A time for SA progression -- Posted by Rupert on Monday, June 30 2003
A time for progression and revenge:

I was interested to read Kepler Wessels views on the upcoming series between South Africa and England. While I don't think it will be the one sided affair that Wessels believes I think England will have to be careful of a team that is beginning to bond and work together as a competitive unit. South African cricket has been under a fair amount of pressure from all areas over the past few months and I feel that while the new captain Graeme Smith has stuck his neck out over certain issues (such as the Lance Klusener omission) I think his team respect him for that and will back him up in almost all situations.

One of the problems with South African cricket and to a certain degree with South Africa itself is that everyone seems to live in the past. Former South African coach Bob Woolmer couldn't believe it when Lance Klusener was left out of the squad to tour the UK and made it clear how disappointed he was with South African cricket and Graeme Smith. I feel that it is important for the new captain to express his views and if he feels that a certain member of his team will be a disruptive influence on tour then he has the right to say so. I think that South African cricket has in fact taken a step forward in appointing Smith as captain as he seems to be someone who has strong opinions, will stand up for himself and his players and is not preoccupied with the past and how things were done in a different era.

I always had the feeling with Shaun Pollock that he projected an attitude of "oh well, things happen" and he couldn't do anything about it. During South Africa's last tour of Australia selection became a complete shambles with the team line-up being changed on the morning of the match just so political issues could be satisfied. You can imagine Pollock just shrugging his shoulders and carrying on while I don't think Smith would have the same reaction. I have a feeling that South African cricket will be coming into its own again within the next 3-4 years. A change of selectors and the retirement of certain stalwart players (Donald, Rhodes) has brought a fresh look to the squad and it appears that all the right players have been included in this squad to tour England this summer. Seeing the likes of Jacques Rudolph, Martin van Jaarsveld, Thami Tsolekile and Charl Willoughby in the squad will make many fans pleased as they are all players who have had great success at provincial level but have never been given a proper chance to prove themselves on the International arena. These players will also bring a new dimension to the team in that Rudolph is a left hander who will bat in the middle order and Willoughby is a left arm opening bowler both of which South Africa has not had in many years.

Interestingly both sides have had a warm-up series of sorts (SA vs Bangladesh and England vs Zimbabwe) in which they have built up confidence and gave very disciplined performances. England will have the advantage of having played a Test Series at home and have a familiarity with the conditions but if the weather holds over the next month or two the pitches for the England vs South Africa series could be very dry and hard (similar to last summers series against Sri Lanka where the pitch at Lords was uncharacteristically dry) which may favour the South Africans.

I get the feeling that this will be a closely fought Test Series as well as an aggressive one. The South African team and supporters all remember the 1998 series where South Africa were one nil up with two tests to play and lost the last two test and the series. England fought back well in that series and gathered momentum after the third test when they survived on the fifth day after following on while South Africa never recovered from the disappointment of failing to bowl England out. The final two tests were marred by some poor umpiring which affected both sides equally and will be remembered for the awesome personal battle between Alan Donald and Mike Atherton at Trent Bridge. The South African team will want to put that long held title of "chokers" behind them and be competitive in each and every Test Match.

Team selection will be difficult one for the South Africans as many players have been performing well and it will be a question of who will be left out and what reasons. The batting form of Rudolph and Dippenaar will please the selectors greatly but a worry will be Mark Bouchers lack of middle practise in the warm up games and consistent lack of form over the past 6 months of Kallis's bowling. One has to remember though that during the World Cup Kallis was bowling with an injured toe and perhaps during the time the South African team has had off he will have recovered enough to be able to bowl at the high levels that we all expect of him, which is probably a bit unfair on him. Certainties for team selection should be Graeme Smith, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Jacques Rudolph, Boeta Dippenaar, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and Paul Adams. The remaining two positions in the team will be fought out between Gary Kirsten, Neil McKenzie, Charl Willoughby, Dewald Pretorius and Robin Peterson. It will be interesting to see if they go with the experience of Gary Kirsten because during South Africa's 1998 England tour he struggled to make runs in any of the Test Matches but was prolific in the First Class games in-between. Willoughby will provide a new type of attack for South Africa as he is a left-arm bowler who swings the ball and could possibly be the ideal type of bowler for English conditions and a good partner for the accurate Pollock. Ntini will attack with raw pace and immense stamina and Paul Adams will provide the spin option. With his previous success against England Adams will be raring to go in this Test series and prove himself to be South Africa's premier spinner ahead of Nicky Boje.

Ultimately it will be a new look South African side which takes on a fairly established England side led by Nasser Hussain. Expect fireworks as neither captain will back down, neither team will give and inch and this will a test series both sides will desperately want to win to prove they are making progress to be the next challenger to Australia.

Mr Mxyzptlk's World XI -- Posted by Liam on Tuesday, June 17 2003
We pack light and we train hard as we send our Test World XI out to challenge any other planet who dares to accept. Indeed, what other team can boast such class and pure cricketing genius as that of this geoid that we call earth? For our first call up, we search for a captain and examine all the worthy contenders.
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Captains: (1)
Candidates-
Nasser Hussain (England)
Steve Waugh (Australia)
Sourav Ganguly (India)
Stephen Fleming (New Zealand)

Nasser Hussain has been brilliant for England in their revival of recent times and has improved considerably with the bat over that period. He's a solid tactician and likewise as a batsman, but seems to have the all too common mental block against Australia.

Steve Waugh is undoubtedly the greatest captain of the modern era as he transformed a 'good' Australian side into one of the greatest World sides ever. He is, however, pushing 40 and seems to be losing some of that special something which he exuded through the nineties. I think it's fair to say that he would not make it to a World XI currently on his batting alone.

Sourav Ganguly has taken India leaps and bounds to the World Cup final this year in South Africa. He has been a fairly innovative captain and has gotten a positive response from his troops. That said, Ganguly would not command a place in a World XI as a captain, batsman and certainly not as a bowler.

Stephen Fleming is arguably New Zealand's greatest captain. He has captained his team with courage and great innovation and his batting has shot upward in recent times. Fleming deserves to captain the World XI purely on his ability to get his team compete with the mighty Australians. He would not however make the team on batting alone. Fleming's ability to communicate would come in handy Mars, if required.
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The Openers: (2)
Candidates-
Michael Vaughan (England)
Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa)
Matthew Hayden (Australia)

Michael Vaughan set the world afire with his strokeplay in 2002. He destroyed every attack placed in front of him with a definite class and was a rare shining light out of the disastrous Ashes series. Despite his relative failure against the lowly Zimbabwe, Vaughan certainly commands a place in the team of 2003.

Gibbs continues to perform for South Africa against allcomers as he dazzles the crowd with his aggressive strokeplay and his ability to adapt his batting stance, as displayed in the WC2003 against Chaminda Vaas, shows his maturity as a player.

Matty Hayden has lived a dream over the past three years in his absolute dominance of world bowling to score century after century. His attacking strokeplay is a given in every innings and is what he is known by. He showed that he can handle the best of spin as he was outstanding in India in 2000 and that he can destroy any pace attack, as he has done around the world.
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The Batsmen: (2)
Candidates-
Brian Lara (West Indies)
Sachin Tendulkar (India)
Ricky Ponting (Australia)
Rahul Dravid (India)

The name Brian Lara commands the respect of the greatest of bowlers around the world. For years, the likes of McGrath, Murali and Warne have had intense duels against the Trinidadian left-hander and through it all, he has built up one of the most impressive records in World cricket. Lara has more than 6000 runs in either form of cricket and showed his class once more with a form series against the touring Australians this year.

Sachin Tendulkar is simply a genius. Some argue that he is of alien decent (Kryptonian perhaps?) as he seems almost invincible. 31 Test centuries adorn his name and an average of 57 to boot. This is no easy task as he makes batting look so easy in his accumulation. Sachin cannot be ignored.

Ponting has risen quickly to one of the best batsmen in the world and he's still getting better. It seems at times as though you just can't get him out and his track record proves that this may be true.

Rahul Dravid - the rock of Indian cricket. Fan favourite Dravid has been a vital part of the recent Indian success as his solid defence and lovely timing helped him to be one of the top batsmen of 2002.
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The Allrounder: (1)
Candidates-
Jacques Kallis (South Africa)
Jacques Kallis (ditto)

Only one player is good enough to be chosen as an allrounder to represent Earth. That person is none other than Ajit Agarkar. However, since Ajit has previous commitments, we call upon Jacques Kallis to fill the role which he has so well for his country.
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The Wicketkeeper: (1)
Candidates-
Adam Gilchrist (Australia)
Alec Stewart (England)

Gilchrist's philosophy of see the ball - kill the ball has changed the face of Test cricket. There may not be a more feared batsmen around the world when the score is at 300/5. He can make any bowler fall to his knees, begging for forgiveness and relief.

Even at 40, Alec Stewart is undoubtedly a worthy selection for any interplanetary team. He is a solid 'keeper and a class act with a bat in his hand.
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The Spinner/s: (1/2)
Candidates-
Shane Warne (Australia)
Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)
Harbhajan Singh (India)

Shane Warne is clearly the greatest legspinner of all time but due to his recent troubles, he is in no shape to leave the stratosphere.

Mutiah Muralitharan has bewildered batsmen around the world for years amidst controversy of throwing, he has built himself up as the leading contender to challenge Walsh's world record of ducks.....er wickets. Murali can spin the ball on a road, so a Venetian surface shouldn't bother him.

Harbhajan Singh is Murali's Indian understudy and a fine spinner in his own right. However, his current injury would keep him out of contention. He's young yet and will have many a future opportunity.
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The Seamers: (2/3)
Candidates-
Glenn McGrath (Australia)
Jason Gillespie (Australia)
Shane Bond (New Zealand)
Steve Harmison (Mars)
Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka)
Shaun Pollock (South Africa)

Glenn McGrath is an automatic selection to the team to function as the bowling machine in net sessions as well as our specialist number 11 batsman. He is our clear pick as ambassador of this fine planet.

Jason Gillespie definitely has the sort of cheerful attitude that would impress any alien contender. He's a demon of a pacer on his day and has the ability to tear through any attack.

Shane Bond is currently injured but would be a definite consideration to tour with the World XI, as the resident law enforcer. Bond is among the quickest of world bowlers and a more than capable lower order bat.

When there is discussion of raw, uninhibited English pace, one name comes to mind - Phil Tufnell. It's a pity that we should have to miss out on the brilliance of Harmison in this team...for the moment at least....

Vaas is the only real contender to Ashley Giles as greatest living left-armer. He has improved greatly to one of the leading bowlers in cricket today. Vaas has the ability to swing the ball both ways and to score useful runs in the lower order.

Pollock consistently sends the ball down at the batsmen with the lightening speed of 80mph and somehow gets his line and length right every time. He is economical and picks up wickets much in the mould of Anthony McGrath....or is it Glenn?
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My World XI selections are as follows:

Michael Vaughan
Matthew Hayden
Ricky Ponting (c)
Sachin Tendulkar
Brian Lara
Jacques Kallis
Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Shaun Pollock
Chaminda Vaas
Mutiah Muralitharan
Glenn McGrath

Cheerleading Squad: McGrath, Agarkar and McEnroe.

Tour Manager: Mr Mxyzptlk.

In a shocking twist, the captaincy has been awarded to Ricky Ponting rather than any of the named candidates. Whilst Ricky doesn't yet captain his country in Tests, he took them to 21 straight ODI wins which reflects so poorly on his captaincy ability that he is an irresistible selection.

Blastoff in 5.......4.......3.......2.......1...........
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Please send your complaints and comments to bugs@tstt.net.tt
I look forward to hearing from you.