Telford Vice's Blog, page 7

Banyana Wafcon title defence flies under the radar

“We’re all on the same page in that we are not stressed about the other teams but more interested in what we need to do.” – Noxolo Cesane

Telford Vice / Oujda

DON’T tell anyone, but Banyana Banyana begin their defence of the women’s African Cup of Nations (Wafcon) title they won in 2022 against Ghana at the Honneur Stadium in Oujda tomorrow.

You might not know, if you were in, say, Tangier or Fez, that a continental football championship kicked off in Rabat last night with a game betw...

South Africa still favoured, despite changes

“He was one of the guys who broke my fingers — my right middle finger, at Centurion. He was sheer pace. He was a lovely man and Corbin’s exactly the same.” – Piet Botha on Tertius, and Corbin, Bosch

Telford Vice / Oujda

A new captain. A different spinner. A side who are now even further from their strongest XI than they were a game ago. Yet South Africa will be heavily favoured to beat Zimbabwe when the teams meet again on Sunday.

They will do so at the same ground where they complete...

‘I know what I would’ve done to Kohli on the football field, and Steve Waugh was an a***hole.’

Umpires are part of cricket’s spectacle. They’re not faceless, pulseless bystanders devoid of personality. Umpires are almost as central to the game as players. 

Telford Vice / Fez

CYRIL Mitchley was about to change cricket forever. As he did so, he told Cricbuzz, he thought to himself: “I’m standing in the middle of Kingsmead. What the hell am I doing making a square in the air?” 

It was after lunch on November 14, 1992, and Sachin Tendulkar had pushed a delivery from Brian McMillan ...

And so to Bulawayo, on a wing and a beer

“I still need to pinch myself that everything is real. I’ve had a magical period.” – Corbin Bosch

Telford Vice / Tangier

A horde of South Africans gathered in a glorious garden on a golden summer evening in the plush London neighbourhood of Kensington last month. Some of them were slightly under the weather, a bit dusty, slightly foxed. In plain English, hungover. And well they might have been.

“We’re going to get very drunk,” Kyle Verreynne had warned the previous afternoon. In other...

Where Brevis meets Yusuf

“I want to be that boy playing cricket because that’s the most important thing.” – Dewald Brevis

Telford Vice / London

IF you’ve been near enough cricket headlines in recent years, you would have struggled not to come across one Dewald Brevis.

He scored two centuries and three 50s in the 2022 under-19 World Cup and broke Shikhar Dhawan’s runscoring record for the tournament. His 57-ball 162 for the Titans against the Knights in October 2022 was then the fastest T20 150 — off 52 — yet ...

The Thank You Series

“Teams always want to play against the world champions.” – Keshav Maharaj soaks up the status.

Telford Vice / London

FROM A to Z. Or from Arundel to Zimbabwe. The last step of South Africa’s preparation for the WTC final against Australia at Lord’s earlier this month was a four-day match against Zimbabwe at Arundel. Now the champions are in Bulawayo to play what might be called the Thank You Series, starting on Saturday.

Quite how much the South Africans gained at Arundel, where the m...

Rest is best, says Conrad

“If you cast your eye on what the next few months look like for us, starting with this series and then a couple of days after that we go to Australia and England, we felt it was the best thing for them to freshen up.” – Shukri Conrad.

Telford Vice / London

WELCOME back Rassie van der Dussen, Nandré Burger and Gerald Coetzee. And Rob Walter. Welcome Lhuan-dré Pretorius and — to the format — Corbin Bosch, Rubin Hermann and Senuran Muthusamy. And Shukri Conrad. But there is no welcome for A...

The making of the mace

“We are proud as a team but we are even more happy and proud that we’ve made our people proud.” – Temba Bavuma

Telford Vice / London

FEEL it. It is here. The ICC Test mace, that is, which arrived in Johannesburg in pomp, circumstance and triumph on Wednesday in the giddy wake of South Africa beating Australia in the WTC final at Lord’s last week.

The squad were met at the airport by thousands of supporters before the party moved to CSA’s offices, where the red carpet was duly laid out...

At last, South Africa are able to look themselves in the eye

“You play for South Africa for a reason. It’s not by chance.” – Kagiso Rabada

Telford Vice / London

IT was April 23, 1992, long enough ago for apartheid still to be the law of the land in South Africa. For Nelson Mandela to have been out of prison for just more than two years but not yet elected president. For ordinary black and brown South Africans to hope — to expect, even — that a better life was imminent.

But it was not long enough ago for South Africa to remain banished from inte...

The apple of Shukri Conrad’s eye

“Arguably the best side in the world? Yeah, we’ve just beaten them.” – Shukri Conrad

Telford Vice / London

SHUKRI Conrad has beautiful eyes. They are hazel and soft, and not a lot like the rest of the straightforward, driven, feisty head coach who guided South Africa to victory in the WTC final against Australia at Lord’s on Saturday.

But Conrad’s eyes are not visible as he approaches a handful of reporters standing at the boundary’s edge between the Allen Stand and the pavilion. Inst...