*Official* South Africa Domestic Cricket

[Pratters]

Since there dont seem many South African native CW members and no one seems to discuss South African domestic cricket any where, this thread should provide some more discussion place.

There are six teams in South African domstic competition now and the competition is pretty tough if team composition and the reports hae any thing to go by..

Random stat - Klusener has ben not out in the last 6 of the 7 he has played

[Richard]

More importantly, he's bowled well in his last 2 games.
Justin Kemp's one-day form with the bat has been quite astonishing for most of this season.
Jean-Paul Duminy has been sadly sub-par in this season's one-day games (though he's scored 112 in his only First-Class game! )
Neil Johnson's one-day form has been one of the sadder sights this season - a former ODI player of some calibre (Zimbabwe's best ever IMO - by a little way) reduced to little more than a bit-part player.

[Langeveldt]

I hope your enjoying being a SA fan Pratyush...

Its looking more and more likely that I will either be stationed in Port Elizabeth or Germiston at some time next year.. So its either Lions or Easterns for me!!

[Pratters]

Originally Posted by Langeveldt

I hope your enjoying being a SA fan Pratyush...

Its looking more and more likely that I will either be stationed in Port Elizabeth or Germiston at some time next year.. So its either Lions or Easterns for me!!

South Africa has always been a nation I have supported very passionately in cricket right since the first match I watched in cricket (South Africa vs India 1991, Eden Gardens in which South Africa mde its return to international cricket - part of folklore now that match)

Then the first full one day matches I watched were in the series in South Africa where India lost 5-2 in 1993 I think. Would wake up late in the night and watch cricket for the first time that way. Loved Dave Callaghan. Loved Brett Schultz earlier on. Have always been a fan of Cronje's captaincy. Am really looking forward to seeing the likes of Steyn and DeVilliers. Have been impressed by Amla as well.

Considering that I was only 9 when I started watching cricket, and the younger days are more impressionable where you develop the tastes stronger at latter stages, South Africa stuck with me mentally. Have always followed them since.

[Richard]

They've also emulated India in having a two-tier A-List-team situation.

[Langeveldt]

Originally Posted by Pratyush

South Africa has always been a nation I have supported very passionately in cricket right since the first match I watched in cricket (South Africa vs India 1991, Eden Gardens in which South Africa mde its return to international cricket - part of folklore now that match)

Then the first full one day matches I watched were in the series in South Africa where India lost 5-2 in 1993 I think. Would wake up late in the night and watch cricket for the first time that way. Loved Dave Callaghan. Loved Brett Schultz earlier on. Have always been a fan of Cronje's captaincy. Am really looking forward to seeing the likes of Steyn and DeVilliers. Have been impressed by Amla as well.

Considering that I was only 9 when I started watching cricket, and the younger days are more impressionable where you develop the tastes stronger at latter stages, South Africa stuck with me mentally. Have always followed them since.

I basically had the same thing, but it was Donald, Cronje and Rhodes instead of Schultz and Callaghan (who i didnt see much )

[Deja moo]

Originally Posted by Richard

They've also emulated India in having a two-tier A-List-team situation.

Unfortunately, even with the two tier system here, I dont see the Ranji trophy getting competitive till just before the semis.

[Richard]

It's something that's always interested me, that - the Ranji seems to be a warm-up competition for the Duleep from all the drawn games that go on, yet no-one says the Duleep is a particularly high standard.
What is generally perceived as the more important competition over there?

[Pratters]

Originally Posted by Richard

It's something that's always interested me, that - the Ranji seems to be a warm-up competition for the Duleep from all the drawn games that go on, yet no-one says the Duleep is a particularly high standard.
What is generally perceived as the more important competition over there?

Ranji is the most prestigious competition to win domestically in India.

In Duleep, the teams are more talnted but its a case of teams from various states combining and vying for national attention with the performances a lot more. Kind of if a match is played with Asia vs Nzl and Australia, it will be less important o an Australian than the Ashes. And less important to teams than test matches. There is more team spirit in the Ranji games than Duleep which is just a case of sides being selected to play each other. Teams of a zone can be completely different in two consecutive years.

[Pratters]

http://ind.cricinfo.com/db/NEW/LIVE/...16DEC2004.html

Good performance by Kruger as Lions crushing Boland. Terbrugge continues to impress me since I saw him in a few of the little tests he played.

Any ideas why Terbrugge isnt even knocking on the doors right now?

[Richard]

For the same reason that Jean-Paul Duminy batted below Boucher and Pollock in his first few ODIs.
Because selectors sometimes make odd decisions.
You can understand Andrew Hall being picked ahead of him because of his batting ability, but Steyn's selection ahead of him makes little or no sense.
Terbrugge is one of the best of a jostling army of seamers below the international level, I've always liked him myself.
But he hardly distinguished himself in his most recent Test, though.
Klusener - just - does well again, as does Gideon Kruis... always liked him, too.
His time has long passed, though.
Terbrugge might well end-up being a South African Martin Bicknell.