Herschelle Gibbs revealed an explosive book detailing his career with the Proteas and focused on what happened off the field which lead to a lot of controversy in South Africa. Zapiro, a well known satirical cartoonist decided to the below would be fitting for Herschelle Gibbs.
Hope you enjoy the below.
South Africa were beaten 21-17 against a Scottish side that were comprehensively thrashed by the All Blacks a week before. It would be fantasy to believe that the Scotland side performed a miraculous turnaround in a week. The truth is their game is just rising to average and their performance today wasn’t much above this benchmark. South Africa were awful in every facet of the game barring the rolling maul. The curious decisions started before kick-off with Ruan Pienaar left on the bench when 2 weeks ago he was a hero against Ireland in almost identical conditions. Many rate Hougaard very highly but after this performance, it is painfully obvious how much we miss Fourie du Preez.
The first 15 minutes of the game looked promising for the Boks who were dominant in the front and 6-0 thanks to the reliable boot of Morne Steyn. Unfortunately this was the highlight of the Springboks game and they seem to still believe that games can be won without possession. The rest of the game was a mixture of kicking the ball away, watching backline that didn’t ignite and some dubious throws into the line-ou,t which fortuitously led to the Boks’ only try. To make matters worse, Stuart Dickinson was appalling as a ref making some rather harsh calls but he in no way contributed to the South African’s demise.
Pieter de Villiers has had my full backing right from day 1. He picked up where Jake White hit a ceiling in terms of Springbok playing style and turned the world champions into true champions, winning the Tri-nations last year with the best rugby South Africa has ever played including beating New Zealand at home, something that has been a rarity. Sadly whilst he had taken South Africa to new highs in his tenure, his recent performances have been unconvincing and the questions asked about his ability as a coach and a manager are gaining momentum. South African rugby has gone from a side with an impenetrable defence and slick moving backline to a team with 15 headless chickens. There seems to be little structure in the Springbok camp and the many injuries do not explain the lack of organisation in the backline.
Focusing on PdV management ability, many fans will remember curious substitutions that nearly lost the opening game in the British Lions series and recently against Ireland the substitutions almost cost us the game. De Villiers has often been under fire for his tactical substitutions and today these substitutions cost SA any chance of winning. I am all for exposing the new players to the pressures of international rugby but we are a nation that believes winning is the key metric for judging a team’s performance. Substituting Steyn for Lambie was an unforgivable mistake and leaving Hougaard on the field for 45 minutes was 40 minutes too long.
South Africa’s ineptitude to comprehend the importance of possession was highlighted with 5 minutes to play when they were awarded a free kick in their own half and promptly used this as an up and under attempt, which returned possession to the Scots who effectively ensured SA wouldn’t see the ball again. This was a performance to forget, played in terrible conditions against an average Scotland team. Pieter de Villiers has a lot to answer for and a win against England is non-negotiable for the fans to have any confidence in his ability to retain the William Webb Ellis trophy. If we lose on Saturday Pieter de Villiers should gracefully admit defeat and resign before he is pushed.
by: Kyle Green
Australia’s defeat earlier this week against India will have come as something of a shock to more than a few cricket fans. Since the loss, Australian fans have reacted to it in different ways, some predicting a subsequent fall from grace for the Aussies as they prepare for even bigger challenges, and some believing it to be a minor blip.
Brett Lee for one truly seems to believe that Australia’s defeat could prove to be a blessing in disguise as the Aussies prepare for the Ashes 2010 series against bitter rivals England. Lee reckons such a defeat “makes guys switch on a lot more” and could in fact be “the best thing” the Australians could have wished for at this stage in their preparation.
However, to many England fans, this will seem like attempting to put a silver lining on a very large cloud hanging over the Australian camp at the moment. Yes, the defeat will ensure that complacency doesn’t enter the minds of the Aussies and that expectations from the Australian media don’t reach ridiculously sky-high levels. That said, there’s something to be said for momentum, even in a sport played at a relatively low tempo such as cricket.
The problem for Australia is that they now realise, as Steve Waugh has stressed this week, that they need to bounce back from this setback sooner rather than later. Waugh revealed, quite sensibly, that “if we come away from India having lost 2-0, it will affect our form going into The Ashes“. The longer the period of time that elapses without this win coming, the more pressure will be heaped on the shoulders of the players and the more difficult it will become to bounce back.
November
5-7 v Western Australia, Perth
Play starts at 0230 GMT
11-13 v South Australia, Adelaide
Play starts at 2330 GMT (10-12 December)
17-20 v Australia A, Hobart
Play starts at 2330 GMT (16-19 December)
25-29 1st Test, Brisbane
Play starts at 0000 GMT
December
3-7 2nd Test, Adelaide
Play starts at 2330 GMT (2-6 December)
10-12 v Victoria, Melbourne
Play starts at 0000 GMT
16-20 3rd Test, Perth
Play starts at 0230 GMT
26-30 4th Test, Melbourne
Play starts at 0000 GMT
January
3-7 5th Test, Sydney
Play starts at 0000 GMT
10 v Prime Minister’s XI, Canberra
Play starts at 2245 GMT (9 January)
12 1st Twenty20 international, Adelaide (d/n)
Play starts at 0835 GMT
14 2nd Twenty20 international, Melbourne (d/n)
Play starts at 0835 GMT
16 1st ODI, Melbourne (d/n)
Play starts at 0320 GMT
21 2nd ODI, Hobart (d/n)
Play starts at 0320 GMT
23 3rd ODI, Sydney (d/n)
Play starts at 0320 GMT
26 4th ODI, Adelaide (d/n)
Play starts at 0320 GMT
30 5th ODI, Brisbane (d/n)
Play starts at 0320 GMT
February
2 6th ODI, Sydney (d/n)
Play starts at 0320 GMT
6 7th ODI, Perth
Play starts at 0320 GMT
Latest Changes to the rules of Cricket
MCC has introduced eight amendments or clarifications to the Laws of Cricket which come into effect today. The changes are aimed at providing more fairness to both sides and reducing the amount of playing time lost.
Bad light
Umpires will no longer offer the light Umpires will now be the sole arbiters of whether play should continue in poor light. The batting side will no longer have any say in the decision, which was often made for tactical reasons.
The toss
At least one umpire will also now be required to attend the toss and the winning captain must notify his counterpart of his decision to bat or field immediately.
Previously, captains could wait until ten minutes before the start of the game, but in some cases this was being exploited to the losing side’s disadvantage – and therefore contravened the Spirit of Cricket.
Increased fairness
Other Law changes aimed at achieving more fairness between the teams include:
Practice beyond the boundaries
The new laws keep pace with the rate of change in cricket Fielders will no longer be able to practice with a twelfth man or coach outside the boundary during a game, as this affords them an opportunity to prepare that is not granted to the batsmen in the middle.
Fielding athleticism
Twenty20 cricket has contributed to increasingly athletic fielding standards, and MCC strives to ensure the Laws deal with the challenges posed by the modern game.
Now, a fielder’s first contact with the ball must be within the boundary or, if his is airborne, when his last contact with the ground was within the field of play. He may subsequently step outside the rope, but a four or six will be scored if he makes further contact with the ball whilst grounded outside the boundary.
Rare dismissals
Mike Hussey was almost dismissed by the broken part of his bat against England at Lord’s The two final Law changes deal with very rare forms of dismissal. Law 28.1 has been amended so, if a batsman’s bat breaks in the act of playing a shot and the broken part of the bat hits the stumps, he will now be out.
A new sub-section has been added to Law 29.1 to protect a batsman who is well in his ground – for example a sprinting batsman who has run past his stumps – but whose feet and bat happen to be in the air as the bails are removed. He will now be deemed to be in.
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