Telford Vice's Blog, page 388

SA women will solve men’s problem at WT20

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

Neither for the first time nor the last, women will solve a problem for men when the World T20 semi-finals are played in Dhaka today.

Aaron Phangiso, in particular, should thank his lucky female stars if he gets a game having spent the entire group stage on the bench.

At 10.30am (SA time) today, the SA women’s team will play England. At 3pm, the SA and India men’s teams will clash.

Faf du Plessis’ team played all four of their group games in Chittagong, and h...

De Villiers, Du Plessis cut from same cloth

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

If AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis start resembling each other, South Africans might worry. Until that happens, they should be grateful that they seem interchangeable as captains of SA’s short format teams.

De Villiers stepped into the breach when Du Plessis was ruled out of SA’s opening World T20 match, against Sri Lanka, with a hamstring injury. When Du Plessis was banned for the game against England because of a slow over rate, De Villiers stood in aga...

‘Squire’ calls time on cricket career

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

Cricket in SA will lose one of its most colourful characters on Sunday when Cyril Mitchley calls time on a career in the game that has spanned more than 60 of his 75 years.

Mitchley, who played eight first-class matches for Transvaal as a wicketkeeper and was also a professional footballer, became better known as an umpire.

He stood in 26 tests and 61 one-day internationals, and was also an international match referee. Mitchley is officiating for the last ti...

Respect to Biff

Graeme Smith has been a figure easy to misunderstand. That should not hide the fact that he is among the toughest, most intelligent cricketers around - and a great batsman to boot

The pioneer South African cricket needed

Makhaya Ntini had the strength to bear the burden of being a beacon of hope for millions

Who after Corrie?

South Africa's current coach will be moving on after the World Cup. Who's it going to be to pilot them against Australia and Sri Lanka next year?

Football shoots, cricket scores

There's plenty of money on offer in the Champions League T20, but it's still a long way from taking a place among the truly big sporting events

South Africa's future in Johan

He's only the second frontline spinner to captain South Africa. Now with Graeme Smith stepping back, Johan Botha's future as leader looks bright

Older, wiser and lighter

Smith is about as big as anyone in South African cricket should be allowed to get. Now that he's stepping down, the team will be forced to seriously look at a future without him

A good bloke on a doomed ship

Andrew Hudson is likely be a conservative convenor of selectors. But will he be able to handle the madness and bad press that come with the job?