***Official*** South African Domestic Season 2017/18

[StephenZA]

Would be nice to produce a Brian Lara wouldn't it.

Wonder if competition to be the best is tougher ? Its not like opportunities aren't there. Most youth teams at provincial weeks are dominated by Poc and the numbers of young blacks are ever increasing and just as much or even more than coloureds/asian in certain provinces.

I wouldnt say no to a Lara... would even be happy with a Headley!

Could be competition, but I wonder if early identification and coaching is not there.... by the time you get to provincial level you already need to be standing out. Hopefully that player comes along sooner rather than later.

 

[Dendarii]

I wonder whether young black players are perhaps discouraged from pursuing a career as a professional sportsman by their families. In many cases they'll have been the first in their family to have an opportunity to to university, so there could be pressure on them to study further rather than take up cricket (or rugby for that matter). Although that would be more likely to lead to a lack of black players in general rather than a lack of black batsmen.

 

[SeamUp]

I wonder whether young black players are perhaps discouraged from pursuing a career as a professional sportsman by their families. In many cases they'll have been the first in their family to have an opportunity to to university, so there could be pressure on them to study further rather than take up cricket (or rugby for that matter). Although that would be more likely to lead to a lack of black players in general rather than a lack of black batsmen.

If you anywhere near half talented enough people in the game would be convincing the kid and their families in no uncertain terms what their future is.

 

[StephenZA]

If you anywhere near half talented enough people in the game would be convincing the kid and their families in no uncertain terms what their future is.

If they ever get on the field to play and be seen.... unfortunately playing in the street is unlikelt to get you recognized.

 

[SeamUp]

Was busy looking at the youth structures.

18 : Makwetu (bat/wk), Mokgakane (bat), Mnyaka (seam)
Qeshile (bat/wk)
17 : Ntini (seam/bat), Mpongwana (seam/bat), Molefe (spin)
16 : Pheku Moletsane

There is talent above but I I wouldn't even say they are the banker for their school first teams.

Always look to u15 week where you can start to identify talent. U13 week is the first big one though. Don't know the best yet by talk, what outcomes are and if generally promoted to first teams early but there is a kid at Grey Bloem promoted to the u15 side as u14 and did well at u13 week called Mvula Chabalala - smasing hundreds and taking 5-wicket hauls. That is how you seperate yourself from the rest.

 

[SeamUp]

If they ever get on the field to play and be seen.... unfortunately playing in the street is unlikelt to get you recognized.

There are talent hubs identifying for quite a number of years now.

You can take the game to them but you still got to have the talent to produce outcomes to be the best.

If you have the talent then these hubs are providing to our academies which are the schools. You only have to look at traditoonal Natal powerhouses DHS, Glenwood & Northwood and the make up of their teams. 2/3 white players and lots of Black and Indian. Majority are on scholarships. Westville is a good mix. Only white dominated is Clifton and Kearsney. That is just KZN Coastal.

In the list above Moletsane and Chabalala were part of hubs in Free State and given scholarships to St Andrews & Grey Bloem.

In Cape Town - Rondebosch & Wynberg are recruiting players from Khayalitsha & Gugulethu. Coloureds have the majority. And even those blacks not going to thise schools are part of Western Cape Sports School or Newlands Cricket School and getting opportunities.

This all besides those who may skip the junior net. All club structures in SAF have to have a perm black club in 1A league.

There are efforts in place. No one is not working hard enough and not identifying enough. CSA are purposefully hiring people to push these youngsters through.

 

[StephenZA]

I`m not saying that people and/orCSA are not putting the effort in... but there does appear to be a disconnect between the talent coming out and the effort being put in. Going outside SA, it feels a similar issue to what India go through regarding pace bowlers. Just difficult to understand sometimes.

I wonder if it may be something as simple as quality of available pitches in the poorer areas. I mean nobody wants to feel like they suck, so maybe the location pitches are not well looked after so it is better to be the bowler than batsman. Or at can be something as simple that Makhaya Ntini inspired balck kids to be bowlers but not having a black batsmen has made it more difficult... it feels like an intangible thing to pin down.

 

[SeamUp]

I`m not saying that people and/orCSA are not putting the effort in... but there does appear to be a disconnect between the talent coming out and the effort being put in. Going outside SA, it feels a similar issue to what India go through regarding pace bowlers. Just difficult to understand sometimes.

I wonder if it may be something as simple as quality of available pitches in the poorer areas. I mean nobody wants to feel like they suck, so maybe the location pitches are not well looked after so it is better to be the bowler than batsman. Or at can be something as simple that Makhaya Ntini inspired balck kids to be bowlers but not having a black batsmen has made it more difficult... it feels like an intangible thing to pin down.

The pitches are interesting. That pre-season game between Titans & Lions is taken to the people. First year was a poor pitch but then on all good. In fact Hamaanskraal this year could have been Fc material.

The best 13 year-olds + are getting good facilities at the schools when identified ? Most U13s and below play matting wickets I think.

Didn't mention Gauteng prev. But obv Rabada, Bavuma are middle class which is a fast growing population in our country but a decent school like Jeppe Boys ( produced the Rowan's, Vincent, Adcock (with Grey PE), Kourie) is very much a black African dominated school now and you seeing cricketers make Gauteng junior teams from there.

I wonder why East London are not doing better. Hudson Park under the guidance of former SA fast bowler Kenny Watson are doing well. But no real stand-out. Currently got Qeshile & Mnyaka above.

 

[SeamUp]

No cricket at Newlands today but GR 3 Wynberg boys are there and former WBHS Cobras players Smith & Verreynne are with them.

 

[SeamUp]

Debut for Breetzke.

Earlier this year Breetzke, Mulder, Cohen were all in the SA u19 team and they playing in the current round of fixtures. Not bad.

Markram and Elgar at it again.

 

[SeamUp]

Breetzke also keeping wicket like how AB got in to senior cricket too.

 

[SeamUp]

Theunis de Bruyn got a wicket in his first over.

Read where he said he was bowling with decent pace before injury hit him a couple of years ago.

He said it is not in him to bowl medium pace and is working on his bowling.

 

[Dendarii]

Markram and Elgar at it again.

It looks like this is going to be said a lot in the years to come...

 

[StephenZA]

Markram and Elgar at it again.

Yep...

Breetzke also keeping wicket like how AB got in to senior cricket too.

Could be an extra string in his bow as backup... unless he is better than QDK!

 

[GRAB]

I was also surprised Pretorius dropped for Shamsi, not Bosch after 1-178 in 2 matches and similarly abysmal returns in his previous T20 run... Not sure why Bosch is the future - if you bowl fast it feels like you're immediately assumed to be good. That logic is what kept Philander out of the test team for far too long...

Bavuma's performances for Lions and SA A have been brilliant, particularly showing the concentration needed to make big innings, and yet that has been what is lacking for SA. A bit of a puzzler. Well that, and early on throwing the bat out at wide ones with no feet in the best tradition of Hansie Cronje.

Re previous players - Zander got a rough drop IMO, seem to recall it was a change of coaches rather than anything of his performances. Ackerman met Muralitharan at the wrong time. Justin Ontong deserves to be mentioned in the guys who toiled domestically without getting the callup they deserved (in terms of test cricket especially)...

Phehlukwayo initially impressed me more with the bat for Dolphins... Very good natural timer of the ball. Reminded me of Sean Pollock.

Tsolekile at schoolboy level broke records. Ones that had just been broken by J Kallis a couple years before. And yet he was told to focus on keeping. Was only when he moved to Lions he started piling on runs and moving up the order. Those last few seasons before his run-in with the bookies were prolific. This article is on Tsolekile, but applies more broadly too: The trials of Tsolekile | The Cricket Monthly | ESPN Cricinfo.

Strange Puttick is out, and you can't quite blame quotas, as there are already 4 black African and 4 more POC's, and only 3 whites. You'd think he'd easily play ahead of Malan too... BTW, who is NABE? And is he a spinner or a seamer??? You know he comes out of nowhere when even that is not recorded! (FB photo looks like a seamer...)

In other news, good to see "stalwarts" Viljoen and McLaren back after some hiatus...

 

[SeamUp]

Pretorius vs Bosch

They clearly rate both a bit and Pretorius has the numbers. But as you've seen country wide - flat pitches have played a part so pace through the air is surely an asset ? Not everyone is van der Bijl, Pollock or Philander. Now Bosch has had a very inauspicious start to say the least but we've got to trust Titans staff who work with them often. Boucher has said PMB is sub-continental-esque which is no surprise.

Phehlukwayo is Lance Klusener for me.

Cobras strongest team forgetting skin colour.

Puttick
Levi
Hamza
van Zyl
Ontong
Smith/Galiem/Mgijima
Verreynne
Piedt
Kleinveldt/Parnell/Williams (depending on availability)
Paterson
Cohen

12th Simmonds/Linde if you need a 2nd spinner.

Guys like Puttick call it but limited spots and no massive run return sees a respected senior figure in a domestic system ousted is a bit ****.



Not for one second do I see Pite van Biljon as anything special (and he is probably stopping du Plooy from playing) but how did he deserve to miss out on that Knights team ?

 

[SeamUp]

Looks very raw and erratic but only 19. The action isn't glorious but it might be a strength.

Michael Cohen took two wickets on his first day in Cobras whites at Newlands, to continue his great run of form.

The 19-year-old ex-Reddam House pupil was responsible for removing the Warriors’ opening pair, Edward Moore on 19 and Gionne Koopman on 15, to rattle the visitors on 59-3.

Scorecard

It’s been a good year for Cohen, who was selected for the SA U19 squad in their three-match ODI series win against Sri Lanka in February. The left-arm swing bowler took six wickets in the three-match Youth ODI series at an average of 20.33.

His performance earned him a call-up to the SA Emerging side on their August tour to Zimbabwe. He took six wickets @ 25.33, in a series whitewash of Zimbabwe A.

The youngster was then a surprise package in the CSA XI who faced Bangladesh in a four-day warm-up match. He finished with 4-23 and 1-38 as the match played out to a draw.

On his first-class debut for Western Province, he finished with a match-haul of 6-49.

 

[TT Boy]

Well over 600 runs for Elgar in the past six innings with 4 hundreds scored. Closing in on a career best here as well.

 

[SeamUp]

Deano's in that space where he knows his game inside out now isn't he. Couldn't quite get the career best but think that is his 3 FC double. Got quite a few 150+ scores to go with it.

 

[StephenZA]

Deano's in that space where he knows his game inside out now isn't he. Couldn't quite get the career best but think that is his 3 FC double. Got quite a few 150+ scores to go with it.

At a good pace too....

Klaasens also scoring runs, are we going to have a glut of wk that can't get into the first team because you have QDK around; always feel sorry for those sorts of players that just have the bad luck to play during an era of an unbelievably good player.

Nice recovery from Warriors!