Mickeys

South African captain Graeme Smith suffered a finger injury on Friday, causing a scare in the tourists’ camp ahead of a decisive Test match against India.

Graeme Smith

Smith hurt the little finger on his left hand during the team’s fielding session at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, where the second and final Test starts on Sunday.

X-rays did not reveal a fracture, but Smith was set to undergo an MRI scan to determine if the injury was more serious than a sprained ligament.

“There is no fracture, but we need an MRI scan done, to be sure it is not a serious injury,” team spokesman Michael Owen-Smith told reporters.

“It looks to be some sort of a ligament damage. At this stage it’s being treated as a sprained ligament.”

South Africa, who won the first Test in Nagpur by an innings and six runs on Tuesday, need a draw to dislodge India from the number one position in the official Test rankings.

taken from Sport24

Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has praised Graeme Smith for his leadership skills following the Proteas’ innings victory over their hosts in the first Test match that finished at Nagpur on Tuesday.

Graeme Smith

“There was obviously a lot of turmoil in the South African camp following the departure of the coach and the sacking of the selection committee,” commented Gavaskar. “Smith may not have got runs in this Test match but the way he pulled the team together to play such competitive and intense cricket on all four days says a lot about his leadership skills.”

Gavaskar also described Dale Steyn, one of the Proteas’ match winners, as one of the best exponents of late reverse swing he had seen since Indian superstar Kapil Dev.

Kapil is regarded as India’s best all rounder and opening bowler of all time. For a while he held the record as the leading Test wicket taker with 434 dismissals before he was overtaken by Courtney Walsh of the West Indies who became the first bowler to take more than 500 wickets.

Steyn currently has 195 wickets in only 37 Test matches. Clarrie Grimmett, the Australian leg spinner of the 1930s, is the fastest to 200 wickets in 36 matches while Dennis Lillee of Australia and Waqar Younis of Pakistan (both 38) are the next best.

Allan Donald is the fastest South African to date (42 matches).

Steyn’s current strike rate of 38.9 is the fourth fastest of all time. Of modern bowlers only Shane Bond of New Zealand (38.7) has done better.

taken from Sport24

Johannesburg – The day after Mickey Arthur’s resignation as national coach, South Africa’s selection panel has also been sacked by the board.

Mike Procter

Mike Procter, the now former convenor of selectors, confirmed the development to a Talk Radio 702 in Johannesburg.

Procter told the station that Cricket South Africa had fired the entire selection panel, which included Craig Matthews, Winky Ximiya and Mustapha Khan, and an interim one would be appointed to serve until February 19.

“It came as a huge shock to us all,” Procter said. He added that only CSA would be able to confirm if the developments were linked to the transformation issue.

“I had a phone call early on Tuesday morning, Gerald Majola informing me that this selection panel would not be required in future,” Procter told eNews.

“Everyone was told that this was going to be a talk after the series. We were just going to make some presentations. They weren’t going to come after anyone. It wasn’t going to be a witch hunt.

“I think we had too short a time in the business, as selectors we always gave our own thoughts, we never ended up voting on issues, we talked around issues, we enjoyed each others company and I think we were doing pretty well. The time we had was too short but we did introduce some new players.”

Matthews, a member of the selection panel, said he understood that Majola would head the interim panel until a new one was put in place. “The way I understand it, there will be an interim selection panel and Gerald will be the convenor of selectors until a new panel has been picked,” he told the Cricinfo website. “We weren’t given any reason for the decision (sacking). All that was said was that the board felt the selection process was flawed and that they want to restructure it.

“It might be a transformation issue, but they didn’t give us any reasons, all they said was that the process needs to be reworked. I have been part of South African cricket for many years, nothing really surprises me anymore.”

The sacked panel took over as selectors in December 2008, just before the historic series victory in Australia which put South Africa on top of both the Test and the ODI rankings. Results went downhill after that, losing the return Test series against Australia and only managing to draw the home series against England which ended earlier this month. Between those two assignments were the loss in the World Twenty20 semi-finals and the embarrassingly early exit in the ICC Champions Trophy they hosted. The panel’s tenure was supposed to be till the 2011 World Cup, the same as Arthur’s.

Arthur will speak to the media along with CSA CEO Gerald Majola at 11:00 this morning in East London, live on the SuperSport Blitz channel.

taken from Sport24

Cape Town – England has been heavily touted in the UK media as next port of employment call for Mickey Arthur, who resigned earlier this week as Proteas coach.

Mickey Arthur

One report said a quest to have Kepler Wessels installed as replacement would probably be “dismissed out of hand” while another pointed to the fact that cricket has no Alex Ferguson equivalent, making coaches the more likely sacrificial lambs in power struggles with captains.

It was also suggested that Ashes-winning former England coach Duncan Fletcher, who spends most of his time in the Western Cape, was weary of travelling and would not seek the South African job.

Nick Hoult of the Daily Telegraph said Arthur had “targeted” a move to England.

“(He) has long held ambitions to coach in county cricket. Arthur was linked with the director of cricket position at Surrey last year – Chris Adams was eventually appointed – and was also a candidate for the England job after Peter Moores’s sacking.

“At the moment there are no openings at counties, so he will look for a consultancy role similar to the one Fletcher fills with Hampshire.”
The paper quoted Arthur as saying: “I would love a job in England and can bide my time until the next opportunity.”

The Guardian’s David Hopps insisted – despite subsequent dampening signals by Kiwi cricket bosses – that Arthur would be head-hunted by New Zealand.

“(They) have been without a coach since Andy Moles resigned and their chief executive Justin Vaughan has been a firm admirer of Arthur ever since he piloted South Africa to a historic victory in Australia.

“Fletcher has had his fill of the touring life and an Afrikaan-led (sic) campaign for the no-nonsense Kepler Wessels to take charge and challenge Smith’s authority as captain is likely to be dismissed out of hand.

“Smith, as ever, is sitting upwind. His power base is as strong as that of the disgraced former captain Hansie Cronje … his qualities remain essential to South Africa’s future.”

The views of Lawrence Booth, in the Daily Mail, flew slightly in the face of local reports on Wednesday suggesting that talk of an irreparable rift between Smith and Arthur as key reason for the latter’s resignation was exaggerated.

“Arthur lost the confidence of senior players in the South African team. Graeme Smith and others grew unhappy with Arthur’s contribution and his head was on the block when (they) failed in September’s Champions Trophy.

“He jumped before he was pushed.”

John Stern, editor of The Wisden Cricketer magazine, writing on Cricinfo, said: “Arthur’s departure is confirmation of where the power lies in a cricket dressing room. There is no Alex Ferguson (the fiery Manchester United boss) in cricket.

“Coaches might pick the team but they certainly don’t have total control or accountability for team affairs.

“A successful captain, as Smith assuredly is, will always win in a power struggle with a coach and Arthur will have been well aware of that.

“He is a young man, in his early 40s, with a good CV. He shouldn’t be short of offers, whether from a county or the IPL.

“For now, he can sit back and enjoy the Sharks rugby team and following his daughters on the local tennis circuit.”

taken from Sport24

Port Elizabeth – Fast bowler James Anderson wrecked South Africa’s batting order with a career-best performance as England won the fourth one-day international by seven wickets at St George’s Park on Sunday.

Stuart Broad successfully appeals for the wicket of Graeme Smith.

The win gave England an unbeatable 2-1 lead in the series. The final match will be played in Durban on Friday.

Anderson took five for 23 as South Africa were bowled out for 119, their lowest total in a one-day international in their own country.

Jonathan Trott and England captain Andrew Strauss put on 74 for the first wicket before England suffered a wobble when three wickets fell for nine runs.

But the tourists cruised to victory with 18.4 overs to spare with Trott finishing with 52 not out.

It was a remarkable turnaround for England, who conceded 354 runs when they lost the third international by 112 runs in Cape Town two days earlier.

South African captain Graeme Smith was dismissed by Stuart Broad off the eighth ball of the match and his side were unable to recover.

Smith gambled by batting first in overcast conditions on a pitch with slightly more grass than usual and the early loss of their leading batsmen exposed a lengthy tail.

England’s bowling was accurate and the South Africans failed to adapt to a slower pitch than that on which they prospered in Cape Town.

Anderson bowled superbly in two spells and benefitted from bold captaincy by Strauss. After a first spell of two for 17 in six overs, Strauss brought back his strike bowler in the 21st over to press home his side’s advantage.

Anderson responded by taking three more wickets and had completed his stint by the end of the 27th over. By then, South Africa had lost seven wickets for 85 runs.

Tim Bresnan provided excellent support for Anderson, taking one for 15 in an unbroken spell of eight overs. He took the key wicket of AB de Villiers, who made a century in Cape Town and was looking in good form until he was leg before to Bresnan for 22.

Alviro Petersen, the least experienced of the South African top order, was the only batsman to shine, making 51 off 79 balls before he was the last man out. It was Petersen’s third successive half-century in the series.

Strauss survived a confident appeal for a catch behind off Morne Morkel when he was on 12 but otherwise he and Trott batted comfortably before Strauss fell to recalled off-spinner Johan Botha for 32.

Kevin Pietersen again failed to find his best form. He was dropped at long leg by Morne Morkel off Ryan McLaren before he had scored and made only three before he chipped Botha to midwicket.

Paul Collingwood failed for the first time in the series when he was caught behind off McLaren for two before Trott and Eoin Morgan took England to victory in an unbeaten stand of 38.

CLICK HERE for the scorecard.

South Africa made two changes to the side that beat England in the third match at Newlands on Friday, with Charl Langeveldt replacing Dale Steyn, who has a hamstring strain, and Johan Botha coming in for Roelof van der Merwe.

England named an unchanged side.

Teams:

South Africa - Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Alviro Petersen, Mark Boucher, Ryan McLaren, Johan Botha, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Charl Langeveldt.

England - Andrew Strauss (capt), Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Matthew Prior, Luke Wright, Tim Bresnan, Chris Broad, Graham Swann, Jimmy Anderson.

taken from Sport24

Centurion – England stormed into the Champions Trophy semi-finals with a 22-run victory over South Africa who crashed out of the tournament despite captain Graeme Smith’s brave century on Sunday.

Smith hit a career-best 141 for his eighth one-day hundred but his team were still restricted to 301-9 while chasing a 324-run target.

The defeat also eliminated the hosts, who needed 313 to stay ahead of Sri Lanka on net run-rate.

England have won both of their games in the four-team Group B, while South Africa and Sri Lanka finished their league engagements with one win apiece in three matches.

New Zealand, who have one win in two matches, will take on England in the last group match on Tuesday.

England owed their highest one-day total against South Africa to man-of-the-match Owais Shah and Eoin Morgan, who gave a superb exhibition of power-hitting. Shah smashed 98 off 89 balls, while Morgan cracked a 34-ball 67.

South Africa went for their shots early in their innings in a bid to achieve a stiff target, with Smith and Herschelle Gibbs putting on 42 in seven overs.

Smith, dropped on 82 by Shah at long-on off seamer Paul Collingwood, sustained his team’s hopes with a gutsy knock. He reached his century when he cut Collingwood for his 10th four.

Smith, refused a runner after suffering from cramp later in his innings, put on 78 for the third wicket with AB de Villiers (36) and 64 for the next with Jean-Paul Duminy (24).

But the asking-rate kept climbing as the hosts needed 94 to win in the closing 10 overs. It was all over when Smith fell in the 47th over after hitting 16 fours in his 134-ball knock.

Shah was earlier in the limelight, putting England on course for a big total with a gem of an innings containing six sixes and five fours. He added a record 163 for the third wicket with Collingwood (82).

England’s previous best for the third wicket against South Africa in one-day internationals was 114 between Marcus Trescothick and Anthony McGrath in Manchester in 2003.

The stage was set for the final onslaught after the Shah-Collingwood stand, with England plundering 92 in their last 10 overs.

Like Shah, stand-in wicket-keeper Morgan also flayed the South African attack as he hit five sixes and four boundaries in his second successive half-century.

England began aggressively after winning the toss as skipper Andrew Strauss (25) and Joe Denly (21) added 48 for the opening wicket before falling in the space of three overs.

But South Africa’s joy was short-lived as Shah and in-form Collingwood kept gathering runs comfortably against both pace and spin to put their team in a strong position.

Shah was more aggressive of the two, playing handsome strokes all round the wicket. He was just two runs short of his second one-day century when he was caught behind off spinner Johan Botha.

taken from Sport24

Centurion – Wayne Parnell captured his first five-wicket haul in one-day-international (ODI) cricket as South Africa bowled New Zealand out for 214 in their ICC Champions Trophy match at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday.

Wayne Parnell

Left-arm quick Parnell was a tad expensive but the 19-year-old showed his fortitude to decimate the New Zealand tail and end the innings with figures of 8-0-57-5.

Parnell was instrumental in a New Zealand collapse that saw the visitors lose their last five wickets for just 11 runs to be dismissed with 13 balls of their innings remaining.

The home side would have been pleased with their fight-back as New Zealand had looked well set on 163 for three in the 39th over.

After Graeme Smith had won the toss and elected to field, the Black Caps’ run gathering had been built around a 71-run fourth-wicket partnership, off 95 balls, between Grant Elliott and Ross Taylor.

Taylor would go on to score his 11th ODI half-century, off 90 balls before he became Parnell’s fourth wicket when he was trapped leg-before for a well-compiled 72 off 106 balls with six fours and two sixes.

Elliott was dismissed for 39 runs off 48 balls with four fours after he was bowled by left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe to leave New Zealand on 163 for four.

On a pitch that offered turn and bounce for the spinners, so much so, that the home side had a short-leg in place as late as the 24th over of the game, Van der Merwe produced a controlled display that netted the 24-year-old two wickets for 35 runs off 10 overs.

Parnell and van der Merwe received good support from fast bowler Dale Steyn, who claimed two for 32 off 9.5 overs.

New Zealand’s innings had been given a solid start by opening batsman Brendon McCullum who made his way to 44 runs off 68 balls with three fours and two sixes before he was caught by JP Duminy at short fine leg off the bowling of off spinner Johan Botha.

Teams:

South Africa - Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Mark Boucher (wk), Albie Morkel, Roelof van der Merwe, Johan Botha, Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn.

New Zealand– Brendon McCullum (wk), Jesse Ryder, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott, Neil Broom, Gareth Hopkins, Daniel Vettori (capt), Kyle Mills, Daryl Tuffey, Shane Bond.

taken from Sport24

South Africa’s campaign to win their first world trophy since they won the first ICC Champions Trophy in 1998 got off to the worst possible start at Supersport Park on Tuesday when they lost to Sri Lanka in the opening match of the 2009 tournament.

Chasing a target of 320 to win, South Africa were on 206 for seven when the first rain of the summer brought play to a halt, leaving South Africa well short of the Duckworth-Lewis target of 260. Sri Lanka won by 55 runs according to the rain-adjusted target.

Hashim Amla was first to go, bowled by Angelo Mathews for two in just the third over. Smith and Jacques Kallis shared a second wicket stand of 81 before Smith was bowled by Ajantha Mendis for 58, shortly after reaching his 39th ODI half century.

A slimmed-down Kallis was next to go, caught by Mathews off Mendis for 41, and after that, South Africa lost wickets at regular intervals with players getting starts but not carrying on. AB De Villiers made 24, JP Duminy was out for a duck, Mark Boucher fell for 26 and Johan Botha made 21.

Just when Albie Morkel and Roelof van der Merwe started hitting out in the batting power play, the rain began falling and the crowd began leaving in droves.

Mendis took three wickets for 30, and Lasith Malinga and Mathews took two each.

Earlier, Sri Lanka made an impressive 319 for eight, thanks largely to a partnership of 158 between Tillekeratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara.

Dilshan made 106 off 92 balls before he was caught by Morkel off Dale Steyn, who was brought back into the attack in an attempt to get rid of the Sri Lankan opener, two overs after JP Duminy had claimed Sangakkara’s wicket for 54 to end the partnership.

South Africa’s problems did not end with the dismissal of Dilshan and Sangakkara, who were replaced by Mahela Jayawardena and Thilan Samaraweera.

They put on 116 together before falling to Wayne Parnell off successive balls, with Jayawardena caught by Duminy for 77 and Samaraweera caught by Roelof van der Merwe for 37.

Although South Africa claimed five wickets in the last five overs, it was too late to prevent the Sri Lankans from putting on a score that was always going to be hard to chase down.

Steyn was the most economical of the bowlers, taking three for 47, while Parnell was the most expensive, conceding 79 for his three wickets.

The Proteas will be bitterly disappointed at their performance, as they were outplayed by Sri Lanka. They now have to win their other two group matches, against England and New Zealand, if they are to reach the semi-finals next weekend.

The South Africans were the only team in the tournament who have played no international cricket for three months, and their lack of competition showed. Hopefully, they will have shed some of their ring-rustiness before they take on New Zealand on Thursday.

taken from Sport24

As most of you will know by now South Africa will be the host to this years ICC Champions Trophy held between 22 September and 5 October!

Here’s a bit of information on the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy:

The 2009 ICC Champions Trophy is a One Day International cricket tournament to be held in South Africa between 22 September and 5 October,at Wanderers Stadium and Centurion Park, both in the Johannesburg area. It will be the sixth edition of the ICC Champions Trophy, and was previously known as the ICC Knock-out.

Schedule and location

The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan between 12 and 28 September 2008. The ICC postponed the tournament due to security fears expressed by several participating countries; many countries did not want to play in Pakistan after an attack on the Sri Lankan team by militants. On 24 July 2008, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that the tournament would take place in Pakistan after all despite players from Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand raising concerns over touring the country. On 22 August 2008, South Africa announced that it would not take part in the Champions Trophy due to security concerns. Two days later, on 24 August 2008, after speculation that the tournament would be held elsewhere (England, Sri Lanka, or South Africa), the ICC announced that the tournament would be postponed until October 2009.

At its meeting in January 2009, the ICC board decided to move the tournament out of Pakistan on security concerns. At the time, Sri Lanka was the favoured alternate host. In March 2009, the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee recommended to the ICC board that the tournament be held in South Africa as there were concerns that the weather in Sri Lanka during September and October could result in too many games being washed out. The ICC board ratified the recommendation, and the event is now scheduled to take place in South Africa between 22 September and 5 October, 2009. Matches will be played at Wanderers Stadium and Centurion Park, both in the Johannesburg area. (continue reading…)