South African Domestic Season 2016/17

[91Jmay]

Quite a white team, which surprises me slightly given the talk of transformation. Is there a risk in the future of 'players of colour' starting to miss out for Black African players? I know that seems to be the next step of transformation, if you will.

 

[SeamUp]

Quite a white team, which surprises me slightly given the talk of transformation. Is there a risk in the future of 'players of colour' starting to miss out for Black African players? I know that seems to be the next step of transformation, if you will.

7 white players in the 15-man squad is what is allowed.

There certainly are some coloured players missing out like at the Cobras their 'black African' players aren't better and I would say that is the case at the Knights and Titans (Qaasim Adams for example and that is why he went on loan during the T20)

 

[sonnench]

No KZN or Dolphins players being picked is disappointing, low on talent this year SeamUp?

Also, what ever happened to Murray Coetzee? I see you mentioned him a few pages ago. I remember him from the under 19 WC and he looked pretty good to me, and seems to have performed well for Tuks since.

 

[SeamUp]

No KZN or Dolphins players being picked is disappointing, low on talent this year SeamUp?

Also, what ever happened to Murray Coetzee? I see you mentioned him a few pages ago. I remember him from the under 19 WC and he looked pretty good to me, and seems to have performed well for Tuks since.

Yeah, doesn't look that strong in the 17 & 18 year-olds. There was hope for one or two but at Cubs Week the best was Tyron Koen (19) & Eathan Bosch (18) (second son of Tertius) who will be playing senior cricket for KZN. Bossr signed for the Blue Bulls is rugby but I suppose De Swardt said I might want to choose cricket after also being signed and is in the SA u19 squad. Moving forward I think we will have to look at the 16 year-olds and fast-bowler Fraser Jones was the SA u17 strike-bowler at Cubs Week and did decently. I would expect batsman Matthew Montgomery and spinner James Ritchie to also be among the best moving forward. Mondli Khumalo and Michael Booth also had good u15 weeks. It's been a good period for KZN cricket - Bossr, Bosch, Ngidi, Zuma, Makhanya, Phehlukwayo , Oldfield, Dupavillon, Kirsten, Moreki, Bowes, Subrayen & Savage all represented SA u19 in recent years.


Good question mate. I would have expected Murray Coetzee to have at least got a shot for Northerns but we probably going to have to put him in the group of successful u19 players who weren't backed enough. We already have Bowes, Pienaar, Nofal, Price (2008-2012) defected to New Zealand. Rossouw (2008), Jennings (2011), Oldfiled & Dial (2014), McKerr (2016) defected to England whilst Corbin Bosch (2014) to Australia.

SA Engelbrecht, Brad Barnes, Vincent Moore, Murray Coetzee, Justin Dill, Craig Kirsten, Travis Muller (not sure what he did wrong as I see he is playing club cricket) have either retired or didn't carry on playing or weren't backed early in their careers.

Every year is a national academy in-take and Ryan Rickelton/Grant Roelofsen weren't selected whilst their fellow SA u19 players from 2015 have been. Considering they were the best of the time it is quite a surprise and who knows where they will end up after not getting the opportunity others got at SA Academy. The concern is possibly Sean Whitehead and Brandon Glover from 2016 group follow suit and they were stand-outs.

 

[SeamUp]

Won`t be Warriors for long once the bigger unions get out their cheque books....

Also good to see a new dominant school in Border cricket - Hudson Park (where all 3 Border representatives schooled in the SA u19 squad) and they have been for a while now really - Border features for SA U19

No more dominance from

Dale College : Hylton Ackerman, Kenny Watson, Steve Palframan, Makhaya Ntini , Monde Zondeki
Selborne College : Mark Boucher
Queens College : Tony Greig, Iain Greig, Ken McEwan, Daryll Cullinan, Justin Kemp

 

[SeamUp]

Warriors to Buffalo Park

10 JANUARY 2017 BY ALAN STRATON

The Warriors continue their Sunfoil Series campaign this week when they head to Buffalo Park for their match against the Cobras starting on Thursday 12 th January.

Last week saw the Warriors draw their match against the Dolphins in Durban after the match was called off due to rain. After 6 matches the Warriors are currently fourth on the log with 58.42 points. The Titans are top of the log on 64.74 points with the Dolphins and Knights second and third respectively with 63.80 and 60.20 points.

The squad for the Cobras encounter is as follows: Colin Ackermann, Andrew Birch, Clyde Fortuin, Gionne Koopman, Simon Harmer, Edward Moore, Aya Gqamane, Sisanda Magala, Lesiba Ngoepe, Jerry Nqolo, Yaseen Vallie, Basheer Walters and Somila Seyibokwe.

Read more: Warriors to Buffalo Park

According to the newspaper - For the Cobras. Ramela is on paternal leave so Khomari is set to come in for him and Parnell to be replaced by R.Kleinveldt or B.Hendricks

 

[SeamUp]

Unchanged Dolphins excited for crucial Kimberley showdown

With a firm eye on closing the gap on the top spot on the Sunfoil Series log, the Hollywoodbets Dolphins travel to Kimberley to take on the talented VKB Knights side in a must-win four-day clash starting on Thursday as the business end of the competition fast approaches.

Despite having three draws from their six matches the Dolphins sit in second place on the log through their impressive accumulation of bonus points throughout their four-day campaign with the Unlimited Titans’ game against the Knights abandoned without a ball being bowled the Dolphins can see the back door slightly ajar.

“Our performances in four-day cricket have been a lot more consistent than they were in the T20,” coach Grant Morgan said on Tuesday.

“I think that last week we managed to put in an all-round performance for the first time since we played the Warriors in the first game of the season.

“We had more stability in our performance. We had good batting partnerships, good bowling partnerships and we caught well.”

The Dolphins, along with all of the other franchises, have a busy period coming up as the Momentum One Day Cup follows directly on from the Sunfoil Series so Morgan has highlighted managing players workloads as imperative.

“We are going into this game with the same squad but we had adopted a policy of rotating our fast bowlers with the One Day Cup coming up soon.

“This is something that we weren’t able to do in the 20/20 competition because of injury.

“Now we are scaling up to be at full throttle with a number of guys starting to play for the amateur sides so we are able to balance our attack,” He added.

The VKB Knights are a side that will also be looking to push for the top end of the log with a win over the visiting Dolphins and Morgan has highlighted a few areas where he knows they will be strong.

“They have the fastest opening attack in the country but that isn’t something that we are unfamiliar with and we are assuming that Duane Olivier will be available for the game.

“Their other strength lies in their middle order batting. I am not sure if Theunis de Bruyn is coming back from the Proteas but we have planned for him being there but with the likes of Dave Miller, Rudi Second and Keagan Pietersen it is a formidable middle order.

Hollwoodbets Dolphins Squad: Craig Alexander, Cody Chetty, Rabian Engelbrecht, Rob Frylinck, Sibonelo Makhanya, Senuran Muthusamy, Andile Phehlukwayo, Calvin Savage, Mthokozisi Shezi, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Divan van Wyk, Morné van Wyk (C), Khaya Zondo.

 

[Rasimione]

Unchanged Dolphins excited for crucial Kimberley showdown

With a firm eye on closing the gap on the top spot on the Sunfoil Series log, the Hollywoodbets Dolphins travel to Kimberley to take on the talented VKB Knights side in a must-win four-day clash starting on Thursday as the business end of the competition fast approaches.

Despite having three draws from their six matches the Dolphins sit in second place on the log through their impressive accumulation of bonus points throughout their four-day campaign with the Unlimited Titans’ game against the Knights abandoned without a ball being bowled the Dolphins can see the back door slightly ajar.

“Our performances in four-day cricket have been a lot more consistent than they were in the T20,” coach Grant Morgan said on Tuesday.

“I think that last week we managed to put in an all-round performance for the first time since we played the Warriors in the first game of the season.

“We had more stability in our performance. We had good batting partnerships, good bowling partnerships and we caught well.”

The Dolphins, along with all of the other franchises, have a busy period coming up as the Momentum One Day Cup follows directly on from the Sunfoil Series so Morgan has highlighted managing players workloads as imperative.

“We are going into this game with the same squad but we had adopted a policy of rotating our fast bowlers with the One Day Cup coming up soon.

“This is something that we weren’t able to do in the 20/20 competition because of injury.

“Now we are scaling up to be at full throttle with a number of guys starting to play for the amateur sides so we are able to balance our attack,” He added.

The VKB Knights are a side that will also be looking to push for the top end of the log with a win over the visiting Dolphins and Morgan has highlighted a few areas where he knows they will be strong.

“They have the fastest opening attack in the country but that isn’t something that we are unfamiliar with and we are assuming that Duane Olivier will be available for the game.

“Their other strength lies in their middle order batting. I am not sure if Theunis de Bruyn is coming back from the Proteas but we have planned for him being there but with the likes of Dave Miller, Rudi Second and Keagan Pietersen it is a formidable middle order.

Hollwoodbets Dolphins Squad: Craig Alexander, Cody Chetty, Rabian Engelbrecht, Rob Frylinck, Sibonelo Makhanya, Senuran Muthusamy, Andile Phehlukwayo, Calvin Savage, Mthokozisi Shezi, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Divan van Wyk, Morné van Wyk (C), Khaya Zondo.

What happened to Craig Kirsten? Heard good things about him and then he disappeared from the scene...

 

[SeamUp]

What happened to Craig Kirsten? Heard good things about him and then he disappeared from the scene...

Too many back injuries mate.

He was very quick and tall but every injury just took pace and confidence out of him.

Unfortunate.

 

[Marius]

Too many back injuries mate.

He was very quick and tall but every injury just took pace and confidence out of him.

Unfortunate.

Any relation to the famous cricketing Kirstens?

 

[SeamUp]

Any relation to the famous cricketing Kirstens?

None. Born in Pretoria but schooled in Natal.

Kirsten's were originally Pietermaritzburg so checked it up when I first was aware of him.

You won't believe me but a couple of years ago in Border u13 team there was caught Boucher bowled Ntini but the Boucher wasn't any relation but so weird he was the keeper too.


Also some good news about former Proteas player turned golfer , Johann Van der Wath, who has qualified for the SA Open.

 

[SeamUp]

Titans v Lions

Chris Morris is currently bowling for the first time after injury for the Titans. Also noticed no Qaasim Adams for Titans or Northerns.

Devon Conway gets his chance for the Lions with Mulder away with SA u19s. Got to feel he needs to grab this chance if he ever will make the franchise grade after dominating provincial for years.


Cobras v Warriors

Khomari and Kleinveldt in for Ramela and Parnell.

Warriors unchanged.


Dolphins v Knights

Wet pitch. Inspection at 12:50

 

[SeamUp]

Jason Smith out for 29. Going through a sticky patch after the really good start to his franchise career. It's now how he bounces back to see if he has it for international level.

 

[SeamUp]

Runs for van der Bergh & Conway. Wickets for Siboto , Shamsi and Morris : LIONS 262/8 (95.0 ov, NJ van den Bergh 69*, Z Pongolo 0*, T Shamsi 2/86) | Live Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

Puttick (85) , Mgijima (51) in total of 291. Paterson with a wicket before stumps : WAR 5/1 (2.3 ov, EM Moore 0*, CN Ackermann 0*, RK Kleinveldt 0/5) - Stumps | Live Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[SeamUp]

I see Thando Ntini has left Selborne and joined Wynberg.

I wonder if the Cobras had any involvement with that.

 

[SeamUp]

Great news for cricket in SA and the Titans.

Rising star De Swardt chooses cricket
by Warwick Austin 13 January 2017, 17:27

As one of only 13 young men to have represented both the South African Schools cricket and rugby teams, Ruan de Swardt has opted for a career in the 11-man code thanks to some advice from AB de Villiers.

The 18-year-old De Swardt recently matriculated from the Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affies) in Pretoria – the alma mater of rugby heroes such as Fourie du Preez and Pierre Spies as well as cricketing greats AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Jacques Rudolph.

De Swardt excelled as a flyhalf on the rugby field for Affies 1st XV – the Witbulle – representing the Blue Bulls at the 2016 Craven Week in July where his performances earned him a spot on the SA Schools team.

Then in December, De Swardt - an allrounder who bowls right-arm seam and bats left-handed – was named Player of the Tournament at the Under-19 Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Cricket Week.

Having helped Northerns to the unofficial title, he earned an SA Schools cap, taking 5-15 to dismantle the SA Colts team as he ended up as the leading wicket-taker with 17 sticks at 10.64 and 173 runs at 86.50.

“I worked quite hard before the Coke Week, so I felt that I could not have been any better prepared for it. I think the thing that I did the best was just enjoy it, because if you enjoy the cricket then it normally just goes well,” said De Swardt.

His achievement of making both the SA Schools cricket and rugby teams is a rarity – in fact since the first SA Schools rugby team was picked in 1974, only 13 players have done the double.

De Swardt now adds his name to a unique list of players that includes the likes of Springboks Helgard Muller and Conrad Jantjes as well as Proteas Herschelle Gibbs and Errol Stewart.

“It feels wonderful to be part of such an elite group of guys. Just to get the opportunity in South Africa to play both sports at such a high level is a big privilege for me and it has been really fun,” De Swardt described.

Following a successful stint at the CSA Under-19 Cubs Week in January with the Titans Cubs, De Swardt was named in Lawrence Mahatlane’s South African Under-19 squad to play in a Youth ODI series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe starting on January 14.

“I felt I didn’t have as good a Cubs Week as I thought I could have, but just getting picked for the side is wonderful. It is a different environment and I enjoy it very much,” added De Swardt.

A schoolboy prodigy, much like De Villiers, who too played flyhalf for the Witbulle, De Swardt was faced with a tough decision of picking a career in either cricket or rugby. In the end, after much thought and consultation, De Swardt chose cricket.

“I spoke to the Blue Bulls the other day about the rugby, but at the end of the day my decision is cricket after school. Something in my heart told me after the Coke Week that cricket is the way to go.”

“I talked to my parents quite a lot, my coaches at school also played a big role and then I spoke to AB de Villiers. He really changed my mind and he was quite a big turning point in my career. I think AB had to make the same decision after school, so it was really nice talking to him.”

De Swardt’s first port of call, should he be selected, will be a debut cap for the SA under-19 team when they take on Zimbabwe U19 at the Wally Wilson Oval in Cape Town on Saturday, January 14.

After his duties with the Under-19s conclude in early February, he will take up an academy contract with the Titans and study Psychology at the University of Pretoria where he will most likely play cricket for Tuks.

SA Schools Cricket and Rugby:

Lee Barnard – King Edward VII (1974)
Malcolm Thompson – Maritzburg College (1974)
Chris Smit – Grey College (1979)
Gerbrand Grobler – Grey College (1981)
Helgard Muller – Grey College (1982)
Frans Cronje – Grey College (1985)
Udo Goedeke – Maritzburg College (1987)
Errol Stewart – WestvilleBoys’ High (1987)
Greg Miller – Grey High (1991)
Herschelle Gibbs – Bishops (1992)
Conrad Jantjes – CBC Boksburg (1996)
Adrian Penzhorn – Maritzburg College (2002)
Ruan de Swardt – Affies (2016)

 

[Rasimione]

I see Thando Ntini has left Selborne and joined Wynberg.

I wonder if the Cobras had any involvement with that.

I believe he's an allrounder?

 

[SeamUp]

I believe he's an allrounder?

He is. He fancies his batting but his bowling is probably more advanced but I think that is the case with quite a few of our young seamer all-rounders coming through.

Looking really encouraging considering what is in the system already like Parnell, Morris, Pretorius, Phehlukwayo, Savage, Galiem etc

18 : Wiaan Mulder , Ruan De Swardt , Eathan Bosch
17 :
16 : Gerald Coetzee, Mihlali Mpongwana, Fraser Jones, Thando Ntini
15 : Tiaan van Vuuren, Michael Booth (Zim), Mondli Khumalo

 

[SeamUp]

Theunis de Bruyn and Rudi Second looks like they had some fun yesterday in Kimberley but looks like it's a road.

 

[StephenZA]

He is. He fancies his batting but his bowling is probably more advanced but I think that is the case with quite a few of our young seamer all-rounders coming through.

Looking really encouraging considering what is in the system already like Parnell, Morris, Pretorius, Phehlukwayo, Savage, Galiem etc

18 : Wiaan Mulder , Ruan De Swardt , Eathan Bosch
17 :
16 : Gerald Coetzee, Mihlali Mpongwana, Fraser Jones, Thando Ntini
15 : Tiaan van Vuuren, Michael Booth (Zim), Mondli Khumalo

Nice to see us getting back to our quality allrounders situation again... felt very unsouthafrican not to have a great allrounder...