Telford Vice's Blog, page 370

Phangiso the new pap propping up SA’s vleis

Sunday Times

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

PAUL Harris lived a secret life during his 37 tests and three one-day caps for SA, all of them earned as the pap in an attack not short on vleis.

“It’s strange because I am an inherently impatient person,” Harris said. “The only time I was patient, my wife tells me, was when I was bowling.

“A lot of times, I would come on when a team would be 100/1. I would get the wicket and Dale Steyn would come back on. I never really bowled to new batsmen; I always seemed...

Leading Edge: Absence of ego will help SA grow

Sunday Times

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

IF you are not careful as you shamble about the more dodgy alleys of the internet, you could see a short film in which Faf du Plessis describes how he keeps the family jewels safe while he is at the crease.

“For those who don’t know, I’m one of the guys who gets hit in the nuts probably the most in the world,” Du Plessis explains. “For those who do know, it’s a very, very painful thing to go through. Hence, I’ve come up with this little situation here.”

With t...

SA avoid unlikely hiding, reach triseries final

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

SA did not need to beat Zimbabwe in Harare on Thursday to reach Saturday’s final against Australia; all they had to do was avoid losing by a cartoonly large margin. But they won anyway.

“We will have to perform better in all three departments against the Aussies,” AB de Villiers said afterwards, although he felt “our batting was close to perfect”.

Truth be told, any 11 members of the crowd would have stood a fair chance against a home side who performed more li...

Simply winning or losing won’t matter for Zim and SA

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

SOMETIMES, one-day cricket is not all about winning and losing. On Thursday, when Zimbabwe play SA in Harare, is one of those times.

Australia are already in Saturday’s final. Whether their opponents will be Zimbabwe or SA will be decided on Thursday.

But to keep SA out of the final the home side will need to do more than win. They will have to achieve what they never have in an ODI against a major team.

If they bat first, Zimbabwe will need to win by around 133...

Cheer up, Rossouw: it could be worse

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

RILEE Rossouw should cheer up. Yes, he is the only South African and only the second player ever to have suffered golden ducks in his first two innings in one-day internationals. But it could get worse. Sort of.

On debut against Zimbabwe in Harare two weeks ago, Rossouw opened the batting, nudged the fourth ball of the match to mid-off, set off on a single that never was, and was run out by Malcolm Waller’s direct hit.

Eight days later, Rossouw sat and watched...

Du Plessis’ thunder in vain as SA’s lightning fails to strike twice

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

THE lightning that dazzled SA’s display against Australia a week ago did not strike a second time in Harare on Tuesday, even with Faf du Plessis again raining thunder on the bowlers. Instead, the Aussies avenged their loss that day with a comprehensive win.

Last Wednesday, SA chased down a target of 328 with seven wickets and 20 balls to spare. On Tuesday, they were dismissed for 220 in 44 overs in reply to Australia’s 282/7 – which spelled defeat by 62 runs.

T...

Norman Gordon out for 103

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

TEST cricket lost its oldest player on Tuesday when Norman Gordon, who earned all of his five caps for SA in the 1938-39 series against England, died 27 days after his 103rd birthday.

Brian Gordon, however, said goodbye to much more. “He was a wonderful man with a lovely sense of humour; he was very kind to everyone,” he said of his father on Tuesday.

So, Gordon in person did not match the persona of the big, bad fast swing bowler whose haul of 20 wickets in th...

Can we trust SA to win when it counts?

http://www.GOcricket.com – http://www.gocricket.com/Can-we-trust-South-Africa-to-win-when-it-counts/Telford-Vice/columnshow/41490703.cms

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

SORRY to bother, Professors Sen, Chomsky and Einstein, but could one of you – indeed, it might require all of you putting your famously fantastic heads together – tell us how the dark alchemy of Zimbabwe’s zeroes beating Australia’s aces and semi-piddling India winning against utterly piddling England clears the way for India to make an...

Aussies wake up and smell the schadenfreude

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

THIRTEEN days ago, Australia arrived in Zimbabwe as triangular series champions-in-waiting. They were the No. 1 team in the format, SA were focused on their navels, and Zimbabwe were locked outside their own sweet shop, noses firmly pressed to windows.

But those 13 days have turned out to be unlucky for Michael Clarke’s men. Not only have they lost to both opponents and relinquished their ranking to India, they face SA at Harare Sports Club (HSC) again on Tues...

Australia down, Clarke out as Zimbabwe claim victory

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

“YA,” Australia captain Michael Clarke barked at Brad Haddin between turning Donald Tiripano to square leg and chugging to the other end of the pitch for a single at Harare Sports Club on Sunday.

With that, Clarke reached 50 in his first innings of the triangular series having missed two games through injury.

“We’re about to find out,” he said when he was asked at the toss if his hamstring would hold up.

It would not. “I’ll be on a plane home in the next 24 hour...