Proteas will head to England with some questions

[Arlecchino 506]

Sadly we have to admit that much as we may have liked Jimmy Cook's son, the kid got found out at the highest level.

In Australia he managed to recover a tour which was headed for disaster with a decent score in Adelaide which to be blunt, hardly mattered.

The experimental pair foundered in New Zealand and by the third test, Cooky was sidelined. A legside player who has technical issues outside his off peg was going to battle against seamers in New Zealand.

The same will apply in England and over there lying in wait are two even better exponents of the conditions with the Duke.

The next experiment with Theunis de Bruyn was too late and proved nothing and almost all of us know that we have tried this before without success.

Enter Aiden Markram. Mark Boucher says he is ready and that is good enough for most of us. Bouchie is not just knowledgeable, he is a tough cricketer and much respected around the cricket world. Markram is 24 and there have been younger players that we have sent to England to really test themselves. Graeme Smith comes to mind.

I would listen to Boucher and take Markram. If this fails then the order can be juggled and Amla could open with de Kock at 3.

There are one or two other problems however and one suspects that they present almost unsolvable difficulties. 

[J1M1 1,132]

The top 6 need to perform!

Quinny at 7 is a serious advantage to the Proteas (remember Adam Gilchrist) to take a game away from any opposition.

Move him to 3 at your peril!

[Docker 885]

The Saffer tour of England is going to be good cricket. The Saffer form looks good but they haven't beaten much lately. They got an underdone and disorganised Australia at a good time and I don't think either Sri Lanka or NZ are much chop. That said they have done enough to keep winning series and that can be contagious. The Poms are a much better side on their own dung heap (like most teams) and will take some beating. Cook is clearly a problem and I reckon Amla is a fading force as well. Faf and De Koch are the aces and AB needs to be convinced to tour England. Big Vern was off the boil in NZ but should be suited by the English conditions. I don't think Steyn will be right by then but Rababa and Morkel (with Vern) are better than the Pommy bowlers. 

[Mata Hari 681]

Might just get me streaming some cricket again (at least decent times this side). Just remind me why AB is not playing?

[DbDraad 834]

7 hours ago, Mata Hari said:

Might just get me streaming some cricket again (at least decent times this side). Just remind me why AB is not playing?

AB does not want to play in all the test matches. He wants to cherry pick in which series' he wants to play...lighten the workload to extend his ODI capreer till the next CWC.

[Mata Hari 681]

Fixture of SA series in England this summer

http://cricket.co.za/fixtures-proteas

 

[supersupporter 1,376]

mmmm. I might buy tickets for the T20 match in cardiff

[Mata Hari 681]

You and the youngster should enjoy such

[supersupporter 1,376]

I have never taken him to live sport, Although I must say I did not think cricket will be his first live sport, I do still want to take him to watch some rugby league, maybe next year, they have a full day of league where 3 games are played in one stadium, Judgement day, I will be keen to take him, I love league and the simplicity of the game and the fact that they very rarely have the ref deciding the outcome.

[vlagman 1,466]

How old is he now, Barlee. 

[Mata Hari 681]

How cool would it be if you guys went to Cardiff and there were SA fans all braaing at the game like they do in SA ? 

[supersupporter 1,376]

1 hour ago, vlagman said:

How old is he now, Barlee. 

Turning 6 in August

[supersupporter 1,376]

19 minutes ago, Mata Hari said:

How cool would it be if you guys went to Cardiff and there were SA fans all braaing at the game like they do in SA ? 

We have Elf and Safety here...NO chance of that happening I am sure..I will see closer to the time what my chedule is like and maybe go..

[vlagman 1,466]

3 hours ago, supersupporter said:

Turning 6 in August

Nee man. You should have taken him to a rugga game long ago. My eldest was four when he had his first outing to Loftus. 

It was an intervarsity between Maties and Turks. In those days you had guys like Naas, Adolf Malan, Tommy du Plessis, etc, playing for Tuks and Carl du Plessis, Divan Serfotntein, etc playing for Maties.

A friend of mine and myself decided that, seeing we were both Tukkies, that we should go and we took my son along. In the first half Maties were all over Tuks but in the second half the wheels turned. Obviously me and Hannes, my friend, were very silent in the first half but became very vocal in the second half. At some stage, in the second half, my son tapped me on my leg and said: "Pa, hoekom skree jy en Oom Hannes so?".

[supersupporter 1,376]

Your key was Loftus...

I will be keen to take him to league, but local rugby is kak and cold and I have no love for any of the teams in Wales.

[supersupporter 1,376]

If I was still living in SA I would have taken my son to watch the Sharks many times..

[vlagman 1,466]

I was going to ask why you would want to torture a young kid by taking him to a Sharks game. Then I realised that, given the current state of the Bulls, it would probably have been more harmful to take a kid to a Bulls game than to a Sharks game. 

[supersupporter 1,376]

The scary thing is you actually put your thoughts to screen, that is more worrying. Even the Kings are playing better rugby than the Bulls. The only saving grace for the Bulls right now is a possible alliance with the Lions. That way you may at least get to see a few Cheetahs players currently with the Bulls playing for the Lions. Some consolation

[vlagman 1,466]

Nah. I will never support teams being forced together. I would rather see them dropped out of the Super Rugby competition to see them make a comeback than them being forced together with the Lions. These "amalgamations" has never worked and will never work. 

This whole situation with the Bulls, and others, is a symptom of how kak SA Rugby is at the moment and not one of the causes. I have been saying, for more than three years, that SA Rugby is fucked from the top to the bottom. You can do a search on this board. It is there. 

One of the main reasons is the way that our case is handled at SANZAAR. The first time that we started going backwards was when the new deal, that saw the change from S14 to S15, was negotiated. That was the same time that saw the financial structures being changed. Guess who was the guy who represented us at SANZAR at the time? None other than Andy Marinos. The same doos who is now in charge at SANZAAR. The same doos who led a player strike at WP/The Stormers, when he was a player. And the same clown who subsequently pissed off and played for Wales. 

Edited May 2, 2017 by vlagman

[supersupporter 1,376]

continued in rugby

[vlagman 1,466]

9 minutes ago, supersupporter said:

continued in rugby

Makes sense. I noticed that we were stuffing around. Just hope Barlee doesn't notice. Oh wait....... 

[Mata Hari 681]

My bloed bly blou. The Bulls been playing kak rugby ever since Heyneke Meyer and MS left them. I wont follow another rugby team at this stage, though i will support any SA team in semis etc vs the rest. 'll just move to another sport :-) F1 is doing OK and Volvo Ocean starts again Oct 2017. And i still support Richie Porte, Liverpool and Djokovich. And the Quoteas :-) 

[J1M1 1,132]

11 hours ago, Mata Hari said:

And i still support Richie Porte,

Who?

You mean Roodepoort............

[Mata Hari 681]

Good score for England. 339 in 50? Going to be tough

[J1M1 1,132]

Losing by 72 runs is a MOERSE hiding!!!