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The English have hit back at South Africa for suggesting they tampered with the ball in the 3rd cricket test at Newlands.

In no way am I suggesting it influenced the course of the match, but it was clearly evident on the tv footage that first Sturat Broad with his boot and studs, and then James Anderson trying to run his fingers down the seam were trying to “roughen” the ball in order to get reverse swing.

Former English Captain Micheal Vaughn said on Thursday that England had been lucky to escape any punishment.  They were lucky to get away without an official reprimand, or even a ban because there was no doubt in my mind that they were trying to change the condition of the ball. Anderson is a lucky man, I don’t think anyone could have argued if he had been asked to sit out the next match, but the ICC has brushed the whole thing aside because they don’t want any controversy.”

Vaughan also accused the ICC of double-standards, saying is a side such as Pakistan were involved things would have been different. “If Shoaib Akhtar or Mohammad Asif had been pictured using their fingers on the ball, there would have been uproar.”

I totally agree. The English are in with the old boys club. The fact that no formal complaint was issued by South Africa meant the ICC closed the matter. Forget the fact England were trying to cheat!

Meanwhile another former English captain, Michael Atherton said the two English bowlers were victims of “trial by television”. Well duh, the evidence was plain to see!
He questioned the Proteas actions in bringing up the issue but not following through. “Ball tampering is a serious allegation in cricket and if you make it, as South Africa effectively did by publicly raising their ‘concerns’ about the state of the ball, you had better be damn sure of your facts.”

Considering Atherton was fined for carrying dirt in his pocket, and then rubbing it into the ball whilst playing South Africa at Lords, I would suggest he is not one to talk! He was a cheat, and anything he says doesn’t cut it with me.
Current English captain Andrew Strauss said he believed South Africa’s claims were “malicious”. Strauss said “We’re not particularly happy about it and I strongly refute the allegations.”

I believe the English are simply trying to deflect the attention away from their ill-disciplined behaviour. I don;t think they’ll be stupid enough to try it again anytime soon, but the ICC should punish them for cheating!

Stuart Broad could be in trouble for trying to tamper with the ball in the 3rd test at Newlands.

The South Africans have raised concerns with ICC match referee Roshan Mahanama over the state of the ball after Stuart Broad was caught on tv “standing on the ball.”

Broad was bowling the 15th over of the South African innings at a time England desperately needed a breakthrough and stopped a defensive shot from Hashim Amla by using his boot. That was possibly fair enough, but tv footage clearly shows Broad then stepping on the ball, trying to apply pressure with his studs after it had been stopped.

At the end of the day’s press conference England coach Andy Flower said he hadn’t heard about any ball tampering allegations. “The umpires or match referee haven’t said anything to us about that. That’s the first I’ve heard of it so I can’t really comment.”

When told Broad had allegedly stepped on the ball Flower said, “I think over the years we have seen a lot of tall fast bowlers stop balls with their feet so I don’t see anything sinister in it all.”

I find it unlikely that Flower was unaware of the incident considering he had been sitting in front of monitors and laptops. Later in the day he indicated to his players that a tv referral had been too high after viewing it on a tv monitor. How could he not have seen the many replays of Stuart Broad then?

The issue is also not whether Stuart Broad managed to actually achieve reverse swing (the idea behind trying to scuff or damage one side of the ball). The issue is what Broad tried to achieve and his intention.

Broad’s on field behaviour has been the subject of controversy already this series, and Indian great Sunil Gavaskar has alredy claimed that Broad escapes punishment because his father (Chris Broad) is an ICC match referee. I’d suggest they seriously need to have a father-son talk soon!

Jacque Kallis ended the decade (2009-2009) with the highest batting average in test match cricket.

His average was 58.70, and was followed by Australian Captain Ricky Ponting with 58.38 and Pakistani Captain Mohammad Yousuf with 58.53.

In terms of total number of runs, Kallis (8630 with 27 centuries and 42 fifties) was second to Ponting (9458 with 27 centuries and 42 fifties).

Kallis is such a consistent performer and considering he rarely makes big hundreds (he has yet to score a double century in test match cricket), his average is testament to how consistently he scores.

If there is one criticism I do have of the most elegant batsmen to watch, it is that he does not ‘win” enough games for his side. Like Sachin Tendulkar who has a wonderful record, when the chips are down, and runs are needed under pressure, your best batsmen should see you home. Perhaps that is where Ponting has the edge over Kallis.

With the Proteas needing some massive momentum shifts ahead of the third test against England, the opportunity is there for Kallis to mark his mark in the next decade as a matchwinner rather than simply a record maker.

In the test bowling stakes Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka led the way with 565 wickets, and South Africa’s Makhaya Ntini was second with 380. With both bowlers nearing the ends of their careers, the new decade is going to see some new record makers.

My pick would be Dale Steyn to lead the way. He is a wonderful bowler with a great record so early in his career. If he remains fit, the records could be his for the taking, Pakistan’s Mohammed Aamer at 17 could be another to watch for, but the Pakistanis have a habit of being inconsistent in the selections which may hamper him.

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.

Not one South African features in the short list of the LG ICC awards for 2009, a measure of the outstanding players.

It’s a kick in the face, and hard to believe that the number 1 ranked test side, and recently number 1 ranked one day side (Australia have an equal number of points, but have moved ahead on a mathematical difference for now) cannot have 1 player or official up for nomination.

Whilst there are some very good players nominated from other countries who deserve their nominations, the strength of the Proteas has been their team performances. As a unit they’ve excelled, which may be a reason why the ICC found it hard to single out members of their squad for individual recognition.

However a side cannot become number 1 without stand out performances from individuals, and Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Dale Steyn, Roelof van der Merwe, Johan Botha and Wayne Parnell are players who stood out for me, and deserving of higher accolades.

Here are the shortlisted nominees:

Cricketer of the Year

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind)
Gautam Gambhir (Ind)
Mitchell Johnson (Aus)
Andrew Strauss (Eng)

Test Player of the Year

Gautam Gambhir (Ind)
Mitchell Johnson (Aus)
Thilan Samaraweera (SL)
Andrew Strauss (Eng)

ODI Player of the Year

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind)
Virender Sehwag (Ind)
Yuvraj Singh (Ind)

Emerging Player

Ben Hilfenhaus (Aus)
Graham Onions (Eng)
Jesse Ryder (NZ)
Peter Siddle (Aus)

Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year

Rizwan Cheema (Can)
Ryan ten Doeschate (Ned)
William Porterfield (Ire)
Edgar Schiferli (Ned)

Twenty20 International Performance of the Year

Shahid Afridi (Pak) for scoring 51 off 34 balls and taking 2-16 against South Africa during the ICC WT20 semi-final in Nottingham on 18 June
Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL) for scoring 96 not out off 57 balls against the West Indies in the semi-final of the ICC WT20 at The Oval on 19 June
Chris Gayle (WI) – for hitting 88 off 50 balls against Australia during the ICC WT20 at The Oval on 6 June
Umar Gul (Pak) for taking 5-6 against New Zealand during the ICC WT20 at The Oval on 13 June

Women’s Cricketer of the Year

Charlotte Edwards (Eng)
Shelley Nitschke (Aus)
Claire Taylor (Eng)

Umpire of the Year

Aleem Dar
Tony Hill
Asad Rauf
Simon Taufel

Spirit of Cricket
Australia
England
New Zealand
Sri Lanka

As the number 1 ranked test nation, I thought Graeme Smith and Dale Steyn were two stand out performers. Their omissions were hard to understand.

I am surprised to see Yuvraj Singh and Shivnarine Chandepaul in the ODI player of the year. Not 1 South African player made the long list of nominees, with some surprising names like Martin Guptil of New Zealand included. Nothing against Guptil, but was not even 1 South African player worthy of inclusion?

The one that ranks the highest for me was the spirit of cricket award. I would like to think South Africa have conducted themselves in a very humble, manner and shown themselves to be great role models for their country. They have always played in the spirit of the game, and to not see their nomination is a major worry.

I would like to think there is nothing sinister in these nominations. Publicly the Proteas have remained very focused on the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy to be played in South Africa. Privately they’ll have a little extra motivation to do well and show the ICC they have the best side, and the best players in the world!

The Proteas are now officially the best side in the world!

South Africa is now rated the top ranked side in both the Test ratings, and the One day ratings. For the first time since 2003 when the test rankings were formulated, Australia are disposed of their top position. They slip down as far as 4th position!

The Proteas have been ranked number 1 in the One day format of the game since February, when they comprehensively thrashed Australia in their one day series. But the Test series was closely fought, and Australia’s test series win kept them in top position and deservedly so. However South Africa have been the most consistent side since in the last 2-3 years, and Australia’s Ashes defeat to England has seen them slip from grace quite dramatically. They are now ranked behind South Africa, India and Sri Lanka. They’ll have a lot of work to do to get back into number 1 position!

To coincide with the domination of South Africa, the Springboks are also ranked number 1 in the world by the IRB world rankings. How good is that? I think South Africa are the first side to hold number 1 spot in both cricket and rugby.

It’s been a long time coming, but finally the Proteas are top. I believe they’ve got the players, the coaches and the desire to stay at the top, which is always harder than getting there.

May the good times keep on coming!

Is test cricket as we know still going to continue?

Please go to this article by Dann Khan to read what the ICC is proposing for test cricket. Dann has some great insights into the future of test cricket.

Everything seems to be getting shorter and shorter, the advent of 20/20 cricket designed to appeal to fans who cricket wouldn’t normally attract by the longer versions of the game. (It seems absurd to be calling one day internationals a longer form of the game!). However are we running the risk of changing the game as we know it? Already we can see that many cricketers simply don’t have the skill set or mind set to play test cricket, Bangladesh being a great example. They have talent, but they don’t like batting or bowling for very long before they either throw their wicket away or try something absurd!

Night cricket remains a possibility to attract viewers that may not have time during the day. Adam Gilchrist warns we are not ready for it yet, and I agree. There are “ball issues” but for me the problem is the limited venues where night cricket will be an option. It requires areas where the dew and conditions don’t change the conditions so much that the nature of the game is changed and favours one side. Other than Australia, I’m not sure any other country can provide this.

So the question remains, should we tamper with test cricket?

I think test cricket is dying. The purists who love the game will always remain, but cricket can’t exist with such small numbers of die hard fans. Not in this economic climate. I don’t like changing the fundamentals of the game but how about these ideas of mine?

1. Ensure 100 overs per day

I believe more results would help attracts viewers to the game. A draw can be fascinating, but it should be the exception not the norm. I am thus in favour of giving the players as much time as possible to produce a result. My first change would be to ensure the game consists of 100 overs per day.

How often do game almost produce a result in the last session of a test? Another 50 overs over the course of a game would be massive. Play could start half an hour earlier and lunch could be reduced to 20 minutes like the tea break. I’m sick of teams not bowling their 90 overs in a day too, so harsher penalties need to be enforced. Do players really need to run in from such a long distance sometimes!

2. Limit the first innings

What about a scenario where teams have a limited number of overs in their first innings? I know this takes away a fundamental aspect of test cricket, but how often do we see batter friendly pitches in the sub-continent where after 2-3 days the game is effectively a draw? What if we limited each teams first innings to 100 overs each. I have taken note of this and in most parts of the world, teams don’t last 100 overs in the first innings , so those that argue it would limit teams, and they’d have to change their game, that may not have to happen.

Also would it be exciting in the middle of a test to see a side running out of overs and having to up the ante to score runs! The second innings could remain unlimited. Thus we’d have a minimum of 3 days to complete the last 2 innings. If the first fielding side bowled the first side out before 100 overs, could they be credited those overs to their first innings?

3. Change the rules

Tidy up some of the rules. The 2 that really get me are wides and defensive fields.

To encourage more positive bowling, I think wides should be policed much better. The off side wide could stay much the same as the ODI and 20/20 currently operates, and the leg side wide could be relaxed slightly compared to those formats, to ensure leg side play can remain part of the game.

The second rule I’d change is the fielding restrictions. I am not a fan of seeing captains place most of the fielders on the boundary of 3/4 of the way back to stop boundaries being scored when a team is attacking. I think there should be a limit. Maybe they need a circle like the shorter forms of the game and maybe there could be a limit such as 4 or 5 fielders outside the circle. It then makes run chases more exciting and doesn’t penalise a side who is attacking through their batting.

Those are my thoughts to ensure test cricket remains, gains popularity and creates a more exciting game whilst trying not to mess with the traditions of the game too much. What are your thoughts??

The Aussies and New Zealand played out a competitive one day series. Whilst it is great to see the Aussies get beaten, for New Zealand to beat them would not make South Africa’s series win as special. So a drawn series was the ideal result for me as again Australia didn’t win at home, but then New Zealand can’t claim to have beaten them either.

The series for me was marred by the Brad Haddin cheating affair. I am sure it will not be spoken about very often, as the Aussies have a habit of sweeping dirty issues under the carpet. eg the Shane Warne/Mark Waugh “weather reports”, Shane Warnes drug cheating, Brett Lee’s use of the beamer when under pressure etc etc
This tour will use the “video referral” system too, which will stop the Aussies cheating again. I am looking forward to see how it goes.

The Aussies can be assured that when they arrive in South Africa for their tour of South Africa, there is only going to be more pressure and more pain. It will be interesting to see what they are made of, as South Africa and its fans play damn hard, but fair. I suspect the Aussies could struggle with their squad, and things could get ugly for them. I am not sure they will leave with any dignity either, as I don’t think they have any

Around the same time, India go to New Zealand. Dhoni has had a fairytale run, but now he will experience just how hard international cricket is when you have to go do climates and conditions which are foreign to you. The Indians have always struggled with a ball that seams around and I think they may even lose the series. It will be interesting to see what the critics think then, will they still see India as the best team in the world (which clearly they are not because South Africa are!)?

Meanwhile in the West Indies we have an interesting tussle. The Windies won the first game and played well. But to see England skittled out for 51 was a joke. That is the problem when you rely so heavily on 1-2 individuals. I still expect them to show a bit more fight than that however.

Then they went to Antigua for the farcial test match at the Sir Viv Richards ground. Someone’s head should roll for that (but of course it never does). Surely someone should inspect the ground prior to play, and why did the players not say anything prior to play, after all they do their warm ups on the ground. I feel sorry for Viv Richards, having his name associated with such shenanigans. Until cricket in the West Indies gets more professional I don’t see their national team getting back to the top of world cricket.

And so we moved on to the St Johns oval. Obviously because of the late notice it was never going to be fully prepared. but what were they thinking staging a test match with the soccer halfway line going down the middle of the pitch? Regardless of whether it influenced the pitch or not, it has to be extremely disconcerting and off-putting for the batsmen. Full credit to the Windies for managing to squeeze out a draw when England had the game in the bag to still lead the series 1-0.