A couple of days before the IPL final I made contact with Faf du Plessis in Dubai where the Chennai Super Kings were awaiting news of their opponents in the final.
Bruce, I think on this occasion there was a genuine effort to do the right thing - and I don't mean 'select' Faf in the squad but to at least come up with a strategy to ensure that he was 'available' for selection. But with no precedent in CSA contractual history with its players it proved too difficult. It would have helped, of course, if there had a been a strong, full-time CEO to make it happen.
Hi Neil, sadly we said goodbye to PNG today but they were a breath of fresh air and I love the fact that six Associate nations qualify for the T20WC - love it. It's about 140kms off the northern coast of Australia... :)
Well written, Neil. I've already opined on Faf's exclusion. All that remains to be said is that another opportunity to win an ICC cricket championship goes by the wayside, sadly. I wonder if the disagreeing reader celebrated the rugby triumphs using 'mercenary' players. Anyway, hoping our team makes it through a tough group.
In the words of the great Maxwell Smart, 'Just one question, Chief. Who gets dropped?'
It has to be one of Markram or ven der Dussen. I just can't see how you could drop one of those guys who have shown 100% commitment to playing for their country, for a person who chose not to be part of the WI, Ireland or Sri Lanka tours, and instead committed to PSL, the CPL and The Hundred.
Or Klaasen? The point is not about the starting XI but about the squad, isn't it? Du Plessis retired from Test and ODI cricket but was available for T20 International cricket - but there isn't enough of that to sustain an international career. He was prepared to play in the Sri Lanka series...
If you start picking a guy like Du Plessis for WCs, then guys like Markram and van der Dussen become the next mercenaries. There's nothing good in that scenario for the long term future of SA cricket.
Swimming against the tide, Oz. That's the way the world is inexorably heading. I'm not saying it's in SA Cricket's best interests, but finding a way to make use of the best freelance players will alleviate the loss of talent.
I am interested in the comment "South Africa produce more top level cricketers than any other nation, always have done." If I think of the consistently high level of cricketers produced over the years, and the number of top performing South Africans currently playing county cricket (never mind in South Africa), I can see how this can be true. But I would be interested to read a more in depth study of this.
India, which should always produce more top level cricketers than any other country purely because of the size of its population, is finally catching up, but becasue of South Africa's facilities, weather and private coaches there has always been, and will always be a surfeit of cricketers than can be accomodated in the first-class structure.
Once again a well written and fair column. I am sure many of our opponents are very happy Faf is not part of our team for the T20 World Cup - I am sure they would have loved to have had him in their teams. Question - How well prepared is Temba Bavuma? When last did he hold a bat? What happens if he is unable to play? Gets injured? As far as I know our replacements are Lizard Williams, George van de Linde and Andile Phulakwayo. None of these strike me as an opening batsman. I know there is Reeza Hendricks, but will the team be able to call up a like for like replacement and how long will he have to quarantine? Looking forward to watching how some of the minnows perform in the next few days, especially Namibia.
Hi Daniel, the two warm-up games against Afghanistan and Pakistan were Temba's first games for almost two months since his thum was broken during the Sri Lanka tour. He appears to have proved his fitness so he should be good to go for the rest of he tournament. If there is an injury in any squad then a replacement can be requested and must be approved by the ICC 'Technical Committee'. He would then need to quarantine for six days on arrival in the UAE. Keshav Maharaj proved what an excellent replacement captain he would be when he took over in Sri Lanka...
If we go the route of using freelancers to represent the national team, then what is the world cup other than another version of the "X"PL, it is just another tournament featuring guns for hire...
The team that represents the nation should be made up of players that have for the last 3 seasons played only local cricket, within the borders of that country, "franchise players" players that have worked hard and been loyal to county/province/franchise, sure they can be guns for hire locally, within the local national system, and any play outside of the country renders them not selection worthy...
We need to encourage players to stay, we have lost enough players to the travel, to freelance, no longer does a team in KZN represent KZN residents, just goons brought in at great expense, this robs the local game of funds, of growing the sport, of maintaining grounds, of teaching coaching, scoring, umpiring.. And for what???
If we want goons for hire, then they are paid a minimum wage, they are paid fixed rate of R5000 a game, no more, no less.. We need to start to protect the local players, if we don't then there is no future... I don't respect the national team selected unless it is made up of 100% local in country players, the T20 world cup becomes just yet another tournament for washed up retired players looking for a last hurrah..And that is not fair to the 20 yr old up and coming SA A, or SA U19 players....If you retire from this or that level, then you are retired period.. You can play private leagues until your 90th birthday if you want, but you are not on the list for national duty.. If you want national honours, then play 3 seasons locally and only locally... For R5000 a game....
Who will support our "faithful" players financially when they retire? Gifted players should be allowed to make enough money to afford their ability to look after themselves and family. The less talented must make difficult decisions.
I don't have all the answers, but what I see is that the local game industry cannot support expensive "retired" players on huge salaries, as this takes funds away from ground maintenance, support for grass root level development, umpire and scorer training..
Big name players tend now to play longer than they did, most players retired early 30's, took up coaching, or commentating, or in a few rare cases, umpiring, but created space for younger folks, now they are playing into their 40's..
Look I just pointed out that freelancer guns for hire are great at 1 level of the game, the "X" premiere leagues, the private leagues such as the IPL, CPL etc, I have a fear that the premiere world game, the "World CUP" would devolve into yet another IPL type of game, where you can buy in citizens, much like countries try and often succeed in doing for track and field...
Is this what we want? A bit like the Premiere League in the UK, that maybe has 1% English born, educated players on any given match day...Call me nostalgic, but back in the day we had rugby teams who's players lived in that province, and it was a true test of province v province, long before pro rugby... Now it is who offers the best deal, I lost interest in my regional tier 1 team aka Natal Sharks, 99% of whom have no history with Durban or M'burg..
Players should plan for life after long before they reach any pro level, life coaching, post play planning is vital, any player not having some sort of post playing career is being a bit foolish, and it is not the mandate of CSA to support them, nor should it be, they should take out retirement plans, invest in other ventures, look at building a life beyond the boundary...
Many Gary Teichmann for example, very successful civil engineer, very busy, Penny Heynes, with her properties, so many others, some in entertainment, others coaching, have shops... The point is, the money is finite, and paying goons at the expense of training of umpires or scorers...
This is a huge problem worldwide, in fact it is shocking at how few trained qualified umpires we have.. From the SA team that played in England in that silly 1 run loss to Australia, how many are still involved as umpires, match refs, scorers?? Less than 3 maybe...They take, but few give back....
It would apply to tier 1 countries, England, Australia, South Africa, England, New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka, that have enough local competitions to sustain careers for local in country players, teams locally would be limited to a number of "guns for hire" but those players/freelancers give up any rights to national honours/selection, only become eligible in year 4 of playing locally.. You cannot expect tier 2 or below to have viable leagues, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc, obviously this is not an full list, but my thoughts on players abusing the system, wanting the honour of being a "world cup winner" and not giving back to the local game, but make their bones abroad, then coming home at great expense to the local system in order to play World Cup...no that is not fair...
I think you should wake up smell the flowers! Their were at least 3 International captains playing in the IPL. As for value are at least 5 young Indian players in each team who will very soon playing for Indians
The gross stupidity of CSA has caused me and many other supporters (and sponsors) to see SA Cricket as a farce!
Bruce, I think on this occasion there was a genuine effort to do the right thing - and I don't mean 'select' Faf in the squad but to at least come up with a strategy to ensure that he was 'available' for selection. But with no precedent in CSA contractual history with its players it proved too difficult. It would have helped, of course, if there had a been a strong, full-time CEO to make it happen.
The T20 World Cup is upon us. Great to see teams like Papua New Guinea and Oman contesting for silverware.
What price a Papua win??
1 million to 1?
Where is Papua New Guinea anyway?
Google? Google?
Hi Neil, sadly we said goodbye to PNG today but they were a breath of fresh air and I love the fact that six Associate nations qualify for the T20WC - love it. It's about 140kms off the northern coast of Australia... :)
Well written, Neil. I've already opined on Faf's exclusion. All that remains to be said is that another opportunity to win an ICC cricket championship goes by the wayside, sadly. I wonder if the disagreeing reader celebrated the rugby triumphs using 'mercenary' players. Anyway, hoping our team makes it through a tough group.
My point is that we need to have an option for players to play for the national team without having to sign a national contract.
The time is fast approaching when 24-year-olds rather than 34-year-olds will decline national contracts in order to have their 'freedom'...
In the words of the great Maxwell Smart, 'Just one question, Chief. Who gets dropped?'
It has to be one of Markram or ven der Dussen. I just can't see how you could drop one of those guys who have shown 100% commitment to playing for their country, for a person who chose not to be part of the WI, Ireland or Sri Lanka tours, and instead committed to PSL, the CPL and The Hundred.
Or Klaasen? The point is not about the starting XI but about the squad, isn't it? Du Plessis retired from Test and ODI cricket but was available for T20 International cricket - but there isn't enough of that to sustain an international career. He was prepared to play in the Sri Lanka series...
If we only selected on not displacing a player with a better player we will sink into mediocrity.
If you start picking a guy like Du Plessis for WCs, then guys like Markram and van der Dussen become the next mercenaries. There's nothing good in that scenario for the long term future of SA cricket.
Swimming against the tide, Oz. That's the way the world is inexorably heading. I'm not saying it's in SA Cricket's best interests, but finding a way to make use of the best freelance players will alleviate the loss of talent.
I am interested in the comment "South Africa produce more top level cricketers than any other nation, always have done." If I think of the consistently high level of cricketers produced over the years, and the number of top performing South Africans currently playing county cricket (never mind in South Africa), I can see how this can be true. But I would be interested to read a more in depth study of this.
India, which should always produce more top level cricketers than any other country purely because of the size of its population, is finally catching up, but becasue of South Africa's facilities, weather and private coaches there has always been, and will always be a surfeit of cricketers than can be accomodated in the first-class structure.
Very well written! Sadly as long the current Sport Minister remains nothing will change. All we can do is wish Faf well!!!
And we certainly do wish him well... :)
Once again a well written and fair column. I am sure many of our opponents are very happy Faf is not part of our team for the T20 World Cup - I am sure they would have loved to have had him in their teams. Question - How well prepared is Temba Bavuma? When last did he hold a bat? What happens if he is unable to play? Gets injured? As far as I know our replacements are Lizard Williams, George van de Linde and Andile Phulakwayo. None of these strike me as an opening batsman. I know there is Reeza Hendricks, but will the team be able to call up a like for like replacement and how long will he have to quarantine? Looking forward to watching how some of the minnows perform in the next few days, especially Namibia.
Hi Daniel, the two warm-up games against Afghanistan and Pakistan were Temba's first games for almost two months since his thum was broken during the Sri Lanka tour. He appears to have proved his fitness so he should be good to go for the rest of he tournament. If there is an injury in any squad then a replacement can be requested and must be approved by the ICC 'Technical Committee'. He would then need to quarantine for six days on arrival in the UAE. Keshav Maharaj proved what an excellent replacement captain he would be when he took over in Sri Lanka...
If we go the route of using freelancers to represent the national team, then what is the world cup other than another version of the "X"PL, it is just another tournament featuring guns for hire...
The team that represents the nation should be made up of players that have for the last 3 seasons played only local cricket, within the borders of that country, "franchise players" players that have worked hard and been loyal to county/province/franchise, sure they can be guns for hire locally, within the local national system, and any play outside of the country renders them not selection worthy...
We need to encourage players to stay, we have lost enough players to the travel, to freelance, no longer does a team in KZN represent KZN residents, just goons brought in at great expense, this robs the local game of funds, of growing the sport, of maintaining grounds, of teaching coaching, scoring, umpiring.. And for what???
If we want goons for hire, then they are paid a minimum wage, they are paid fixed rate of R5000 a game, no more, no less.. We need to start to protect the local players, if we don't then there is no future... I don't respect the national team selected unless it is made up of 100% local in country players, the T20 world cup becomes just yet another tournament for washed up retired players looking for a last hurrah..And that is not fair to the 20 yr old up and coming SA A, or SA U19 players....If you retire from this or that level, then you are retired period.. You can play private leagues until your 90th birthday if you want, but you are not on the list for national duty.. If you want national honours, then play 3 seasons locally and only locally... For R5000 a game....
Who will support our "faithful" players financially when they retire? Gifted players should be allowed to make enough money to afford their ability to look after themselves and family. The less talented must make difficult decisions.
I don't have all the answers, but what I see is that the local game industry cannot support expensive "retired" players on huge salaries, as this takes funds away from ground maintenance, support for grass root level development, umpire and scorer training..
Big name players tend now to play longer than they did, most players retired early 30's, took up coaching, or commentating, or in a few rare cases, umpiring, but created space for younger folks, now they are playing into their 40's..
Look I just pointed out that freelancer guns for hire are great at 1 level of the game, the "X" premiere leagues, the private leagues such as the IPL, CPL etc, I have a fear that the premiere world game, the "World CUP" would devolve into yet another IPL type of game, where you can buy in citizens, much like countries try and often succeed in doing for track and field...
Is this what we want? A bit like the Premiere League in the UK, that maybe has 1% English born, educated players on any given match day...Call me nostalgic, but back in the day we had rugby teams who's players lived in that province, and it was a true test of province v province, long before pro rugby... Now it is who offers the best deal, I lost interest in my regional tier 1 team aka Natal Sharks, 99% of whom have no history with Durban or M'burg..
Players should plan for life after long before they reach any pro level, life coaching, post play planning is vital, any player not having some sort of post playing career is being a bit foolish, and it is not the mandate of CSA to support them, nor should it be, they should take out retirement plans, invest in other ventures, look at building a life beyond the boundary...
Many Gary Teichmann for example, very successful civil engineer, very busy, Penny Heynes, with her properties, so many others, some in entertainment, others coaching, have shops... The point is, the money is finite, and paying goons at the expense of training of umpires or scorers...
This is a huge problem worldwide, in fact it is shocking at how few trained qualified umpires we have.. From the SA team that played in England in that silly 1 run loss to Australia, how many are still involved as umpires, match refs, scorers?? Less than 3 maybe...They take, but few give back....
Hopefully this would then apply to all countries playing in the World Cup.
It would apply to tier 1 countries, England, Australia, South Africa, England, New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka, that have enough local competitions to sustain careers for local in country players, teams locally would be limited to a number of "guns for hire" but those players/freelancers give up any rights to national honours/selection, only become eligible in year 4 of playing locally.. You cannot expect tier 2 or below to have viable leagues, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc, obviously this is not an full list, but my thoughts on players abusing the system, wanting the honour of being a "world cup winner" and not giving back to the local game, but make their bones abroad, then coming home at great expense to the local system in order to play World Cup...no that is not fair...
I think you should wake up smell the flowers! Their were at least 3 International captains playing in the IPL. As for value are at least 5 young Indian players in each team who will very soon playing for Indians