Telford Vice's Blog, page 382

Hash v KP: the sacred and the profane

I wrote this for the December edition of GQ Magazine. It seems apposite to post it now.

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

Leonardo da Vinci painted his mountains blue. Glance past Mona Lisa looking languidly at you and, indeed, the peaks extending to the left and right of her, many miles from where she is smiling her forever beguiling smile, swirl with a deep, moody blue.

In the edifice of modern cricketers, who are ranged at least as far from their obsessed public as the mountains are behind Mona Lisa...

Sponsors not bitter about Amla not being here for the beer

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

Will Hashim Amla’s teammates have to drink his share of the sponsor’s beer in future? That’s almost what Cricket SA (CSA) chief executive Haroon Lorgat seemed to suggest when Amla was unveiled as SA’s test captain on Tuesday.

Or perhaps not. “Castle (Lager), in particular, are very supportive (of Amla’s appointment),” Lorgat said. “We will meet the obligations of our commercial partners through other players.”

As a practising muslim, Amla neither drinks alco...

De Villiers scoops four awards

Times Media

TELFORD VICE*, Johannesburg

Any disappointment AB de Villiers felt at not being appointed SA test captain would have been eased when he walked away with four major accolades at Cricket SA’s awards function in Johannesburg last night. But Hashim Amla, who was named test captain on Tuesday, went home empty-handed.

De Villiers was named the SA Cricketer of the Year, Test Cricketer of the Year, Players’ Player of the Year and Fans’ Player of the Year. The only award he was nominated for...

No need for big brother: Amla is up for his biggest challenge

http://www.GOcricket.com – http://www.gocricket.com/columns/telford-vice/Hashim-Amla-up-for-the-challenge/articleshow/36007001.cms

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

“Now listen, chaps,” Trevor Goddard told a respectfully silent dressingroom in 1970, “Ali has been made captain and we will all support him.”

And that was that. Goddard, the senior man, had spoken and no-one would dare speak against him. Ali Bacher had indeed been made South Africa’s captain, and he did indeed have, instantly and enduringly...

Amla will ‘give my heart’ to captaincy

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

Commonsense among sport suits can be a rare commodity, but Cricket SA’s (CSA) board got it right yesterday by confirming Hashim Amla as the national team’s test captain.

CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat said Amla was the “unanimous recommendation of the selectors”, and that “the board did not take much convincing” to seal the deal.

Not that the board could go far wrong with candidates of the calibre of Amla, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis to choose from....

SA test squad wind-blown with change

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

Dane Piedt and Stiaan van Zyl made the grade. Simon Harmer did not. Quinton de Kock and Kyle Abbott earned their keep, unlike Thami Tsolekile, Rory Kleinveldt, Ryan McLaren and Robin Peterson. And, of course, Graeme Smith is no longer around.

The first squad that will play under Hashim Amla’s captaincy – in two tests in Sri Lanka next month – is wind-blown with change.

Cobras couple Piedt and Van Zyl were rewarded for finishing as the leading run-scorer and...

Cometh the hour, cometh the captain

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

Two weeks ago, AB de Villiers looked locked and loaded to succeed Graeme Smith as SA’s test captain. Today, when the new skipper is unveiled in Johannesburg, the shock will surge far and wide if Hashim Amla does not crack the nod.

What has happened to swing the pendulum from De Villiers – and Faf du Plessis – to Amla may never be known, but the circumstances are compelling.

“I would love to do it,” was De Villiers’ straight answer when he was asked, on May 1...

Oh, captain our captain – but who will he be?

Sunday Times

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

The last time South Africans had to think about who would captain their test team, Claude Henderson’s brother, James, was the leading runscorer in a domestic first-class competition that featured 11 teams, and the idea of cricketers being auctioned for millions to play for fake teams owned by movie stars and business tycoons in a cartoon competition was ridiculous.

It still is, but even the Indian Premier League is more believable than the fact that Graeme...

Want to be a zombie? Watch the IPL

Sunday Times

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

What will you be doing at around 4.30pm today? Craig Matthews knows what he most certainly will not be doing – tuning in to the Indian Premier League (IPL) final between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings XI in Bangalore.

“I don’t watch the IPL much,” the former SA allrounder and national selector said. “If I’m really looking to behave like a zombie for a few hours then maybe I’ll put it on.

“But I feel T20 cricket has become boring. After four or f...

Staffie to follow Irish wolfhound at top of SA’s order. Or will boxer puppy be picked?

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

If Andrew Hudson and his selectors share Morne Morkel’s take on things, they might want to fetch SA’s next opening batsman from the SPCA.

“He’s a staffie,” was how Morkel described Elgar before the second test against Australia at St George’s Park last season.

Elgar promptly added bite to that bark by scoring an important 83, then dismissed Nathan Lyon to level the series in the wake of Australia’s thumping victory in Centurion.

Although he was not selected f...