Telford Vice's Blog, page 26

Cricket’s pointless, perfunctory sugar-free candy floss

“Fly for three days to get to Joburg. Awards function in Joburg for a day. Fly for another three days right away  to get back to where I came from. Great!” – Tabraiz Shamsi

Telford Vice / Cape Town

That dress! Not the smart, serious, strappy black number Laura Wolvaardt wore to collect five trophies at CSA’s awards ceremony on Thursday. Rather, the flowing, sparkly blue gown that adorned Nonkululeko Mlaba.

It was Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night meets Halley’s Comet meets Miles Davis’ ...

World Cup looms for fading finalists

“She’s got to play some domestic cricket before we have that discussion from a national point of view.” – selection convenor Clinton du Preez on Dané van Niekerk’s chances of making an international comeback. 

Telford Vice / Cape Town

REMEMBER the first South Africa team to reach a senior World Cup final? It was just more than a year-and-a-half ago, but you would be forgiven for not being able to call them to mind readily.

Despite retaining most of the players who took them to the dec...

Stubbs, Maphaka bright spots in South Africa’s gloom

“When I go home it’s going to be into the [preliminary examinations]. So I’ve been studying on tour, unfortunately. After prelims it’s the finals, and then I’m done with school.” – Kwena Maphaka on his busy young life.

Telford Vice / Cape Town

SIXTY-ONE days is a long time in T20 cricket. During those two months, South Africa reeled off eight consecutive victories only to fall seven runs short of winning their first senior World Cup of any description. Also during that time, they shamble...

T20Is too soon for West Indies, South Africa?

“It’ll come up when you don’t want it to. I’ve tried my best to forget about it but it’s still not easy. Someone spoke to us the other night about it and you’re like, ‘You don’t have to tell us if you feel bad for us.’” – Tristan Stubbs on the T20 World Cup final ghosts.

Telford Vice / Cape Town

READY or not, South Africans, here comes another T20I. West Indians might also think it’s too soon to revisit the format. It is, after all, less than two months since the men’s T20 World Cup ende...

T20 World Cup final in Markram’s rearview mirror

“The most important thing is making sure you’re at peace with how it all ended. So that you can move on and move forward.” – Aiden Markram on the men’s 2024 T20 World Cup final.

Telford Vice / Cape Town

IT’S been 53 days. How is Aiden Markram holding up? “I should give it as much time as it needs,” he told a press conference from Guyana on Tuesday. “It was a tough one to swallow at the time. Definitely since then till now, it’s got a bit better to handle; to deal with and to process and ...

WTF is with the WTC?

“There are World Cups in every other format and there’s no reason why a Test team shouldn’t have something like this.” – Shukri Conrad

Telford Vice / Cape Town

EVERY Test series used to have its own context, which was informed by previous rubbers and would influence the series that followed. Series stood as singular collections of episodes, alchemic alloys formed when protagonists collided and found ways to exploit or overcome the conditions.

It was part of the special appeal of Test ...

Maharaj passes milestone, Rabada just short

South Africa have won all 10 of their Test series against West Indies.

Telford Vice / Cape Town

FOR a while at Providence in Guayana on Saturday, what mattered was how long South Africa would bat. A pitch that had been the seamers’ friend on the first day of the second men’s Test, when 17 wickets crashed, and showed signs of calming down on the second, when only eight fell, had flattened into a fine batting surface.

The visitors reached stumps on Friday with Kyle Verreynne and Wiaan M...

The magic of Guyana’s grass

“I tried to replicate what he did.” – Wiaan Mulder on Shamar Joseph.

Telford Vice / Cape Town

WHAT a difference a pitch makes. If you were unfortunate enough to endure the first Test between West Indies and South Africa at Queen’s Park Oval, which whimpered to a draw on Sunday, and saw the start of the second match of the series in Providence on Thursday, you might struggle to believe the two grounds are not from planets flung far from each other.

The truth is they are a sliver of the...

Draws dwindling, but get ready for Guyana grind

Another sluggish surface seems certain and there is more rain in the air, albeit less than in Trinidad.

Telford Vice / Cape Town

DRAWS are draining out of Test cricket. The stalemate West Indies and South Africa reached at Queen’s Park Oval on Sunday, a product of the unfortunate alchemy of a uselessly slow pitch and rain that took 148 overs out of the match, is the only draw in the 22 men’s Tests played this year.

Ten of the 22 players had never been involved in a draw, and only one ...

Tony de Zorzi’s serious silliness

“It was another opportunity for me to talk nonsense, so I enjoyed it.” – Tony de Zorzi

Telford Vice / Cape Town

TONY de Zorzi’s new day job is strictly for serious people. Comedians need not apply. Opening the batting in Test cricket is not for them. It’s for exemplars of earnestness like Jack Hobbs, Gautam Gambhir, David Warner, Kepler Wessels and Gordon Greenidge.

There are exceptions. No-one could accuse Herschelle Gibbs, Chris Gayle, David Boon, Mark Butcher or Virender Sehwag of ...