Time hangs heavy when one is in exile and it is the weekend. That is why, a Sunday or two ago, I found myself in a place I never dreamed I’d visit. A romantic place: a place where Camparis were first tasted, a breeding ground for gorgeous Oscar-winning stars. Benoni. Doesn’t the mere sound of those three syllables quicken the blood, fill the head with foolish fantasies and…never mind, me neither, but we’ve got to try.

My reason for being there was that I have a hobby, one that has afforded me enormous joy since boyhood. I rarely get to indulge my pleasure when I’m home because Scallywag does not, for some inexplicable reason, share my enthusiasm and I am keener on her than on watching cricket.

Willowmoore Park is a pretty ground. The spectator area is mainly grass embankments upon which people set up their deck chairs, plastic gazebos and picnic blankets. There is a small area at the North end of the ground with standard grandstand plastic seating, which is where I went because it is more or less behind the bowler’s arm in line with the pitch—the best place from which to watch, and I don’t possess a deck chair. It was a beautiful, hot summer day.

The game began. Zimbabwe had won the toss and put us in to bat. Things were going fine, especially after that gum-chewing, spitting buffoon Smith was out, predictably by waving his bat ineffectually at a ball wide of the off stump. Will he never learn? AB DeVilliers was in fine form, as was Hashim Amla. The seat beside me, which had hitherto been empty was suddenly filled by a lady in yellow. “HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-OO. COME ON BOOOYES! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-OO.”

I cringed. A symptom of what dread psychiatric disease could this possibly be? Could this awful howling mean that I was sitting beside a werewolf who had perhaps mistaken the Sun for a full moon? And to which boys was she referring? Her clothing gave no clue; she waved no flag. Perhaps she was unaware that there were two teams doing battle on the field and both were composed exclusively of boys.
“HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-OOOoo” She ran out of breath, then hauled another couple of lungsful aboard. “BOOOOOYES!”

This was intolerable. What happened to the traditional cricket shouts such as “HIT THE RUBBISH!” or “HEY UMPIRE! YOUR GUIDE DOG GRAZED MY HAMBURGER!” I gathered up my esky and started to trek 180 degrees around the ground to the South side where the caterwauling might be less intrusive. As I walked I recalled that I had heard something similar in a televised American reality show. When a man whom the female members of the audience deemed sexy came onto the stage, they started howling in the same manner as the cricket lady. So could this be a sign of sexual excitement? None of the women I have known have impersonated an escapee from the island of Dr Moreau, not even when I have taken my clothes off.

Perhaps it’s just that I’m not very sexy.

Grumpy Old Man by Mark Widdicombe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.

It’s true this and it’s also a complaint the mister has been echoing for the past two hours.  Him and the JR have found solace in Summer Heights High. I’ve been listening with one ear and it’s something which could actually make me fancy the Aussies.

Speaking of which – I saw a very cool definition of cricket the other day.

“A game of gentlemanly conduct where everybody hates the Australians equally.”

You’ll have to chuckle and settle for this since the Sitter is still refusing to write anything. There’s nothing to write about, apparently. I have to agree.

Where is all the Test cricket? Somebody must hate me since the footballers are on international break and if I wanted to watch any sport it’ll have to be Champions League or Currie Cup rugby (eeeeuuw).

I didn’t watch this but I did see that Dirk Nannes is doing his thing with the ball in one of the Mickey Mouse games. Fine, I’ll admit that I just logged on to check the score for the said game and I am almost aroused by the fact that Dirka Dirka has got four wickets next to his name.  It’s not quite as exciting as a run chase during a Test match Down Under but it’s almost got me looking forward to watching a Champions League game. Nah, I’m just kidding.

Slogging just doesn’t have the same appeal as driving through the covers or a patient, well-crafted innings with a strike rate that’s lower than your average. Or a four hour rain delay only for play to be abandoned for the day.

Solace lies in the fact that the England tour of South Africa is just around the corner. Or the English team coming home, or whatever. I suspect that the reason England pulled a bit of a rabbit out of a hat recently is because of their South African advantage and that they’ll probably pump their A-side.

Nonetheless, five days on the Newlands grass banks with beer and blasphemy, what’s not to look forward to?

South Africa lose the opening match of the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy yesterday when Sri Lanka defeated them at Centurion in Pretoria. This put the Proteas under so much pressure for the rest of the series.

Here two moments which i think switch the game in Sri Lanka’s favour.

Tillakaratne Dilshan getting his 100. He ended up making 106.

JP Duminy clean bowled by Ajantha Mendis for a duck.

More images on www.supermedia.co.za

Gerhard

The lions have aged and retired… the cubs still to mature into lions… the territory is up for grabs… Every week there is a new number one in the rankings these days… these indeed are exciting times for cricket and the top of the table was never as open as now…

Australia is no longer the powerhouse it used to be, their aura of invincibility shattered. The 6-0 series lead notwithstanding the fear of the Kangaroos is gone… The Indians defeated them 2-0 in 2008 in India which incidentally was their worst defeat in 25 years. The South Africans beat them in their own den. The top spot in all forms of the game is open for all and there is going to be an interesting race in the coming two years which will firmly establish who is the best. The Sri Lankans are the only other team that may harbour any such aspirations of trying to contest this claim of the top team in the world but for that their overseas record needs to improve.

That leaves us with two contenders, the Proteas and the Indians.

The Proteas have always been a bunch of hardened cricketers who always give their best however they have always been humiliated time and again by the Aussies and even though they beat the Aussies in their backyard for the first time last year the Aussies promptly exacted their revenge. Over a period they have never matched up against Australia and so we need to see if they can do this over a consistent period of time. The one problem South Africa face is their selection policy with quota’s and second their over dependence on just seam bowling. However the emergence of Johan Botha and Paul Harris augurs well for them. They have some exciting youngsters and it will be interesting times for them as they seem to have finally got the Australian monkey over their back.

However lets take a look at India’s fortunes more closely…  

India started playing test cricket in 1932 and from then to the November of the year 2000 India had won just 13 Test matches abroad. We always had a couple of stylish batsmen and a bunch of excellent spinners with maybe a seamer thrown in here and there. However the true test of a cricket team is when they go abroad and it is only fair to say we had an abysmal record. We were favourite whipping boys when we travelled abroad.

But in November 2000 Sourav Ganguly was handed the reins of Indian cricket while it was probably at its nadir with the match fixing controversy. Under him a group of youngsters gathered, he along with Sachin, Rahul, Anil and Laxman have laid a great platform ahead. The new crop of youngsters have tasted success very early in their careers and the fearlessness that we see in the Sehwag’s, Yuvraj’s, Zaheer’s and Bhajji’s can be attributed to this early success in their careers. Sourav Ganguly injected a steel in Indian Cricket which was missing, this led to the change of attitude and a team that used to dread going abroad suddenly was raring to go abroad.

The talent apart the sudden transformation of Indian cricketers under Sourav’s leadership where they would stare the opponent in the eye and not blink and the tendency to give back as good as they got or even better then what they got has gone a long way in helping India building a fearless image in the cricket world. They psychologically even disintegrated  the father (Tugga – Steve Waugh) of this theory called Psychological Disintegration 

India started playing test cricket in 1932 and from then to the November of the year 2000 India had won just 13 Test matches abroad.Quite amazingly since November 2000 when Sourav became captain to today India has won 19 Test Matches Abroad including series wins in England, West Indies, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They also were leading in Test series in South Africa and Australia but eventually squandered the lead.

Mindset has changed today when India travel’s abroad it goes with a belief that they can win. The main reason behind this has to be the amazing bench strength of fast bowlers to choose from provided they all are fit. Ishant Sharma is already the envy of all cricketing nations. Zaheer at the peak of his career and they are well supported by Ashish Nehra, R. P. Singh and Sree Santh. They have back up and even in the domestic structure there are still quite a few who can make the cut like Sudeep Tyagi, Munaf Patel & Irfan Pathan to just name a few. These fast bowlers are a big reason why India is starting to win tests and for a change we don’t have just one or two fast bowlers like a Kapil here and a Srinath there… we have 4-5 bowlers and that is the most heartening thing.

The batting line up is as awesome as it can ever get. Today arguably we possess the most explosive opening pair in Tests in Sehwag and Gautam followed by ever solid Rahul Dravid, the never ageing Sachin and the elegant Laxman. The best part is this doesn’t end here, we have Yuvraj who can be mercurial on this day and Dhoni a player who can easily be in any Test Team in the world just for his batting. The prescence of the youngsters like Rohit Sharma, Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Raina, Yusuf Pathan can only be a blessing.

The spin department is also well taken care of with Harbhajan, Amit Mishra & Pragyan Ojha. Thanks to the IPL the Indian domestic players will receive a lot of encouragement and also exposure to top flight cricket. It also means a lot more cricketers can now harbour living life simply playing domestic cricket even if they don’t get to play for India coz they can earn enough. More cricketers could only be a blessing.

In the coming two years India will have to stake their claim for the top spot, the race is tight between Australia who are undergoing transition, South Africa who are at their peak probably and India who have consistently given Australia a run for their money and beaten them on several occasions for almost a decade that too while Shane Warne and Mcgrath were playing.

Under Mahendra Singh Dhoni we have a skipper who will have to carry on the good work started by Sourav and place India on a pedestal befitting its following… the interesting times they say are just beginning… The Champions trophy will be ideal place to start this new season and a victory in all the matches should put us on top of the ODI rankings….

Quite interestingly since the 2006 Champions trophy India has won 11 out of the 17 ODI tournaments it has played and we currently have won 6 ODI series on the trot. Is Champions trophy going to be the 7th on the trot ????

Tighten your seat belt folks !!! Its gonna be a helluva interesting period for Indian fans to watch…

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Last but not the least… please remember to Vote for me HERE for the blogger job challenge.

6 days remain… there are lots of contestants… !!! VOTES NEEDED !!!!

There are quite a few wildflowers around Tea Gardens during spring. This particular photo is of a plant known as Drumsticks (Isopogon anemonifolius). It belongs to the same family as Proteas, Banksias and Grevilleas (Proteaceae).

This particular species of Isopogon is an upright, medium sized shrub with yellow flower heads in spring and summer. They are quite a nice flowering shrub and would make a great addition to a garden in the same way proteas and grevilleas are. They also make a good cut flower for flower arrangements. Propagation is from seed.

More Tea Gardens Wildflowers at:

Tea Gardens Wildflowers

We all knew that the Australians were going to throw the book of sledging at Jonathon Trott. But I didn’t really envisage it kicking off before the start of the test match and I certainly hadn’t counted on it originating from a non-Aussie. Mickey Arthur, this is not about you.

I’m not sure why the South African coach felt it necessary to add his two rand’s worth to the selection debate and claim that Trott would not get into his top six. Although I can imagine the sour grape juice dribbling from his chops as he inferred that Trott had left the Proteas set-up because he wasn’t good enough.

But now it feels like Trott and England are being ganged up on. Tim Nielsen was probably standing behind Arthur as he made his statement sticking his tongue out and singing “ner-ner-ne-ner-ner”. It’s basically bullying.

England should do what every victim of bullying should do, tell a grown-up. Or in this case, the ICC. They’ll tell the bullies’ parents and they will make it stop.

The “old folks” at Bramasole have not been idling away their time as most might think … Robin likes keeping everyone busy – he has again ordered some MORE trees from Nipper Thompson up the road.  Robin’s mom, dad and my dad have been given the “enviable” job of getting them here and planted … then throw in a huge order of proteas as well.  I don’t know if we are quietly starting a competition with the Cherry Farm around the corner for future Spring Fairs, but at the rate we’re going now, it might be a good possibility.

You know you’ve reached the pinnacle of journalism when the front-page headline on your newspaper reads “I eat pussy to survive”.

The story is a lot more harrowing then you would imagine, a family in the notorious Cape flats kill, cook and eat cats and dogs in order to survive.

The story came about after the paper learned of a protest due to take place here in Cape Town against the eating of cats and dogs as a delicacy in other countries.

The Voice’s editor wanted to get the other side of the story, the people who must eat them just to live. Later when he learned that just six people showed up to the protest he was literally bouncing up and down the newsroom with delight.

But this is what the Daily Voice is about, hard hitting news that both enthrals and appals the reader. The “pussy” headline and story did just that.

Down in the sports department there’s a bit less controversy and I’ve been working on some good stories this week.

I did a phone interview with South African cricketer Charl Langeveldt who is back in the international test squad following his controversial withdrawal last year.

The story of the spin bowler’s departure is a long one but – like most sporting controversies in South Africa – is race related. A day doesn’t go by at the sports desk without a conversation about the undercurrent of racism in rugby and cricket in this country.

Langeveldt did his best to deflect my questions about conflicts with Proteas (the South African cricket team’s nickname) coach Mickey Arthur and captain Graham Smith but the interview was a decent one and made the next day’s edition.

I also took in local rugby side Western Province’s training session ahead of their Currie Cup clash with the Blue Bulls, the best side in the southern hemisphere.

Afterwards we went to a press conference with coach Allister Coetzee and captain Luke Watson who himself was the subject of a race related controversy with the national side not so long ago.

My second week at the Voice has surpassed the first in terms of enjoyment but I won’t be there for much longer. In a bid to escape the office I’ve switched to something completely different for my last full week in Cape Town.

Next week I’m going to be working at a nursery in a local township, one of the poorest areas in the city. I’ll be looking after local children during the day in a building that the volunteer group I’m with helped to build.

As much as the journalism experience has benefitted me this is an opportunity to do something I may never get a chance to do again and give a little bit back to a country that has given so much to me this past fortnight.

This blog can also be read at Click Liverpool along with other stories from my South African adventure.

You lose one game and you are out… This had happened to many teams in the past.But when it comes to big tournaments…big day…and big match…in a must win situation…one team had all the bad luck in the world…always…that is South Africa.This time it was no exemption.After doing all the hard work and being in the semis with a track record of not losing any match till then,South Africans were expected to cruise through to the finals against all odds and against any team on a given day.But destiny had written a different story for them…So near yet so far.. Another major championship went begging for the perfect team.South Africa lost to Pakistan in a match which they shouldnt have…the semis…and decieved themselves from the possibility of being the world champions.Pakistan in general and Afridi in particular came better holding their nerves to pull a win to enter the finals on thursday.

Nottingham…18th june 2009.Pakistan won the toss and had no hesitation in taking to bat.Things didnt start well as their opener Shahzaib departed for naught in the second over when the score was 8.But at the other end Akmal was playing fearless and fired all cylinders with a 12 ball 23 including 4 fours and a six.Steyn sent him back when he looked dangerous.Akmal fell in the 3rd over when the score was 28.Later Afridi and Malik put on 77 for the 3rd wicket in quick time aswell.Afridi made a 34 ball 51 with 8 hits to the boundary.He hammered 4 consecutive fours in the 11th over bowled by Botha.His heroics came to an end when he landed one into the hands of DeVilliers off Duminy in the 13th over when the score was 95.Later things slowed on for the Pakistanis.Malik departed in the 16th over after struggling to make 34 in 39 deliveries.Younis and Razzak tried to press the accelerator but the speed didnt pick up much for the desire of Pakistan.Pakistan could only make 149 at the end inspite of having 6 wickets in hand.This looked to be an easy piece of cake for the inform Proteas.But the threat was always there…the one of the chasing pressure and the other fact that the ball was not coming to the ball that easy which was indicated by the struggle of the Pakistani batsmen.In this context much planned and desired chase was desired from the South African batsmen.

South Africa chasing 150 to win had a decent start from their openers.They put on 40 for the 1st wicket.Smith struggled to connect the ball whereas his partner in form Kallis was batting with grit and pace at the other end.Smith made 10 in 14 balls and departed in the 6th over with the score reading 40.Then came the dangerous Afridi into the attack.After the bat show in the first session it was not over for him in the 2nd session as well.He struck twice in the 7th and 9th overs to dismiss Gibbs and DeVilliers cheaply.South Africa were left struggling at 50 for 3 in the midway of the 9th over.The required runrate was creeping,balls not coming to the bat and Proteas never recovered from this Afridi assault.On the other end much for the hope of the Africans Mr.Reliable…Kallis was carrying on with discipline as if he was all alone interested in seeing his team win…and with him at the crease anything can happen and the hope was always on for the Africans.Pakistan too knew that Kallis was a thorn in their fish.He is a match winner and they cant breath easy until he is holding crease at the other end.In the 18th over the pressure got better of Kallis.When Ajmal had him caught by Malik..he had made 64 in 53 deliveries including 7 fours and a six.Pakistan sighed relief as they felt they had got rid of more than half the team as Kallis meant that.With 39 required from 17 deliveries it almost looked an uphill task for the Proteas to accomplish.They needed a supermans innings from somebody.Duminy was giving a fight at the other end.The African bench looked desperate as the loss and quit was clearly visible in their eyes.He made 44 in 41 balls but couldnt take his team to victory.South Africa could only manage only 142 losing 5 wickets in the proceedings.South Africa lost the match by just 7 runs.Bad luck continued its alliance with this superb team.But the credit should not be taken from the gritty Pakistanis.They played superb aggressive cricket and more over as a unit.Afridi was adjudged the Man of the match for his masering efforts with the bat and the ball and for taking his team into the dream finals.It was the end of the road for the South Africans and they have to wait and see if their turn to win a great event comes atleast after 2 years in the 3rd version of the wt20 format.Good Bye and good luck Africans…You people have played a wonderful game of cricket…professionally.But Pakistan on the other hand entered the Finals of the t20 world cup for the 2nd consecutive time.It looked that they are determined not to repeat their mistakes what they had done in their lost finals against India two years ago.They were looking hungry to win the world cup.Can they establish history by writing their name on the world cup or whether the history is going to repeat against Pakistan again….We will watch and see.But for now ….Good Luck Pakistan…..Keep Going…..

Just tweeted this in response to a question: ‘What’s your favourite quote?’. If not #1, it’s definitely up there.

I first heard it years ago from Lance Klusener, ex-SA big-hitting cricketer, and he demonstrated it often. Thanks to him for all the hearty entertainment, and the same goes for Graeme Smith & our Protea team, holding their own in the current ICC World T20 series. Way to go, Guys, we’re proud of you!!

P.S. … pity we didn’t make it all the way to the final, but better luck next time

The dismal performance of team India continues even after being knocked out of the competition.Yet another loss at the hands of the inform Proteas on tuesday in a GroupE match of the super8 stage at Nottingham was nothing but rubbing salt on the wounds.Its a different story whether the injury or the salt really mattered for the Indian team.In a display of character and professional cricket,the South African team totally outplayed India in all the departments of the game and kept their record of being unbeaten in the competition straight.They won the match by 12 runs and cruised into the semis in style.Even without winning this match they would anyhow make it to the semis.Being out of competition already,Indians had nothing to lose.They would have atleast defeated the Proteas and took a complimentary win home.Even if the Proteas would go on to win the world cup,India would have proudly said that they were the only team to beat the Sout African team.But that was never to be.After the first session when the Indians restricted the South Africans for a meagre 130,it looked that India is all set to win atleast this match until they proved it wrong at the end.

Earlier South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first.They had a bad start much to the satisfaction of the Indians,when RP Singh bowled Gibbs when the score was 13 in the 2nd over.Smith and DeVilliers put on 46 runs for the 2nd wicket and effected the recovery.When the score was 59,Smith was out with a run a ball 26 being caught by Jadeja off Harbhajan.But India took control over the game at this situation and put the brakes on the run machine.South Africa struggled to make runs.The other batsmen did tiny contributions.Seeing the context of the match and its results,the 51 ball 63 made by DeVilliers becomes vital.He played sensibly knowing that the batting conditions were not good,holding ground at one end.He hit 7 fours in his innings.His effort took South Africa to a respectable but not so enough total when they ended with 130 for the loss of 5 wickets.Jadeja and Harbhajan bowled tight.

The Indian opening wicket stand was promising as Gambhir and Rohit put on 48 for the 1st wicket.Gambhir was the first to go for a 19 ball 21 including 3 boundaries,in the 7th over.7 runs later Raina went cheaply in the 9th over,followed in the parade by Rohit,Dhoni and Yusuf not troubling the scorers.Among them Rohit made a run a ball 29.India lost 4 wickets in a hurry,in a space of 4 and a half overs sharing 14 runs between them.This careless act of the top order put India in the dolldrums,in what should have been a comfortable win.The required run rate was in and around that threatning 10 per over mark in the last 6 overs.Yuvraj showed a lone unsupported resistence at the other end and made a run a ball 25.Harbhajan showing signs of anger hit a four and a six in his 15 ball 14.Asmall partnership of 31 runs between the two singhs gave some hopes to India,not before Harbhajan fell in the 18th over when India had just reached the 3 digit mark.India still required 31 off the last 16 balls at this stage and never looked impossible with Yuvraj at the other end.But fortune was not favouring the Indians.In the 19th over Steyn hit the final nail into the Indians coffin of hope when he had Yuvraj caught behind,the decission in question cleared later by the television umpire in favour of the bowler.Here India required 25 off the last 10 balls and pressure made India to score only 13 runs,thanks to wonderful bowling and fielding of the Proteas at the death,holding their nerves.South Africa won the match by 12 runs and entered the semis in style,where they meet the Pakistan team on thursday.That will be an interesting affair to see.For Africa Botha was the pick of the bowler taking 3 for 16 in his 4 overs.The other bowlers supported well.Steyn picked 2,Merwe and Duminy chipped in with a wicket each.India dejected yet again…come home with plenty of things to think and implement to better the Team India for future ventures in the international front,having not played as a unit.South Africa on the other hand go into the semis with a clean record of being unbeaten yet,alike Sri Lanka.Will they repeat the feat even there and head towards the big one…..is what we have to wait and see.But for time being…Good luck Proteas…..

When the South Africans are on top,they make any team look an ordinary one and that was how they made the English team look in front of their own people on thursday,the 11th of june 2009,in the 2nd super 8 encounter of the t20 world cup at Nottingham.South Africa won the match which looked lie a one sided affair with 10 balls and their 7 wickets remaining.Earlier electing to bat having won the toss,England were struggling at 4 for the loss of 2 wickets with both their openers Bopara and Wright not troubling the scorers.Much was anticipated from Kevin Pietersen but the man who showed lots of guts and nerves against their must win match against Pakistan,didnt deliver goods this time.He was sent back by Morkel when he was looking good with a 17 ball 19 including 4 hits to the fence and the board read 25 for 3.But a partnership of 53 runs for the 4th wicket between captain Collingwood and Shaw gave hopes of rivival in the English camp.Collingwood made a run a ball 19 whereas Shah top scored for England with a 33 ball 38 including 3 hits to the fence and 2 clearing the wire.Kallis dismissed both of them in his impressive figures of 2 for 20 in 3 overs.The partnership didnt cause much worry to the Proteas as the wickets tumbled like a pack of cards once it was broken.They somehow managed to reach 111 runs after having lost their 8 wickets ahen the score was 92.England were allout at the Nelson score,much to their belief they lost the last two wickets before the score went past 111.Nelson is omnious……isnt it….atleast for the English….either the Nelson or the English team prove it true everytime.Parnell was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3 for 14 in 3.5 overs,well supported by tight and disciplined bowlin of Kallis and Merwe who took 2 wickets each and Steyn,Morkel and Botha chipping with a wicket each.

With the strong South African batting lineup in terrific form,the chase was never difficult unless some unlucky twist came in their way.But that was never to happen as the fortune favours the brave.The early loss  of skipper Smith when the score was on 17,might have got some relief in the English camp,but that was neither to affect the intentions of the Proteas nor the result of the match.A 80 run partnership for the 2nd wicket between the man in form Kallis(59 runs,49 balls, 5 fours and a six) and the man who was trying to come along the runs,Gibbs(run a ball 30, 2 fours and a 6) took the game away from England.Swann bowled Gibbs when the total was 91,but all the work had already been done by then.AB de Villiers didnt stay long.Duminy joined Kallis to finish of the proceedings and took their team to a comfortable win.English bowlers bowled tightly,but their batsmen had not given them plenty of runs to defend.Kallis was adjudged the man of the match for his all round performance with the ball and the bat.South Africa have crossed one hurdle and have two to come in their way in the form of West Indies and India.But i dont think they will mind much,especially the form in which they are in they can be considered unbeatable.But it gives an impression that they will take the matches as they come and for now its party time for them…let them enjoy their success……

We have often seen in cricket that a cloud of negligence and ease creeps over on the team chasing especially when the target is low. Low scores are often taken for granted. But it is always thes petty scores in cricket that have successfully upset the opponents and have produced unexpected results.Similar results came along in the way of the Black caps…New Zealanders when they underestimated a small total and ended up losing the battle with a sneak edge,a margin of just 1 run in the final ball of their match against South Africans on tuesday,the 9th of june 2009 at London.

Chasing a formidable score of 128, the kiwis fell short of one run to finish off clean in the league after doing all their homework in the first session. Earlier the mighty Africans were bundled out for 128 by a disciplined bowling and fielding performance by the Kiwis. The Proteas struggled all the way to reach that total.All plans worked out in favour of McCullum,the Kiwis captain.In the context of the game and seeing what happened in the end,it can be concluded that the first wicket partnership of 49 runs in 7 overs between Kallis(24 in 23 balls, 2 fours and a six) and skipper Smith(33 off 35, 4 fours) was worth a million.McCullum effected a beautiful run out to dismiss Kallis,who was looking in good nick.When the score was on 63,the Proteas lost 3 quick wickets of Smith,Gibbs and Merwe for 2 runs in a space of 13 deliveries.They never recovered from this collapse and things went tougher for them since their reliable players were back.Duminy and DeVilliers tried to get going adding some runs to the board slowly,not until the later was run out for 15 effected by Guptill.Duminy made some hitting work in the last over and aided Africa to reach 128. The Proteas lost 7 wickets in the proceedings. For S.Africa Duminy made 29 off 23 balls with a four and a couple of sixes.Smith top scored with 33.All the Kiwi bowlers bowled well but the pick of them was Butler with 2 for 13 in 4 overs.N.McCullum and Styris were consistent and picked a wicket each.Mills took 1 wicket too.

What seemed to be an easy chase looked difficult when New Zealand lost 2 wickets quickly in the form of Guptill and Broom who didnt trouble the scorers.B.McCullum and Taylor did the repair work. The scoring pattern was not different from what the Africans did.The match looked lifeless. Couldnt the Kiwis really play or whether they were playing casual and safe sensing a comfortable win even before it came was the question which arose seeing the proceedings.Whatever….things went too slow for the Black caps.McCullum made a drafted 57(54 balls,6 fours) and Taylor made 22(31 balls) in the partnership of 56 runs off 63 balls for the 3rd wicket which kept momento going in favour of Kiwis.Their smile was not to go any further.Merwe introduced into the attack removed both these set batsmen and turned the match in favour of Proteas.His match winnin effort in which he took 2 important wickets for just 14 runs in 4 overs fetched him the man of the match honours.The next part of the story would belong to those who held their nerves at crunch…no prices for guessing that the Proteas had stronger nerves which cot control of the nervous Kiwis….but the guess couldnt have been made until the last ball was bowled.Oram gave a stiff fight at the death scoring 24 off 18 deliveries for his team,but in vain.The Kiwis needed 15 runs off the last over with 6 wickets in hand.But in pressure situations it is not the number of wickets in hand that matters but it is how you handle it with cool….and thats what New Zealand couldnt do.4 runs required from the last ball…one hit to the fence would have done it for Kiwis…but thats the difference between hit and miss…. and it was miss which was written in the fate of black caps.Oram managed 2 and was run out trying for a third which was never there,denying the possibility of even a tie and…..then a super over…..but thats a distant story.Kiwis lost the match with an agonizing 1 run margin…..a moral to plan the chase or never to carry the chase till the last over in a t20 match.Both teams were anyhow in the super 8’s …not to worry much.But the team which held the nerves emerged better among the two……

At the Bridal Expo, I wasn’t really taken with the generic venue options available at the “venue” stands. I wanted our venue to be special, and NOT commercial. I didn’t think we’d find what I was looking for, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The stand that captured my attention was that of the Picardie Guest Farm in Paarl – largely due to the fact that they also farm Proteas. (Guess who just discovered the link button!)

The Protea is my favourite flower (and I don’t generally do favourites!) I have had four years of textile design training which involved creating up close and personal illustrations of quite a variety of flora. Proteas, in all their variations, evoke a fervent passion in me. They stimulate and inspire me. I want to stroke their soft velvety texture and draw them. I want to photograph them and capture them from every angle. I love Proteas!

And Picardie just so happen to have their very own private Protea field!

This sold me in about five seconds flat, particularly as the friendly gentleman manning the store told me I could have free reign in the Protea field for my bouquets and wedding décor.

You see, I’d done some wedding research, and flowers, believe it or not, are a massive part of the wedding budget. My research indicated that the average budget for wedding flowers is R6000! This entirely motivates me to try do the flowers myself.

But I am a professional designer,  so the task is a little less daunting. I have clear visuals of what I want, and with thumbs crossed and the help of my wonderfully creative family and friends, beautiful DIY floral arrangements and bouquets  can be accomplished!

The Picardie brochure looked nice too. It had a picture of a lake! With ducks! A lake with ducks was part of my little wedding fantasy.

So we decided to visit the venue asap.

Spring flowers! Not something I usually photograph, but I couldn’t help myself!

The last two Sundays, I’ve been hanging out at Marin Farmers’ Market with my camera and a 50mm 1.8 lens. Great portrait lens. Great for flower portraits!

I’ve had such fun putting them together and now I’ve got a whole new series of small canvas “Blooms” available in my studio. Poppies, roses and proteas!

I find myself facinated by the exotic proteas which, though I’ve been a gardener for years, I had not known. These come from Gabriel Hieb who is growing them on the Sonoma coast, though they originate in South Africa.

I was reading about the infamous South African Apartheid era the other day.  As is often the case, there was a sports-related issue that reminded me to read about it but the most interesting thing about the whole policy and something I had never heard before was the effect it had on citizenship, which was actually a big part of the justification for the whole thing.

Home Nations

South Africa had been an officially racist nation for a long time even before it started tinkering around with citizenship.  It should be noted that for much of the Apartheid era, SA was not alone in their official racism.  Famously, the southern United States had very similar policies until the 1960s.  Arabs were and still are officially 2nd class citizens within Israel.  India had a sophisticated caste system that doomed or blessed an individual FOR LIFE based on the class they were born into.

South Africa divided the races into White, Coloured, Black, and Indian.  Then they divided the Black population into various nationalities/ethnicities, some of which made sense while others didn’t.  These ethnicities were then stripped of their SA citizenship and assigned citizenship based on their ethnic homelands throughout the country.  Naturally, many of the Blacks had never even stepped foot in these homeland areas and had always lived in major cities.  However, these populations could now be considered foreigners within SA and the poorer educations, healthcare, buslines, etc. could be justified.

Predictably, these independent homelands were a joke and SA didn’t allow them to have any dealings with outside nations or the United Nations.  The homelands were located on undesirable lands with poor farming prospects and few cities.  Perhaps SA had taken some inspiration from our 19th century treatment of Native Americans.  However, unlike the Native Americans, the SAfricans didn’t really want the Black populations to move to the homelands; they wanted them to stay in the cities and be laborers and servants.  The only real motivation to move to one of the homelands was to escape the oppressive whites or to establish a business, as the “foreign” Blacks could not do so outside of their specified homelands.

The treatment of Indians and Coloureds was a bit different (PS – In SA, ‘coloured’ meant mixed race, more or less).  These groups didn’t have the same rights as whites but they had many more options available to them than the Black population.  In case you’re wondering what Indians were doing in SA, many of them moved there to work as prospectors, much like Chinese did in the United States.

On the Chinese note, there was also a small Chinese population in SA that was typically given rights similar to the Indian population.  However, Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese that happened to be in SA were regarded as ‘honorary whites’ based on their governments’ willingness to acknowledge SA when so many other governments would not.  I have no idea how a cop carrying out racist policies was supposed to determine on appearance alone whether he was dealing with an ‘honorary white’ Taiwanese or a 2nd class Chinese citizen.

The Sports Connection

Most of the world famously refused to participate in sports with South Africa starting in the late 1960s.  Even countries and sports that were willing to compete with SA had an issue on their hands as mixed-race sports were not permitted within the country.  The most famous example of this dilemma came in the form of the New Zealand All Blacks, New Zealand’s national rugby team, which for many years has always been chock full of players of full or partial Maori islander origin.  The fact that rugby and cricket were willing to deal with SA while most sports were not was already deplorable but NZ even conceded and sent an all white team.  BOOO.  On later tours NZ refused to concede and Maoris were given ‘honorary white’ status within the nation.  LOL

The British & Irish Lions rugby team visited apartheid SA a few times.  The players justified their position by naively claiming that sport would supercede politics (although the issue is more moral than political).  Interestingly, the Lions visited SA with a genuine chip on their shoulder and with a strategy that has come to be known as the ‘99′ call.  Basically, any time a SA player gave a Lion any shit, the 99 call was made, and each Lion attacked the nearest Springbok (the nickname of the SA rugby team).  The idea was that the ref couldn’t eject the whole team and would end up not ejecting anyone at all.  The call worked, the Lions won the series, and racist SA rugby players were physically punished.  The Lions also made a point of playing matches against clubs comprised of Black players and hosting them for dinners afterwards.  This should have been illegal and I’m not sure how they got away with it.

After Apartheid finally ended in 1991/1992, SA were awarded the rights to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations soccer tournament.  In storybook fashion, SA won BOTH of these events.  Nelson Mandela donned a Springbok jersey and celebrated with the team, a powerful symbol considering 5 years earlier Blacks could not wear the jersey.  Although these particular events are not especially famous within the United States, they are very, very famous within Africa, the British Commonwealth, and the rugby world.  Unfortunately, these great victories underscored the ongoing ethnic separation in sport within SA, which continues to this day: rugby players are White, soccer players are Black.  Only the national cricket team seems to have integrated, with several Whites, Blacks and Indians on the team.  In recent years, SA hosted the 2003 Cricket World Cup (but did not win), the rugby team won the 2007 Rugby World Cup (hosted by France), and will be hosting the 2010 World Cup (of soccer, which they will not win).

The Springboks: Find the Blacks.

Bafana Bafana: Find the Whites.

The Proteas: Still mostly white . . . but the guy with the beard is a Muzlim!

Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to meet the Proteas cricket team through a competition through the Standard Bank’s Achiever Banking account that I have. Not being much of a cricket fan I didn’t think I would enjoy it much but I was very wrong:

We met at Wanderers stadium where we got to see the guys practice in the nets. It was quite something to stand about 6 meters away from Mark Boucher as he sky-rockets a few practice balls which came screaming out of the nets, over our heads and on to some unlucky guys car bonnet in the parking lot…

We then were given a shiny new Gunn & Moore Catalyst 202 cricket bat and as the players came off the field, we could get them to sign it for us. Mark Boucher, Herschelle Gibbs, Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn and nine others (a total of 13) were very happy to sign it.

After that Johan Botha gave us a tour of the the team’s change room, press room, analysis room, gym and we even got to sit in the chairs where the team watches the game. 

Finally we were taken out to lunch at the Meat Company in Melrose Arch courtesy of Standard Bank. 

I had a great time and the whole thing was very well organised and Standard Bank took great care of us. Special thanks to Andrea Eaton and the rest of the team for a fantastic day. I wont forget it soon!

Check out the photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31478105@N03/sets/72157616034028851/

This might be the golden phase of South African cricket “But” the ghost of Wanderers has always haunted the home side. If the Proteas want the top echelon, they have to drop this monkey off their back and change the poor record they have at Johannesburg.

As South Africa’s test record on this ground is patchy; Australia has won the last two test matches one with an innings in 2002 and their previous visit in 2006 produced a thriller with the tourists managing to chase 292 on the last day of Test match. Even India and England have comfortably won against the home side on this hostile track.

Toss will play the decisive role at Jo’bourg where since 2000 all eight Test matches have produced a result, and six of these are won by the side who had the better of coin.

The first match of the Test series will be crucial as a positive result will definitely give the winning side the psychological edge.

South Africa will go with the same winning eleven with no weak links, making them the favorites. They have the likes of Hashim Amla and Paul Harris, exciting match winners Greame Smith and Dale Steyn, trusted lieutenants Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis, and Makayah Ntini, the nerves of steel comes in the likes of wonder kid JP Duminy.

Where as Australia will go with new faces; Philip Hughes will open with Katich, Ponting, Hussey, and Michael Clarke (unfit) will   complete the top order. Brad Haddin, who has been the new Australian hope in recent past will be holding the lower order with Andrew McDonald or Marcus North who will compete for the all rounder’s spot.

For Complete Preview visit:  http://www.octansports.com/cricket/cricket-news/1601/Preview:-First-Test.htm

I must have been on a parallel universe this summer when I saw the following article in The Australian today: “Ricky Ponting turns the heat on hosts South Africa”.

Ponting acting with the typical Australian Captain’s brash and brainless foot in mouth dieses they always seem to suffer is quoted as saying “There won’t be any added pressure on us, maybe on South Africa with that at the back of their minds (gaining the No. 1 Test Team status).”

Am I missing something here? Australia have just received a thumping in both the one day and test series against South Africa, and the only thing that saved them against a humiliating defeat against New Zealand in the one day series was a washed out game in the final match.

Time for a reality check here Ponting…your dominance in cricket is coming to an end. I would suggest leaving the sledging and intimidation at home and trying as a team to at least get double digits in your top batting order.

I am certainly looking forward to another thrashing for the Australian cricket team. There is nothing better in sport than seeing them loose!

Calling all copywriters….and journos for that matter.

Spot the difference or resign from your job immediately.

No, seriously. If you can’t see the mistake, you shouldn’t get paid for writing.