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The Boks have arrived
By Will 3 months ago, Comments
I always relish series involving South Africa, even though I have an entirely unreasonable dislike of their team. It is always painful losing to Australia, but it’s no less galling to be beaten by South Africa.
And look what’s happened! Rumours abound that Graeme Smith, the most unmellowable of characters, might have mellowed. How boring. He’s now friends with Shane Warne when once he wouldn’t have leant him a sheet of bog roll, though I’m happy to report the rift between him and Kevin Pietersen still appears to be impressively wide. It will be fun watching them both toss if KP again captains in place of Collingwood for the Twenty20 and first ODI.
They’ve begun ominously, South Africa, with Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis (what a dynamic duo that pair are) both filling their leather boots with monstrous hundreds. Somerset managed a feeble 249 in response to their 515 for 3 declared.
After watching New Zealand for what has felt like a decade, it’s actually bloody exciting to think we have a brand new series coming up against a side I am itching watch. To steal a mate’s phrase, however, England could get “thoroughly shat upon”. Then again, the Boks are nothing but bottlers, so it seems only fair to stir the pot at this early stage and get the bok-bottling-ball rolling once more.
Have a read of previous series, right the way back to 1888
CommentsWaiting for Tuesday
By Ian last year, mid-April, Comments
Morning. I’m writing this from the boat in Barbados just a few moments before the start of the Aussie-Sri Lanka contest, a possible dress rehearsal for the final.
Word among the Australians here is that their team will carry on steam rolling the opposition, as long as Hayden and Gilchrist continue to boss the opening exchanges. There is also a train of thought though that a Sri Lankan win might be just what the Aussies need to guard against complacency, probably their greatest threat to another WC win. So, perversely perhaps, if the Aussies do win today, here’s hoping they win at a canter.
We arrived on Saturday to the good news that Craig McMillan’s all round heroics had sunk the South Africans. Just what was needed to make tomorrow’s clash a belter. Despite a string of average performances, I can’t see anything other than an England win and I’ll repeat my prediction of a Strauss ton. The locals are rooting for us too, as are the Aussies on the boat, albeit for different reasons. Out of the remaining teams in the tournament, the Boks are the only one who still give them the willies. This baggage dates back to the 438 run chase and an insecurity that no total is too big if Herschelle Gibbs is in the mood.
Finally, just a quick word on Barbados. It’s just beautiful. While the Windies have failed to deliver on the pitch, the benefits to the island are plain to see with widespread infrastructure development including new roads, houses and businesses. Whether this is true for the rest of the Caribbean, I can’t be sure, but even in the four years when I last visited Barbados, the improvements are all too obvious. I can also report that the medical services here are excellent after one of our party fell off the aft deck and sliced his finger by gripping too hard on his punch glass. No doubt a common injury in these parts. And apart from a close shave with a Japanese catamaran, it has been a case of lie back, relax and wait for Tuesday.
Ian Valentine is a freelance journalist, blogging his diary of the World Cup for The Corridor
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