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The South African squads for the upcoming One-day Internationals and Pro-20 matches against Zimbabwe and England have been named.

Whilst selections have historically been fairly conservative, the selectors at last appear to be making some brave decisions and learning from past failures such as the recent ICC Champions trophy.

The biggest bombshells were the omission of Herschelle Gibbs and Makhaya Ntini.

Convenor of selectors Mike Proctor, had this to say about Gibbs, “We have lost patience with his inconsistency and I had a chat with him this morning and we agreed that he has been inconsistent. We have to keep 2011 [the World Cup] in mind and we need to spread our wings a bit. But the door is not closed for Herschelle, although it will be tough for him. He is 35 … but he is fit and he is a huge talent and if he makes a mountain of runs and is batting consistently then things change.”

This is a great move, as many go on about the talent of Gibbs, but other than the “438″ game, how many match winning innings has he played for South Africa? Sure he has a good record, but how many of those were meaningful innings? He has been inconsistent for the last 7-8 years, and I’d have dropped him long ago.

In the absence of Gibbs, a new opening partner for Graeme Smith will be needed. Proctor, said that, “Team management were looking to Kallis to move into the opening batsman’s slot from number three. “Mickey [Arthur] and Graeme [Smith] want Jacques to open and AB [de Villiers] will then move up to three and JP Duminy to four,” Procter explained.

It’s a good move, as Kallis is a great batsmen who needs time to get going. Opening the innings he can allow himself to get in and set his own pace.

Moving de Villiers and especially Duminy up the order is also a great move, as both also need time to get in, and they can then control the middle of the innings.

Alviro Petersen of the Highveld Lions is recalled and will bat at five, whilst Albie Morkel will move up to number 6. Proctor said “We’re also looking to take pressure off Albie Morkel in terms of his bowling. We’d like to take the responsibility of bowling ten overs off his shoulders and he can make up for it with the bat. We’d like to play him at six and use him as more of a pure batsman.”

Whilst I like the idea of Morkel coming in earlier, where he can play himself in before trying to launch an assault, I am not sure he can make the side as a specialist bastmen. His bowling also needs to be developed. I don’t see the point of only bowling him for a few overs.

In the bowling arena, the dropping of Makhaya Ntini was a surprise. It seems such a  shame for a dedicated workhorse. He hasn’t bowled that well lately however, and that is the price one pays for losing form.

Whilst I have no problem with that, why is Mark Boucher always spared from the same fate? He is closer to the inner circle, and I think that is all the saves him. I prefer to see a younger keeper, but someone who is more consistent and a greater danger with the bat.

The addition of both Ryan McLaren (26) and Charl Langeveldt (34) to the squad will bolster the bowling resources, although Langeveldt may only be around for another 1-2 seasons.

I loo forward to seeing what the Proteas can do. They’ve signalled their intentions with their squad but the proof will come on the field. I’d like to see them become more adaptable, play more attacking cricket, and sum up the situation better when under pressure.

Anything less will need to bring even greater changes to the squad to ensure we get back to the number 1 spot!

Proteas’ ODI squad:

Graeme Smith (capt)
Hashim Amla
Johan Botha
Mark Boucher
AB de Villiers
JP Duminy
Jacques Kallis
Charl Langeveldt
Ryan McLaren
Albie Morkel
Wayne Parnell
Alviro Petersen
Dale Steyn
Lonwabo Tsotsobe
Roelof van der Merwe

Pro20 squad:

Graeme Smith (capt)
Yusuf Abdulla
Loots Bosman
Johan Botha
Mark Boucher
AB de Villiers
JP Duminy
Jacques Kallis
Heino Kuhn
Charl Langeveldt
Ryan McLaren
Albie Morkel
Wayne Parnell
Dale Steyn
Roelof van der Merwe

Once again another ICC tournament has ended in heartache for the Proteas. Aside from the personal disappointment for the side and its supporters, there has been yet again another financial disappointment for a cricketing showpiece in South Africa.

It’s the third time a major ICC tournament has been hosted in South Africa (along with the 2003 World Cup, the 2007 World Twenty20) and the hosts have failed to progress past the first round. It’s a woeful record for a proud sporting nation, especially in their own backyard.

CSA chief executive Gerald Majola said “There are some hard questions to be answered. At no stage did the team look anything like a team that is the world No 1 in both Tests and one-day internationals. They certainly were way off where they should be at this stage, and I will be speaking to Mickey and the team management to find out what went wrong.”

Majola also said there were no plans at this stage to fire either the captain or the coach. “That’s not going to happen, but we definitely want answers. The team’s performance in this tournament was just not good enough. I don’t want to pick out individuals, but there were problems with the bowling and the batting, and the team’s body language was not that of the world’s best team.”

Will there be any repercussions for this side, or will Graeme Smith and Mickey Arthur continue to run the side as they like? The Proteas record needs addressing. For a side that consistently produces results outside of ICC tournaments, it’s record in the important games can no longer be tolerated.

We’ve now failed to make the semi-finals at the majority of ICC tournaments since 1999 (we did make the semis in the 2007 World Cup and the 2009 Twenty20) which is not a record deserving of a top 3 side.

Mickey Arthur had this to say after the latest disappointment “The wicket in Centurion was tailor-made for the sub-continent, and we’ve seen what happened to Sri Lanka at the Wanderers, with balls that have bounced above stump height. If I could have picked, I would have preferred to play them at the Wanderers, but it was not to be.”

I’d suggest Arthur is looking in the wrong places. Rather than blame external factors, they must look within. The Proteas have shown they are good enough outside of ICC Tournaments. Why do we struggle under pressure. It has to be mental. A mindset issue.

My feeling is that the Proteas are too conservative. You can’t go into knockout tournaments and try not to lose. You’ve got to go out and play to win. Be aggressive, take chances, and back yourself.

Our mindset when chasing totals show, we try to keep up with the run-rate (as opposed to getting ahead of) and launch an attack at the end. On a good day it can work, but it’s a highly risky strategy.

Graeme Smith said there would be some soul-searching after yet another early departure from a major tournament. “We’ve got the World Twenty20 in the West Indies in 2010 and the World Cup in the sub-continent in 2011, and that’s got to be our goal – to play better and perform better in these tournaments.

Only time will tell how much things change, but I have the feeling we may have to get used to losing in the big moments if something drastically doesn’t change.

The ICC Cricket Awards for 2008/09 took place in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Australian all-rounder Mitchell Johnson was named International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricketer of the Year.

ICC president David Morgan said: “Mitchell has worked extremely hard over the past year to be an integral part of Australia’s bowling lineup and his effective batting style has turned him into one of the top all-round cricketers.

India’s Gautam Gambhir was named Test player of the year

India captain MS Dhoni took the one-day international player of the year award.

Australian bowler Peter Siddle took the emerging player of the year award.

Pakistan’s Aleem Dar was named umpire of the year.

I have never rated Mitchell Johnson, and apart from 1 or 2 good spells I didn’t think he performed that brilliantly. Indeed the Ashes series showed he is an average performer. I thought Dale Steyn has been the World’s most consistent bowler.

Peter Siddle an emerging player of the year was very surprising. He has hardly set the world alight. What about JP Duminy? He virtually won the series for South Africa against Australia. And he backed it up with some other great performances.

Gambhir had a great year and broke all sorts of records, so he deserved his spot, and Dhoni was also a consistent performer.

However it was also surprisng not to see’s names mentioned as they have been extremely consistent for Australia. All in all I thought the awards were quite surprising, and I think next year we’ll definitely see some different names mentioned.