Telford Vice's Blog, page 20

Dane Paterson’s aluta continua

“I didn’t give up.” – Dane Paterson

Telford Vice / St George’s Park

YOU can take the struggle out of the Eastern Cape, but good luck taking the Eastern Cape out of the struggle. Summerstrand, a premier seafront area of Gqeberha, has been without electricity, on and off, from Thursday. In another well-heeled part of town, Walmer, no water emerged from the taps for much of Friday.

And that in a place where water price hikes, imposed to curb use of the precious stuff during the drought t...

Verreynne sees red, South Africa see a ton, but attrition ascendent

“I’m quite a normal guy; nothing too interesting. The only thing is the [red] hair. Other than that, I’m quite bland and simple.” – Kyle Verreynne

Telford Vice / St George’s Park

WICKETKEEPERS are weird. Some, like Jack Russell, paint pictures. Others, like David Richardson, start out as lawyers and end up running the ICC. Few retire without gnarled fingers, creaking backs and wobbly knees. One, Kiren More, reduced the great Javed Miandad to a shrieking, leaping caricature. That happened...

Rickelton downs doubt to join South Africa’s century club

“I didn’t think I had hit it at all.” – Ryan Rickelton on surviving his lbw review.

Telford Vice / St George’s Park

RYAN Rickelton thought he was out. Instead, he was about to become the eighth player to score a Test century for South Africa this year. But first there was the small matter of Joel Wilson having agreed with Vishwa Fernando, and several other Sri Lankans, that Rickelton had been trapped in front for 98.

Rickelton reviewed, but not immediately like most players do when th...

South Africa flag flies, thanks to Bavuma, Rickelton

“I haven’t given the energy and time that Temba the batter requires.” – Temba Bavuma on separating batting from captaincy.

Telford Vice / St George’s Park

SOUTH Africa’s tallest national flag is unfurled in all its flapping, snapping, cracking glory atop a 60-metre pole mounted in the centre of Gqeberha, or a kilometre-and-a-half from St George’s Park.

The flag itself, at 12 metres by eight metres, is almost the size of half a singles tennis court. For the people of the city, it serve...

To seam, or not to seam: Lankans in a spin at St George’s Park

“The pitch looks greener than in Durban, so if we can get another seamer into our attack it would be a benefit for us.” — Dhananjaya de Silva

Telford Vice / Gqeberha

IF the Sri Lankans hoped to catch a glimpse of the evolving St George’s Park pitch when they arrived for training on Wednesday, they were disappointed. It was where it should have been, but it was also hiding from the heat and snug under a hessian cover. And thereby hangs a theory.

The Lankans saw grass 10 millimetres tal...

Welcome to Dane Paterson’s life

“I’d prefer to do the dirty work. If the big two fast bowlers need a break, I’ll do it. If I need to bowl into the wind and it needs to be a long spell, I’m not going to say no.” – Dane Paterson

Telford Vice / Gqeberha

YOU’RE 35 going on 36 — in April — with a solid, though not spectacular, seam bowling record. You’ve found a coach willing to give you a chance, which you reckon you should get considering two fast bowlers have joined the two others ruled out through injury.

Especially ...

Four days isn’t a long time in Test cricket

“It was unexpected, we were really shocked.” – Dinesh Chandimal on his team’s crash to 42 all out at Kingsmead.

Telford Vice / Durban

FOUR days is long enough to gain a feel of a foreign city, learn the basics of how to sail a yacht, or fall in and out of love. But is it long enough for Sri Lanka to find a way to rescue their suddenly sagging WTC campaign?

It had better be, because four days is all the Lankans will have between the end of their historic thumping in the first men’s Tes...

Hard work, but South Africa get there in the end

“They’re a very authentic group in terms of their personalities. That’s something we encourage – just be you and do you, and we’ll make this whole thing work.” – Shukri Conrad

Telford Vice / Kingsmead

MAYBE South Africa had too many runs to play with, and thus struggled to keep their bowling radar as sharp as it might have been. Maybe the Sri Lankans remembered how to play in these conditions. Maybe the wind swinging from southerly to northerly for the first time in the match, flattening...

Coetzee to miss second Test?

“It’s always a concern when you’ve got a longer list of injured players than fit players, but we’ll manage that.” – Shukri Conrad

Telford Vice / Kingsmead

GERALD Coetzee is in doubt for the second Test against Sri Lanka at St George’s Park , which starts on Thursday, with a groin problem. Coetzee took 2/18 and 2/67 in the first Test at Kingsmead, which South Africa won by 233 runs on Saturday.

“We chatted at lunch, and he said he felt his groin a little bit,” Shukri Conrad, South Afri...

Uncle Bavuma and nephew Stubbs

“I saw him glove it straight away so I wasn’t stressed. But I could see he was nervous, which made me nervous.” – Tristan Stubbs on the runs that took Temba Bavuma to his century.

Telford Vice / Kingsmead

YOU want portents? We’ve got portents. After Tristan Stubbs had tucked Asitha Fernando to square leg and set off on a galumph for the two runs he needed to reach his second century in as many Tests and in 31 days, Kingsmead’s main scoreboard lit up with South Africa’s lead: 438.

Stub...