get right in this tournament. It’s just non-negotiable.”

Issues like this are among the nuts and bolts of captaincy. The bigger, broader, more important fact is that De Villiers is already South Africa’s most successful ODI captain by the only measure that matters: winning.

He went into yesterday’s game with a century of captaincies to his name. South Africa won 58 of those matches and lost 37, a success ratio of 38.51.

Smith’s ratio was 36.65, Pollock’s 37.32 and Cronje’s 33.24, although we will never know how many of the latter’s matches in charge were manipulated for money and to what degree.

“He’s an exceptional leader,” JP Duminy said of De Villiers. “His biggest strength is that he leads from the front through his performance.

“He doesn’t necessarily have to say much. We as the team will always follow him in terms of what he does and what he says.

“He’s a true asset to South African cricket and if you have him in your team you’re only going to benefit from it.”

That much we have known for years, and it is a factor in the difficulty some South Africans have with the idea of De Villiers as a captain.

As counter intuitive as it seems, De Villiers’ batting brilliance has set the bar impossibly high for him as a leader.

There is no captaincy equivalent of casually flicking a length delivery from the opposition’s best bowler over your shoulder for six.

Thing is, South Africans who have come to expect De Villiers to pull off the feat routinely at the crease expect him to show the same incandescence as a captain.

“It has its challenges, always, being captain of this team, in any of the formats,” De Villiers said, ostensibly about taking up the reins directly from a missing the test series in New Zealand, but with resonance for the bigger picture.

“But I’ve done it for quite a while now and I feel pretty comfortable with that.

“I’ve been well accepted by the side. There are not only one or two leaders on the team; we’ve got four or five really strong leaders and we all have the right to have a voice at times, and we all allow that as a leadership group.

“I’ve never been a kind of leader to come in and to try claim my territory. I feel very comfortable when I come into the side and the culture that we’ve created over the last while allows me to come in and do my thing.”

Go do your thing, AB. But terms and conditions apply: Graeme Smith awaits your knock at his door.