Job done against Sri Lanka in the Test series, South Africa now need to work on their consistency, says Kepler Wessels, writing in Supersport.com.

As a collective unit during the Cape Town test match the South African players displayed the ruthless approach that they are searching for on a regular basis. They executed their disciplines well and, apart from a few blemishes in the field, the coaching staff will be happy with the way that the test unit finished off the domestic summer.

As South Africa attempt a huge chase in Durban, Neil Manthorp says, on SuperSport.com, that they need a hero. He points to Gary Kirsten's 275 in Durban in 1999, which he says saved Kirsten's career, and says perhaps one of the members of the current team who are under pressure should take the approach Kirsten did in that game: that it is better to accept one's fate and just bat calmly in the hope of going out on a high.

The difficulty for the likes of Jacques Rudolph, Ashwell Prince and Mark Boucher is that a white-knuckled, intense determination is unlikely to help them as they contemplate the dreadful, personal consequences of failure in the second innings. Instead, like Kirsten did at the end of 1999, they will be better served by coming to terms with the reality that all good things come to an end. Their best chance of ensuring that it doesn’t happen will be to be at peace with their fate when they walk out to bat sometime in the next two days.

In an interview to the Sunday Island, Dr Ali Bacher, the former South Africa captain and one of the country's most recognisable cricket administrators, talks about the pain of isolation from the 1970s, the 2003 World Cup, Hansie Cronje, the dangers of IPL excess and more.

I think more players out of the sub-continent will be attracted to India because of the money. The responsibility of playing for the country could become a problem. In addition, I am very happy that the seniors and the best players of the world earn lot of money. What I have seen is that a lot of young players and inexperienced players are earning good money and I don’t think it’s good for their future development.

Batting or bowling, Jacques Kallis has the numbers to prove that he's one of the all time greats, even if does not always gives the impression that he belongs in that pantheon, says the Old Batsman in his blog.

As an all-rounder, he has a batting average that dwarfs Flintoff's, along with 46 more wickets at the same price. Hadlee, Botham, Imran and Kapil have outbowled him, but Kallis has 10 more hundreds than all of them put together. And Sobers? Well Sobers can match that average, but nothing else. Kallis has sustained it for another 4,000 runs, has scored 14 more centuries and has 35 more wickets at cheaper cost.

So what is it about Jacques that leaves him so ill-considered by the wider world? Botham, Imran and Kapil lifted their countries, raised them up ... Kallis has been less overtly heroic. The South African methods of winning have been to grind relentlessly from a position of advantage. Kallis is not a victory from the jaws of defeat merchant; the greatest deeds of Botham, Imran and Kapil had a context that Kallis's often don't.

In a South Africa dressing room that has tended to value experience and consistency over youth and flair, the selection of Vernon Philander and Imran Tahir to play the first Test against Australia at Newlands represents a significant departure from the norm, writes Telford Vice in BusinessDay.

The inclusion of Philander and Tahir marked the first time that a Proteas Test team has featured two debutants since Wayne Parnell and Ryan McLaren cracked the nod in the fourth Test against England at the Wanderers in Johannesburg last January, which was 11 Tests ago.

That, in turn, highlights a point that is particularly pertinent in the modern SA. Unlike Parnell and McLaren, Philander and Tahir are both players of colour although the latter hardly counts because he was born and raised in Pakistan.

Writing on supersport.com Kepler Wessels says that South Africa are in safe hands with Gary Kirsten at the helm. His appointment as national coach, especially when South Africa are in a transition phase, will be a challenge but he has been around the block enough as a player and also as an international coach to make a success of a difficult job.

The South African situation is also a restless one at the moment and hopefully Kirsten can create the same stable situation here that he did in India. The challenge for Kirsten will be to assess the South African situation equally quickly in order to come up with a formula that will bring out the best in the individual players and the team collectively.

It's important to look at what sort of coach South Africa need, rather than simply who the best coach on offer is, says Tristan Holme, writing in Cricket 365. And, Holme says, Kirsten is that man.

As Dale Steyn said recently, the Proteas weren't "out-skilled or outplayed" by New Zealand in that [World Cup] quarter-final. Instead they were 'psyched out', to use terminology from the daft yet discerning movie Baseketball ... Given the above, it's fair to say that South Africa need a good shrink more than they need someone with masses of insight into individuals' techniques.

... They do need someone who won't simply be a buddy in the way that Mickey Arthur was in some respects guilty of. Taking all of this into account it's perfectly clear who the obvious choice is, provided he wants the job. Gary Kirsten has shown with India that he can be as much a mentor as a coach, which is often what is required at international level.

Kepler Wessels, writing in Super Sport, says the appointment of South Africa's next coach comes at an important time for their cricket, and evaluates the four options on the cards.

What will it be this time? Will it be an appointment of a stand-alone coach who will be tasked to stamp his authority on the team and the captain, or will it be the other way round where the coach will once again be moulded by the senior players.

That approach hasn't worked. It may be time to evaluate the merits of the candidates on a stand-alone basis and decide who will make the best contribution in taking the team forward. Also, if for some reason Kirsten doesn't take the job and the appointment committee decides that they are unsure, there is nothing wrong in appointing a caretaker coach for a while.

There's been a great deal written about South Africa's troublesome history when it comes to high-pressure situations in the aftermath of the spluttering quarter-final loss to New Zealand, a great deal of it critical. The players have borne the brunt of the criticism, writes Neil Manthorp in the Mail & Guardian, but what about the less-than-perfect administrators behind the scenes?

Like foot soldiers being held accountable for the failure of military strategy, Graeme Smith and his players face the guns alone while the generals sit behind teak desks in oak-panelled offices. There is no apparent accountability among the most senior of Cricket South Africa (CSA) executives. The chief executive, Gerald Majola, recently celebrated his 10th anniversary in the job (a press release was even issued to commemorate the occasion) while the executive board dutifully supports and endorses his every decision.

Administrative executives in South African cricket have never been held accountable for on-field performances, yet the office, surely, is as important as the grass when it comes to running a successful, multimillion-rand sports business.

In the same newspaper's Sports Leader blog, Adam Wakefield pins the blame for South Africa's ignominious defeat on the quirks of the national psyche and urges fans to rally round the team rather than abandon them.

Rob Houwing, a former editor of SA Sports Illustrated and now chief editor at Sport24 perhaps said it best when it comes to describing how we should feel about the Proteas following the 2011 World Cup: “Still, I don’t believe this South Africa group, who overwhelmingly gave it their all and then some, deserve a rotten-tomato welcome home. Let’s be gentlemen and ladies. Let’s all take it on the conk, just as GC Smith and company are having to. And move on. Or at least bloody try to.”

As a nation attempts to come to terms with yet another World Cup disappointment, in The Times Live Luke Alfred searches for the reasons behind South Africa's nervous capitulations. The problems, he believes, are psychological.

Not for the first time, the Proteas were unable to scale an awkward peak when they had sometimes managed to scale peaks far higher. In a creepy repeat of the England game in Chennai, a challenging, but by no means impossible, target initially seemed within their scope. Then wickets crashed, the ball softened, and panic set in. Psychologists call it the return of the repressed.

Suddenly all of the team's demons stood alongside them out in the middle. With little horns and red tails, they mocked their every move and watched perversely as they bottled it.

Rob Houwing, writing on Sport 24, says JP Duminy is over the 'difficult second album syndrome' he suffered after making a major name for himself on South Africa’s momentous tour of Australia two years ago.

Just as pleasing has been the way Duminy responded to his rush of blood in the Bullring: by knuckling down for three meaningful scores on the trot at the key business end of the series when the Proteas came from behind to win 3-2. It is interesting to note that he faced all of 175 balls over the course of those three knocks at Newlands, St George’s Park and SuperSport Park and only recorded six boundaries. Yet his strike rates remained excellent, especially on the first two occasions – 88 in the innings of 52 and 98 in the score of 71 not out. Duminy is probably as good as anyone in the ODI game at present at “working the ball around from the off”, as they say, and running purposefully between the wickets.

From introducing a system through which the budding stars can start bowling 140kmh within six months, to ensuring that they have the proper hair-do, Fanie de Villiers has a wide range of plans if he gets a chance to be a bowling coach or consultant. That and more in his interview with D Dutta of gulfnews.com.

"First of all, I do not know what purpose do Ishant Sharma's long hairs serve. If I become the bowling coach of India, the first thing I would ask him is to cut his hair short. He does not look like a cricketer to me. You know, that's the basic thing, you need to look like a cricketer first. Batting or bowling comes after that."

In a free-wheeling interview with Aditya Iyer of the Indian Express, Herschelle Gibbs reveals the reason why he decided to pen his controversial autobiography, his darkest moment, his finest hour and his take on "dropping the World Cup".

“It never happened. It’s actually a rumour. I don’t remember him saying, ‘Hersch, you just dropped the World Cup mate.’ I asked Gilly about it many years later, during my stint with the Deccan Chargers, and he told me that Waugh was just the kind of guy to go ahead with the rumour. If Australia wouldn’t have won the World Cup, you would have never heard of it, because it isn’t true."

Pat Symcox, who was once the face of South Africa’s spinning unit in the 90s, is now the poster-boy of Remax — the country’s largest real-estate franchise. Aditya Iyer of the Indian Express catches up with him.

In the Business Day, Telford Vice says legspinner Imran Tahir will be faced with a South African cricket setup that has been too conservative to accept the creativity of wrist spinners.

The last time South Africans took wrist- spin bowling seriously, Guglielmo Marconi was months away from sending radio waves across the Atlantic. The year was 1907, and the wrist-spinners concerned were Bert Vogler, Reggie Schwarz, Aubrey Faulkner and Gordon White, who went to England with Percy Sherwell’s SA team. That’s right: a Test team from this country that included four leg-spinners. Better than that, they were the stars of the attack, taking 40 of the 51 wickets that SA claimed in the three Tests. Vogler and Faulkner alone accounted for 29 wickets.

Two things make Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel such a lethal new-ball duo, says S Ram Mahesh in the latest edition of Sportstar. Firstly, their styles complement each other, and secondly, they are individually “physical freaks.” Steyn’s endurance is tremendous considering how fast he bowls, while very few tall men bowl as fast as Morkel does.

Steyn and Morkel have the natural chemistry every successful partnership has. Sir Len Hutton once said of Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller that you couldn't pick a fight with one of them, for you'd have both at your throat. There's a similar sense to how Steyn and Morkel operate. Not only do their methods complement each other — Steyn's skiddy pace and late swing and Morkel's sheer speed and abrupt lift — they work on batsmen together. You need look only at how they roughed up and removed Michael Hussey in concert to understand this.

Neil Manthorp looks ahead to India’s tour of South Africa by focusing on the off-field issues in both countries. India’s coach Gary Kirsten has found a way to work within the Indian system and get rid of some of the unnecessary media attention, while the financial murk surrounding Cricket South Africa is deterring sponsors, he writes in the Mail & Guardian

Somehow, Kirsten has found a way to work with the Board of Control for Cricket in India's administrators when all others, Indian and foreign, had endured far more conflict than cooperation. His "secret" is very simple and an old strategy. He sells his best ideas to the "big men" in the boardroom as being theirs and then allows them to take the credit when they succeed.

Hashim Amla has been on a tear in 2010, especially in one-day cricket, collecting centuries like they were cheap stamps. At the same time, he has not allowed his stellar individual form to go to his head, writes Patrick Compton in IOL Sport

It would be putting it fairly mildly to say that Amla is not a great self-publicist and certainly does not pay court to the local and international media. Sometimes it’s hard to pin him down for an interview unless it’s strictly about cricket within a structured media environment.

I asked him why. “Look, the media notice things, good and bad and of course they write them up. I’m always hesitant to talk too much about things when they’re going well, because you know that cricket is a game of swings and roundabouts. You’re either going up or down. In that sense it keeps you honest all the time.”

Writing for Times Live, Luke Alfred isn't happy with Graeme Smith's captaincy and thinks he needs to be more attacking.

We are too conservative and too predictable and Smith inclines to captaincy-by-numbers. This doesn't matter when you are playing a demoralised Zimbabwe, but it might matter in a World Cup quarterfinal.

In a World Cup knockout match it will be tense and the elephant in the dressing room will be getting bigger by the over. In such a situation you need to be brave and adventurous rather than allow a painful fear of losing to dictate your choices.

When Kevin Pietersen last played for KwaZulu Natal, in 1999/2000, his main trade was offspin and he normally batted at No. 10. Now, as he returns to the country he once left for greener pastures, a lot has changed - both personally for Pietersen, and for South African cricket. Rob Houwing, writing in sport24.co.za, notes the irony.

The Dolphins team Pietersen “guests” for pretty shortly will be light years more representative, when you consider that a 20-man squad announced for the campaign recently contains at least a dozen black players and Imraan Khan as captain.

Just as tellingly, though, the South African national landscape, certainly as far as Tests are concerned, was arguably less promising then than it is now: Australia remained very imperiously atop the pile a decade back, whereas the situation is altogether more fluid these days, with the Proteas potentially poised to seize top spot if they beat current leaders India at home this season and also prosper in the lead-up to that series.

Writing on Sport24.com, Rob Houwing says Graeme Smith made the right move in stepping down from Twenty20 captaincy.

To old-schoolers of cricket who count themselves as partial Twenty20 cynics, at least, Graeme Smith’s announcement on Wednesday that he was stepping down as national captain in that arena would hardly have got pulses doof-doofing at a raised rate. It was tempting, certainly on the part of this writer, to equate it with notice that Mr GC Smith no longer intended having chopped banana atop his corn flakes for breakfast.

In slightly more serious vein, though, I would not be so foolhardy as to under-value the significance of the move by the big left-handed “Biff”.

Following the recent death of Eric Tindill, who played rugby and cricket for New Zealand, South Africa's Norman Gordon is now the oldest surviving Test cricketer, having celebrated his 99th birthday at a cocktail party at the Houghton Golf Club. Gordon recollects his short Test career and the Timeless Test of 1939 which was to be his last. Kevin McCallum of the Independent Online has more.

"I was known as a guy who had incredible stamina," said Gordon. "I could bowl all day long, 20 overs in a spell. This was Durban in summer and I had sweated so much that my pants were stuck to my legs and my shirt was drenched. That wicket was so hard and flat, it was like glass. We struggled to get purchase with our boots and we wore the really long spikes in those days."

The New Zealand Herald says the trend of southern African cricketers making the transition into the New Zealand ranks looks set to continue over the coming year as three more players - Zimbabwean allrounder Colin de Grandhomme, and South Africans Neil Wagner and Kruger van Wyk - switch nationalities.

Former South African first-class representative Kruger van Wyk (30) is now eligible for the Black Caps and looks poised to have a crack at making the test side as a wicketkeeper, provided he can force his way into the Central Districts line-up ahead of veteran Bevan Griggs.

Former Zimbabwe under-19 and now Auckland all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme (23) will be cleared to play by the start of this season while left-arm pace bowler Neil Wagner (24) will have fulfilled his residency qualifications by the end of the season after playing provincially in South Africa and having a couple of stints as the Proteas' 12th man.

The advent of JP Duminy forced Ashwell Price out of South Africa's middle order and into the opening spot, a role that he did not relish. The stodgy left-hand batsman talks to iol.co.za about being forced to play in an unfamiliar role, and hopes to return to his favoured No. 6 spot.

"I've always felt when I play for my country that I'm going to war, and it was so disappointing to be consigned to the scrapheap like that.

"They asked me to play a completely different role. For 15 years I'd batted in the middle order and shown my value there. Then suddenly I've got to learn a new role, and you wonder how, if they know you're valuable in the middle order, they can make you an opener, where you haven't played before."

Jonty Rhodes, in his blog for standardbankcricket.com, is impressed by the early signs from David Miller, and full of praise for the way Hashim Amla has evolved in the South Africa set-up. He is however sceptical of Roelof van der Merwe's credentials as the second spinner.

Young David Miller certainly looks the part of an international cricketer just two games into his career and South Africa still have one of the most potent bowling attacks in the world. Kallis and De Villiers would be the envy of most major nations in the middle order and Graeme Smith remains a formidable leader despite the nagging and often unmerited criticism from his detractors.

But the most remarkable success story in recent months, as far as I’m concerned, is Hashim Amla. Despite his undoubted talent, most fans still had their hearts in their mouths when he came to the crease for fear that his unusual technique would lead to an early demise.

Now, he brings to the crease a sense of certainty and reliability that makes all of us feel confident of a good start. I can’t easily recall an opening partnership before Smith and Amla that inspired as much confidence as those to when they walk out together.

It is never fun seeing a really good player suffering. But I believe the time has come for JP Duminy to be put out of his misery and allowed to retreat to some intensive, out-of-competition technical assistance to cobble his game back together, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24.

Admittedly in the limited-overs arena, in particular, a string of low scores can be deceptive: Duminy bats in the middle order and has been commendably unselfish in sacrificing his wicket when there’s a late-innings slog on. That has been apparent a couple of times on the current, extended South African sojourn in the Caribbean, and especially in the Proteas’ dismal ICC World Twenty20 campaign, where he was one of several players who suffered from unacceptably torpid tempos at the top of the order and the haywire that can cause for the soldiers stationed lower down it. But we also can’t use that indefinitely as a mitigating shield to protect Duminy.

The soul-searching continues in the wake of another South African failure in a World Cup. Rob Houwing, writing in Sport24.co.za, thinks it’s time to ease some of the seniors out of the Twenty20 squad and bring in some fresh blood.

I feel a very significant Proteas freshening is advisable at T20 level, something that could pay dividends for the other two formats at the same time in the way it would curb the threat of some of South Africa’s more seasoned “treadmillers” from becoming blasé about donning a national shirt.

Just how genuinely motivated can someone like Kallis get, for instance, for another low-gravitas T20 international when he has represented his country on no fewer than 450 occasions? (For the record, 137 Tests, 298 ODIs and 15 T20Is.)

Altus Momberg writes in supersport.com that the South African playerspoor form in the IPL is jeopardising the national side's preparations for the World Twenty20 tournament.

It was hoped beforehand that the majority of the national players would get regular game time in the IPL so that it would serve as ideal preparation for the World tournament. However, the opposite has transpired, with the likes of AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher and JP Duminy spectators in the IPL.

In his analysis of South Africa's ODI squad for the tour of West Indies, Sport24 writer Rob Houwing expresses his concern at the lack of finishers in the list.

While I do appreciate the dilemma consistently faced because Albie Morkel’s bowling has become something not far off a liability in run-concession terms, I might personally not have been so swift to remove the Titans player entirely from the plans, given his proven ability to give the ball an old-fashioned “bliksem”, if you like, at the end of an innings.

Or, if no Morkel, my temptation would have been to go the whole hog and restore Justin Kemp not only to T20 contention, as has just happened, but also to the ODI mix for the West Indies, where his wobbly little seamers on spongy surfaces could aid the cause for four or five overs and his ability to go “long” at the crease is not in any question.

Run through the South African squad and you may fear, as I do, that batting momentum could suddenly “stop” after Mark Boucher’s deployment at No 7 or sometimes even six.

Every time Jacques Kallis falls short of the 200 barrier in Test cricket I think of the adage that opportunities have to be taken when they present themselves – and remember an afternoon in Bulawayo in September 2001, writes Colin Bryden on Sport24.

All it needed was a few lusty blows by Kallis to reach his double century but although he batted well enough he didn’t change gear against an unthreatening attack and when the declaration could no longer be delayed he was on 189 not out, scored off 443 balls.

It remains his highest Test score – and South Africa claimed only three wickets before the match fizzled out. Kallis finished the series with a remarkable 388 runs without being dismissed, having batted for 1 028 minutes. It is a notable record and there can be no doubt that Kallis belongs in the pantheon of great cricketers ... But I often wonder what that record would have been like if he had just chanced his arm just a little more in Bulawayo all those years ago. Maybe he would have peeled off double tons as regularly as Graeme Smith, who has reached the mark four times.

Having just quit as South Africa coach, Mickey Arthur has vowed to get up at 5.30 am and watch every ball when his country takes on India in Nagpur. In his column in the Hindustan Times, he says he is missing the buzz and excitement that a Test series always provides, but on the other he has realised how much his life has been consumed by the job.

For five years Graeme and I had a belief that if you started a Test stronger than the opposition, you had more chance of finishing it strongly. We always felt that the first hour set the tone for the match, we believed it was easier to win a Test by taking the lead early rather than having to come from behind.

Sport24's chief writer Rob Houwing interviewed Craig Matthews, who played 18 Tests and 56 ODIs for South Africa and was recently relieved of his position as a national selector in a clear-out of the whole panel. In the first part of the interview, Matthews speaks about the pressure from the national board, the race issue, and development at the grassroots level.

When the country picks U13, U15, U17 sides, they are generally on merit and there are a lot of black Africans. What happens between that point and franchise cricket? And for those who get there, are these guys being advanced as they should within their franchises? How are we going to ensure, amidst the reality of it being 2010 in South Africa, that nine times out of 10 we can pick a player who is, indeed, good enough? That’s where you need more attention, more money being thrown at the problem, even … it’s better than the present landscape where people are being fired left, right and centre because nobody really knows (the true requirements).

Click here for the second part of the interview.

In the Independent Online, Patrick Compton looks into six key questions surrounding the resignation of South Africa coach Mickey Arthur. Some of his conclusions are: that Arthur was told he would be sacked if he didn't resign, that the captain-coach relationship was not a factor, that transformation was the decisive issue and that whoever the new South Africa coach is can expect more pressure to include black players.

Also read the interview of former South Africa captain and former managing director of the South African board, Ali Bacher, in the Kolkata-based Telegraph. Bacher says the underlying issue is the inability to find a black successor to Makhaya Ntini, whose Test days seem to be over.

And in the Times, Simon Wilde writes that shoehorning Lonwabo Tsotsobe (the black player with the best credentials for making Graeme Smith's side) into the Test team at this stage would hurt both South Africa and Tsotsobe. He says the big challenge is in spreading cricket culture in the South Africa's interior areas.

Although itself plagued by injuries, Indian cricket will be watching the events unfolding in South Africa with amusement. Injuries heal, broken bones mend, bad backs improve, but the sort of self-inflicted hurt South African cricket has suffered can take years to remedy, writes Peter Roebuck in the Hindu.

In a trice South African cricket has lost its coaching staff and the entire selection committee. So much for stability! So much for the intelligent development of the game in a new dispensation! ... Admittedly the team had not won any silverware. For some reason the South Africans tighten up in finals. Perhaps it all means too much to them, stops being a match and becomes a mission. It is a heavy load for sportsmen to carry.

Graeme Smith wishes he could quit, but he can't. He's been trying to quit for the past two years, but each attempt has been rebuffed by his own conscience and decent upbringing. He'll probably carry on trying to give up caring what people think about him until the day he gives up playing, and he'll probably keep on failing, writes Neil Manthorp in the Mail and Guardian.

After Mickey Arthur vacated the South African coaching post, Ryan Hoffmann looks at the likely replacements in the Mail & Guardian. He puts interim coach Corie van Zyl and former captain Kepler Wessels as frontrunners.

When news of Arthur's departure first broke, Wessels was the first name being bandied about as a possible replacement. The former Proteas skipper has a no-nonsense reputation and is not afraid to voice his opinions, most notably on Graeme Smith's early days as captain of the national team. He has not had a great deal of success as a coach, both at English county Northamptonshire or in the Indian Premier League, but his technical knowledge of the game makes him a serious contender for the job.

In the Independent Online Kevin McCallum says the theory being floated that Graeme Smith engineered Arthur's downfall must be dismissed. He also wonders why it was so easy for some of the media and the general public to blame Smith.

Smith committed the horror sin of accepting the captaincy at the age of 22, taking over from the much-loved Shaun Pollock. Mothers wanted their daughters to marry Polly, fathers wanted their sons to bowl like him; then came along this young, brash fellow who took the world head on, dated a super model and was not afraid of confrontation. Smith is resented because he seems so sure of himself, because he scores his runs in such an ugly manner, and at such a rapid rate. This fear of confidence in South Africa is utterly bizarre. The perception of Smith is based more on emotion than the make-up of the man.

After attending the press conference confirming Arthur's exit, Neil Manthorp writes in Business Day that the controversial issue of 'transformation' never came up in it. He also says that the sacked selectors also had no official or unofficial guidelines on quotas for national selection.

So the executive committee decided to replace Arthur and sack the selectors. But who are the committee? What gives them that right? And what are they doing to help the lack of transformation?

It seems churlish to single anybody out, but let us take a couple of examples at random: brilliant businessman Lazarus Zim is president of Gauteng and therefore a member of the executive. Gauteng has two black franchise players — Thami Tsolekile, purchased from Cape Town, and Aaron Phangiso, nabbed from Northerns. It does not have a single locally produced black player — with Soweto next door.

The removal of the selection panel suggests that the quota system could soon make a return, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

The immediacy of Arthur’s resignation – it had not yet come from the horse’s mouth as this was penned – caught me off-guard, as it would have most. His actually doing it, in the aftermath of South Africa’s rather shaky, split-personality home summer? Not quite so much, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24.

Coaching or captaining this country, with the unique factors and needs that accompany it, is a particularly exhausting responsibility, and this against a universal backdrop which suggests more and more that coaches in professional sport have definite “shelf-lives” anyway.

Speaking of captaincy, if it is true that Arthur’s relationship with Graeme Smith had “deteriorated irreparably”, it is remarkable in some ways how the latter continues to prosper in his portfolio – he has now outlasted several coaches, including the indelicate taskmaster Jennings and affable “diplomats” in Arthur and Eric Simons.

On Sport24, Houwing also ponders who will succeed Arthur as South Africa coach. Corrie van Zyl? Gary Kirsten? Duncan Fletcher? Kepler Wessels?

Wessels was once not shy to castigate Smith’s team for talking a good game, rather than delivering it, although spats have lessened parallel to the Proteas learning to break the tape more routinely, especially at Test level.

And just maybe the sort of challenge Wessels would pose is what Smith needs, whether he realises it or not, at this juncture. The latter has been at his post for a long time, and there must be the risk of leadership “fatigue” or some degree of apathy and ambivalence setting in.

Barend Prins believes that Arthur’s exit offers a good chance to get some new blood into the set-up. Writing in sport.iafrica.com, he believes that Allan Donald, if he can be conviced to take up the role, is the best man to don the role of bowling coach.

Having arguably this country's greatest ever bowler involved closely with speedsters Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel can only be a good thing, but just imagine how much of an influence he can have on the current 'golden boy' of South African cricket, Wayne Parnell. Donald seems to have become something of an expert in the biomechanics of fast bowling since hanging up his boots as well.

Though Mickey Arthur's decision to quit is yet to be confirmed by the South African board, the opinion writers have already started work. In iol.co.za, Kevin McCallum says he will be missed but he had run the average lifespan of an international coach.

Arthur perhaps didn't love the stress and tension that came with the job (who would?), but he revelled in being involved in the highs and lows that the national team has romped through since he was appointed in May 2005. If he was hurt by the suggestions that his nickname was Mickey Mouse and he was no more than Smith's puppet, then Arthur didn't show it.

With Arthur quitting as South Africa coach, Kepler Wessels' name quickly leapt to the forefront of speculative replacement lists. His similarities with captain Graeme Smith leads Rob Houwing in Sport24.com to believe a potent combination was in the offing.

The mere arrival of Wessels would probably quell that swiftly, and it is possible that some of his known non-negotiables – like personal discipline and devotion to conditioning – would help propel Smith and company beyond just sporadic major triumph but also to the ability to bed down emphatically at pinnacles rather than visit them disappointingly fleetingly.

Clive Rice, in an interview with the Sunday Times, talks about the best and the worst moments of his career. He captained South Africa on their first international tour after apartheid, to India, and the reception given to his team, he says, was among best experiences.

We had to stop every 400m and get out of the coach to do some more speaking to the public. It was an incredible welcome. There must have been about 6,000 people outside the hotel to catch a glimpse of the players climbing onto the team bus. I had to pinch myself when 100,000 people came to watch our game in Kolkata.

No sportsman in South Africa unites the nation as much as Makhaya Ntini does, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent, and there is much to celebrate when he plays his 100th Test on December 16. However, with the football team struggling and rugby union lacking the emotive pull of cricket, who will emerge as the next Ntini and what are South African authorities - both government as well as those associated with cricket - doing to find one?

There are two other major team sports in South Africa: football and rugby union. The former is the sport of the black man and the country is suffering from World Cup fever because of the event which will take place here next year. But the team is faultering and it does not bridge the divide as cricket does. Similarly rugby union, although it has a greater black representation than cricket, does not possess the emotive pull of cricket in this society for all its popularity.

When Ntini departs there will be a gap. The government and Cricket South Africa will insist that it is filled sooner rather than later. A national cricket team consisting of white and coloured players is not seen to be representative of the rainbow nation.

Paul Weaver, like Brenkley, makes a trip to Ntini's Eastern Cape Village of Mdingi, and tries to find out the steps being taken to find the successor to South Africa's first black Test cricketer. Read his article in the Guardian.

	Makhaya Ntini is set to play his 100th Test next week © Getty Images

The journey started with a scholarship to the all-white enclave of Dale College, a sporting mecca in an exclusive part of the Eastern Cape, when Ntini was 14. By the time he left, he spoke serviceable English, and his frenzied, Malcolm Marshall-esque action had been honed into something repeatable by the school's coaching team ... Even now, you can still see traces of his home-grown method in the way he jumps out wide of the crease – a legacy of the spiked boots that used to disagree with King William's Town's concrete pitches. Yet this quirk has worked to his advantage, setting batsmen a different geometrical conundrum to the one they face every day.

Tough and talented, South Africa have taken their inspiration from their captain to become the world's best Test team. Duncan Fletcher, who has ties with both England and South Africa, writes in his Guardian column that Graeme Smith's work ethic guarantees England will be tested to the limit.

What impressed me most when I was with the team before the Champions Trophy was their work ethic. You had to see it to believe it. Coming out of a chill winter, Potchefstroom was a hot place to be training and they ran themselves off their feet. They set themselves some seriously high standards, and a lot of that comes from Smith and his excellent relationship with the coach, Mickey Arthur. They do not treat nets as just another bit of practice – everything they do is designed to take their game forward. It shows in the side's fielding, which is excellent. That's one area where I expect them to have an advantage over England.

In Independent Online, Kevin McCallum tries to get his head around the innovations in South Africa's new and improved domestic one-day competition, the MTN40, which has two Powerplays (with strings attached), a strategic break and a rolling substitute.

There will be three Power Plays, which have capital letters in the official press release, thus making them more powerful than playful. The first PP must be taken during the first 10 overs and the final two by the batting side at any time except from the 35th over onwards ... Teams will be able to use all 12 players at, if I have got this entirely right, any time during the match. So, if, say, Albie Morkel is chucking down juicy beef pies, the coach or captain can call him off the field and replace him with the 12th man, who will be wearing an armband to let every one know that he is indeed the 12th man.

South Africa's go-to-guy of the 90s Brian McMillan is now a businessman and selector of rugby club Villagers, watching his youngest son play the sport that was his first love. In an interview with the South Africa-based Times, McMillan talks about life post-retirement, playing the Australians and famous people he'd like to invite for dinner.

He recalled an incident when he waved a pistol at Border after a tough morning in the field. "I got him [Border] out ... I was walking to the changeroom at lunchtime and I saw this security bloke walking past with a gatt (pistol). I asked him for it and he said, 'What do you want to do with it?' I said, 'I want to shoot an Aussie.'" Assuring the astounded guard that he wasn't seriously contemplating shooting anybody, he persuaded him to take out the bullets and give him the weapon. McMillan then walked into the Australian dressing room, waving it around. The sight of the armed McMillan caused the startled Australians to scarper. "It was all tongue-in-cheek," is how McMillan remembers it. "We always got on well, there was no animosity or aggression between us.We were very competitive in the field. We didn't hold grudges. But I wouldn't do the stunt with the gun in the modern era."

He's trimmed down, he's hungry to do more, and he's not not taking lightly the old “who ate all the pies?” jibe about South Africa. Thats Graeme Smith in focus, who spoke to the website Sport24's Rob Houwing about his renewed desire to play for South Africa for “five or six more years”. Smith has enjoyed the relative rarity of a meaningful off-season and hit the gym hard, emerging noticeably lean and mean.

“I’ve been working hard here with Rob Walter, the new SA fitness trainer, and with the people at Province. “So it feels like I’m back as an 18- or 19-year-old again, grafting hard. But I really want to give myself the best opportunity to play for five or six years more for South Africa. I want to be fit enough to achieve that.”

Wanderers' international status has been restored after Cricket South Africa and the Gauteng board came to an agreement but by stripping a major venue of its matches, rescheduling them to other venues, and then miraculously restoring them again to the original one shows little respect for the people who pay to attend matches, writes Rodney Hartman on Independent Online.

... the Members Forum is Cricket South Africa's 20-person committee that largely comprises the presidents of all its affiliates. They are a bunch of, shall we say, members, and apparently should not have been involved in the first place in CSA's fight with the Gauteng Cricket Board. In fact, there is a strong suspicion that some of these members couldn't organise a push-up in a gym, but there they were a month ago casting what Dr Nyoka calls the mecca of South African cricket into the wildnerness. On Wednesday, by all accounts, the Members Forum was nowhere to be seen when CSA announced that the issues with the GCB had been amicably resolved. It raises the question of the actual role of the Members Forum and, more precisely, of who pulls their strings.

Mickey Arthur, in an interview with Kolkata's Telegraph, says that fours years of coaching South Africa has been a treat and a major accomplishment. He credits his hitting it off with Graeme Smith as crucial to his job and his relationship with the team, and admits that everything he does is with a transformation bias. Excerpts:

How have you handled pressure?

(Smiles) It has been an enjoyable journey... I’ve grown as an individual and I’ve seen respect for me grow... When I got the job, it was ‘Mickey who’?... It’s rather different now... I see myself as a cricket thinker and my degree is cricket... I backed myself when I got the job and I’ve continued to back myself. Pressure comes with the territory.

The captain, quite clearly, is the boss...

Ultimately it’s the captain, yes... Of course, the coach too is accountable. Within the South African team, Graeme and I are clear about responsibilities... I run the show till the match-eve team meeting, Graeme takes over from there. I become his assistant.

Benedict Bermange, in a guest column on the Supersport website, traces South Africa's knack of producing top-quality allrounders to Aubrey Faulkner, who, a century ago, was establishing himself in the national team.

Since the first Test of all was played in March 1877, a total of 65 different men have found their way to the top of the ICC Player Rankings for batsmen. Furthermore, there have been 73 players who have topped the bowling charts. However, only one man’s name appears on both lists – and it will come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the all-rounder rankings of late to discover that he is a South African.
.....
In fact, the only man to achieve this feat was just establishing himself in the South African team exactly one hundred years ago and his name was Aubrey Faulkner.

The re-building process the South African one-day side are undergoing has one major bolt loose at the top of the batting, but how to tighten it is proving to be a test of patience for the coaching staff and selectors.

So determined are the South Africans that Herschelle Gibbs will at some stage make a return to his best form that they are willing to overlook lengthy bouts of inconsistency. Stuart Hess in iol.co.za wonders whether this risk is worth taking?

The 64 he made in the third ODI against Australia in Sydney contained some breathtaking strokeplay...but innings' like those have been few and far between, though.

And there's a sense that Gibbs is living off past deeds and not playing with the requisite form needed to hold on to a national spot.

Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, likes what he sees in South Africa’s line-up for the third Test against Australia in Cape Town. Four of the top six batsmen will be non-white, which Roebuck calls a “remarkable achievement”.

And it has been effected without a bloody revolution. The rise of the current crop confirms that the game is rising in all groupings - only the English have fallen back, largely because many South Africans have moved to England or Perth. It'll take more than a few bombs in Mumbai and Lahore to defeat cricket's cosmopolitan ideal.

Apart from the statistics — besides what we see of him on the field and glimpse in a TV commercial — what do we really know of Jacques Kallis the man, asks Archie Henderson in South Africa's Times.

Kallis has been something of a genius at keeping his life outside of cricket private. The odd dalliance with a model has emerged in the press, but that would have had more to do with the lady’s agent seeking publicity. Kallis is not likely to open his heart to any biographer soon, so he remains a mystery. Even if he’d been the writing type, I suspect that he’d be more JD Salinger than JT Edson.

	Ashwell Prince has lost his place in South Africa's XI to JP Duminy © Getty Images

The omission of Ashwell Prince from South Africa's Test squad to face Australia is an indication of the country's progress in the game, Daryll Cullinan writes in the Weekender:

How refreshing is it that the debate around his nonselection is about what is best for the team from a winning point of view. It is good that we are finally seeing the next generation of cricketers come through whose talent and not race is the issue in the media.

Cullinan also feels that pre-tour banter between the two teams counts for nothing.

I can’t imagine the players being concerned by this game of ping-pong in the press about who is after whom with bat or ball, who are the favourites and who is trying desperately to take the pressure off themselves. Some new, refreshing comments and insight would be welcome.

One of those who made a mark on the Australia tour was left-armer Lonwabo Tsotsobe, and bowling coach Vincent Barnes tells Simon Borchardt he's impressed by the newcomer's attitude and accuracy. Click here for more.

Just like Table Mountain in his native Cape Town, Gary Kirsten has proved to be India's own benevolent uncle—quietly watching over the team from the background. His model is perhaps the best example of how to make a positive impact on a unit of talented, but wildly individualistic, players. Kunal Pradhan in the Indian Express chronicles the journey so far for the Indian coach.

Strongly influenced by Bob Woolmer during his playing days, Kirsten’s coaching style is similar, encouraging players to self-analyse rather than insisting on telling them what’s wrong with their technique.

If a player asks for help, even if Kirsten has spotted something, he is most likely to say, “I don’t know. What do you think about it?” No pedantic lectures, no stressing on the importance of keeping your head still and your eyes on the ball. Discussions with him, players say, are on more equal terms in comparison with Chappell and more in-depth in comparison with John Wright.

	'I didn’t take any pleasure from his sacking' © Getty Images

In an interview to the Weekender, Graeme Smith says he did not walk out in the second innings in Sydney to win over supporters with his brave act. His personal rivalry with Kevin Pietersen is well known, but Smith says he didn't take "any pleasure from his sacking" as England captain, having got beyond "petty jealousies".

Now that you are ‘Captain Courageous’, and everyone loves you, how does it feel?

(Laughs) Look, I’m quite grounded. I know that the world of sport is quite fickle; that results often define the way people see you. But a number of people have grown with me, seen my development, and they can identify with me a lot more. And after some of the things I’ve been through these past five years, to earn the respect of the media and the fans is a huge achievement and a really satisfying feeling.

.............................................................

Personal rivalries aside, would you like to have Kevin Pietersen in your side?

Of course he is an incredible batter and one would like that skill in your side. But knowing it will never, or could never happen, I suppose I’ve moved on and my focus is all about developing the very exciting new talent that is coming through. Not sure that answers your question? (Laughs)

Very diplomatic. We are all human and occasionally experience Schadenfreude. When Pietersen had his recent troubles, did you have any moments of Schadenfreude?

No (laughs). No, really, I didn’t. First of all, when it all happened, we were busy in the middle of the series in Australia; so I didn’t follow the situation too carefully. But I think you reach a point in your career or your life where you don’t need to be a part of that; where you get beyond petty jealousies. I didn’t take any pleasure from his sacking. I’ve just reached a point where I don’t have to feel like that. I’ve lost my nasty streak (laughs).

In the Independent Online, Zaahier Adams says that when an individual within the Proteas ranks does get caught up in the spotlight like JP Duminy has over the past two months, it really is something to behold. In a rugby-mad nation, Duminy's every performance in the Indian Premier League will be scrutinised with a microscope.

After his heroics in Australia, everybody now expects him to score at least a half-century when he walks to the crease.He probably expects nothing less from himself, but the pressure will mount when he doesn't. And, yes, it's rich coming from a media representative who calls Duminy a "superstar", but that is also why I'm writing this column.

South Africa’s tour to Australia has been a greater success than most of us anticipated. Nearly all those who played on the trip have returned home with their reputations enhanced, writes Ray White in the Witness.

The South African batting has an embarrassment of riches. It is by no means certain that Ashwell Prince, one of the stars of the tour to England, will regain his place in the team. His inclusion would mean a reshuffling of the batting order, which apparently would not be to anyone’s satisfaction, least of all Kallis, who would be forced to bat at three.

Whatever happens in the “dead” ODI in Perth, South Africa have progressed quicker than we might have anticipated in cleaning the slate and engineering an upturn after the England debacle, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24.

The perfect scenario would be that even Friday’s less-than-full-strength South African side prevails against the punch-drunk Aussies at the WACA, making it 4-1 for the series and assumption of top spot on the ICC rankings. Even if that proves a bridge too far, there will be fresh opportunity on home soil to claim that bragging right, and at least we can heave a sigh of relief that an overdue maiden World Cup triumph (that’s got to be a key target now) doesn’t look nearly so unlikely an occurrence just over two years up the drag.

In 2006, Johan Botha thought his international career had come to an end. He was bowling in the third Test against Australia when the umpires decided that his offbreak and doosra deliveries were illegal, resulting in his suspension. Many of those painful memories may have played in Botha's mind this week when he was praised for his marvellous performance in leading South Africa to a historic ODI series victory over Australia. Michael Tarr in iol.co.za has more.

Naturally, Botha's performances have stirred the debate about whether he is a better bowler than the present Test incumbent Paul Harris.

What is good news for South Africa is that we now have two spinners to call in in the different formats of the game. Now that would really be something for a country known almost exclusively as a fast bowler's paradise.

	Johan Botha: Not the most talented, but among the most resolute © Getty Images

Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald says he is impressed by Johan Botha's captaincy of the South Africa ODI side in the absence of Graeme Smith.

By no means was it a simple assignment. Replacing a highly regarded leader was itself a challenge, more so since it meant a forceful opening batsman had been lost.

Leading a team that had already achieved its primary aim was also tricky. Some of the tourists must have been eager for a braai and a stick of dried beef. Taking charge of older players has its perils, especially for an outsider with an unremarkable record. All too easily he could have resembled a young lieutenant with a shiny cap trying to arouse gnarled veterans with bright remarks.

The continued disregard of Titans opening batsman Gulam Bodi by the national selectors is what concerns me this week, writes Zaahier Adams in Independent Online.

Official reasons for his omission claim the 30-year-old's fitness has been a problem in the past, with him not up to the level of a franchise cricketer, let alone an international cricketer. While that was possibly true in the past, I struggle to see how a player can score 153 after fielding 50 overs for the South African A team and not suffer any cramps can be regarded as unfit.

Though revelling in the Test series win against Australia, South Africa captain Graeme Smith believes the team has still got a few challenges. The need to build up the next tier of players to make sure the team has sufficient depth in case of injury or loss of form, is foremost on his mind. In an interview with Zaahier Adams in iol.co.za he discusses a wide range of subjects, including Matthew Hayden, Dale Steyn, his relationship with Mickey Arthur and the tough task of choosing between Ashwell Prince and Jean-Paul Duminy.

'Maturity' was the buzzword ahead of the Australian series. What did you mean by this term?

I think the amount of time we've spent together over the last few years has allowed us to grow together as a team. There's a real family type of atmosphere in the team at the moment...as much as I'm captain and can guide the guys, each player must still deliver his own ball and score his own runs. The more they grow, the more they mature, the better they get, the better they become, and that's my philosophy.

Captain Chaos, aka Kevin Pietersen, is the lynchpin in a fiendish plan to wreak havoc prior to the Ashes, writes Alex Parker in the Times in South Africa.

Operating out of a secret bunker beneath the Wanderers, Pietersen’s Cricket South Africa handlers watched as their diabolical intrigue unfolded just as they had planned. To start with, the “bats like Geoffrey Boycott’s mum” pills were proving devastatingly effective against Michael Vaughan.

He was eventually dropped, and sure enough, the fools at the ECB selected Pietersen as England captain. In a move of sheer genius, CSA sent Pietersen’s orders in a code known as “Afrikaans”. Then, just as an Ashes year was under way and England were off to tour the West Indies, Pietersen, just like Sir Bartle Frere had done to the Zulus in 1878, offered the ECB an impossible ultimatum: “It’s the coach or me.”

	It is nearly a year since Polly has gone, but South Africa are still searching for an effective replacement © AFP

Eric Simons, the former South Africa coach, feels the team has become static in the fast-moving world of limited-overs cricket and suggests that having a director of cricket - given the board has all others aspects covered - could have helped in avoiding the prolonged rebuilding process the team is undergoing in the shorter forms of the game. Simons says on iafrica.com:

Like it or not sport is now a business and cricket is our product which competes for the attention of sports lovers around the world. In our industry the one-day game is ultimately what generates the real money. Having to go through a building phase in our most lucrative product range is like not opening our store during the Christmas rush. It makes no business sense.

The game has got to become more professional in its attitude. Can you imagine the CEO of a listed company telling the shareholders that many of senior management had retired in the last year and new management needs time to develop so there might not be any profits for a while?

Can you imagine Sir Alex Ferguson telling supporters that his team is in a building phase and they must not expect too much from them this season? Why should an international cricket team be any different?

Graeme Smith's sense of pride and purpose appears to have had a salutary effect on his team as the South Africans, who were once (in)famous for being chokers, are now playing with the panache, aggression, enterprise and ambition that defined the best teams of the game.

Ayaz Memon in Daily News & Analysis believes the Smith surges ahead because it is the captaincy that is going to determine which team finishes this year at the top as there is very little to choose between the top six in terms of talent.

Suresh Menon in his column on Dreamcricket.com says it is unlikely that whoever takes over from Australia as the No. 1 test team - whether it is South Africa or India - by the end of the new year, will have such a clear run for so long. The more likely scenario is a bunch of two or three teams at the top taking the number one spot for brief periods.

Roll over Allan Stanford and all the other unbelievers with a concentration span of 10 minutes. An exhilarating Test match ended in its last few moments in the most stunning circumstances as a battered but unbowed visiting captain was beaten by a scything delivery from an exhausted opponent, writes Peter Roebuck in the Witness.

It was an extraordinary finish. Storm clouds were gathering over a scarred ground. An increasingly alarmed Australian side was desperately trying to take the last two wickets thereby securing a much-needed victory. South African tailenders were hanging on for dear life.

Meanwhile all and sundry were watching the rooms wondering whether or not a wounded captain intended to bat. Rumours spread that he had been sighted in white clothes and then swinging a bat but, like the existence of the Loch Ness monster, they remained unconfirmed. Someone said that his plastercast had been cut off and he was trying to put on his batting gloves. Not until the last instant did anyone outside the rooms realise that Smith meant to take his turn at the crease.

Graeme Smith and Micky Arthur have repeatedly insisted that one of their guiding principles is that each player knows what his role is. What that means, in part, is that all the top batsmen play in a certain position that has its own unique responsibilities, writes Patrick Compton on Independent Online.

With Smith injured, what were the management to do? Playing specialist batsmen like Amla or Duminy up front would have disrupted the batting order and changed the team's batting rhythm, so the non-specialist Morkel, who has shown some ability against pace, was seen as the best remaining option. The gamble failed, as it turned out, but the decision was the correct one.

Only today can we appreciate the scale of the risk, and the epic quality of the reward, selectors contemplated when Graeme Smith was appointed captain, aged just 22, back in early 2003. Last year he led his team to a series victory in England, and now this. He’s Steve Waugh without the nastiness. He’s Australian, without the chippiness, writes Alex Parker in the Times.

The Times also has a photo feature on Smith, going back to his schoolboy days.

On Independent Online, Zaahier Adams looks ahead to the one-day series.

While the withdrawal of skipper Graeme Smith due to injury is always a negative, I think there could be a silver lining to that dark cloud. Neil McKenzie has been called up, but I am more excited by the prospect of a Hashim Amla-Herschelle Gibbs opening combination

AB de Villiers played a crucial role in South Africa's historic run-chase against Australia in Perth, scoring a half-century in the first innings and a nerveless century in the second. On Supercricket, Mike Haysman remembers a time when de Villiers wasn't so calm.

The night before he was due to bat on the 25th of March (2006) against the likes of a potent Lee and Warne, he decided some extra hours of shut eye were warranted. After a draining day in the field watching a Ponting century he retired very early to the private sanctuary of his beachfront hotel room around 8pm. Restless sleep followed as the batting demons played havoc with his mind and he exhausted himself with visions of the challenge the following day. He eventually awoke in a startled state, riddled with apprehension about the day ahead. A quick glance at his watch escalated the anxiety. It was 10.30! He suddenly realised he was late for the start of play on day 2 and massive panic immediately set in ...

... Upon arriving in the foyer in a dishevelled and horror filled state, he realised his folly. It was still dark outside! He had actually awoken after only two hours sleep and it was in fact 10.30pm, not 10.30am! His watch combined with his fretful psychological state had succeeded to lie to him.

Robert Craddock writes in the Sunday Telegraph that Graeme Smith, who scored 108 in South Africa’s second innings in Perth, is as tough as a half-chewed piece of biltong.

In an international cricket world stocked with dud teams and over-rated players, it is a joy to witness an old-fashioned, blood-and-guts warrior like Graeme Smith. You don't have to love Smith, but it is impossible not to admire him ...

From the time he took to the crease, earnestly chewing gum and sweating profusely as he always does, he had the look of a man taking it upon himself to shepherd his side towards a total history suggested was nigh on impossible.

The former South African captain Clive Rice will go down in history as among the finest allrounders who never played Test cricket. In an interview to the Weekender, he looks back at his career, motorsport, involvement with Kevin Pietersen, a battle with brain tumor back in the 90's, posing 'naked' for a magazine and more interestingly, a duel with Joel Garner during the Packer series,

So at the changeover Tony Greig called his bowlers, Imran Khan, Garth le Roux, Mike Proctor and myself, and said, “You see what they have done to Majid? We will get them back.” Well, just like us, the Windies struggled with the wicket; it was just so damn quick.

Anyway at about 75 for 9, with four balls left in the over, Joel Garner came out to bat. Tony shouted across to me, “I want four bouncers.” My first ball was a bouncer and it was a good one, it was going straight for Joel’s Adam’s apple (laughs). It smashed into his hand, sent his bat to midwicket and his gloves almost to extra cover. Joel just turned, picked up his bat, his gloves and walked off the field.

	Paul Harris wasn't too ‘cricket-aware’ on an earlier visit to Australia © Getty Images

Sometimes you need to look below the “big name radar” to see where the game is won and lost, and Neil Manthorp sees potential in left-arm spinner Paul Harris, who been to Australia before, but not for cricket. Besides his surfing experience, he tells the Weekender about his "friendship" with Dale Steyn:

“Actually, that’s a myth. We’re not good friends at all, I just pretend to get on with him because he’s bloody fast and I don’t want him to hurt me in the nets. Fortunately, he’s very gullible so it wasn’t hard to convince him that we were mates,” Harris says, deadpan.

“He can be a bit hot-headed — much like me a few years ago. I think I know my way around his control panel, I know which buttons to push. He needs calming down more than firing up but there was one time, against New Zealand, when he was a bit flat. So I walked over to him and slapped him, hard! He was furious, really pissed off. But he couldn’t kill me so he killed them — they were 97-7 at lunch,” Harris says, chuckling.

	Morne Morkel © Getty Images

Alex Brown, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, finds out what makes Morne Morkel tick.

Morkel modelled his game on Glenn McGrath, and, like his Australian idol, the South African paceman does not lack confidence. Asked whether his pace combination with Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini was the best in world cricket, Morkel did not hesitate. "Yes, right now, we are definitely the best," he said. "And looking into the future, I can see us only improving."

These comments were not intended as boastful, but rather an honest assessment from an earnest young paceman. Morkel's entire career, after all, has fallen within a period of sustained South African success - eight wins from 12 Tests - and the towering 24-year-old clearly carries none of the psychological baggage of his fast bowling forebears.

Graeme Smith is the subject of an interview in the Herald Sun.

What a pity it is that Australia and South Africa no longer play full Test series against each other, says Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald. Although the concurrent cricket seasons in the countries are partly to blame, he prefers a longer contest any day.

Three matches, three rounds of golf, three rounds of three minutes, three sets, three days, three acts, none of it works, none of it is complete. Three matches whet the appetite. Too much depends on the first result because the losers are under immediate pressure. Three is better than two, which is not that hard, and otherwise is entirely unsatisfactory.

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Test cricket needs to wake up. Night matches, cheaper tickets, faster over rates, fewer silly delays and so forth have parts to play in the revival. But in the end there is nothing to beat a five-match series between two strong sides. Cricket needs to stage proper Test series. The rest is negotiable.

Alex Brown, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, reports on how Neil McKenzie overcame some strange habits to become one of South Africa’s best batsmen.

McKenzie's international career seemed to have terminated in 2004 when, after 41 moderate Tests in the Proteas' middle order, he was cut adrift by national selectors. By then, the Johannesburg native was in the grips of what he believes was obsessive compulsive disorder, and enslaved to a series of bizarre superstitions - including the taping of his bat to the ceiling before each innings and insisting every toilet seat in the dressing room was down when he went to bat.

McKenzie now concedes his complex set of rituals overwhelmed him, and might have cost him his career. But after four years of toil and self-discovery in South Africa's domestic cricket, the then 32-year-old was handed a lifeline in January when called in to replace Herschelle Gibbs.

The allrounder Jacques Kallis is a player Australians don’t generally warm to. In the Herald Sun Jon Anderson looks at some of the reasons why.

Robert Houwing believes South Africa may not really need Jacques Kallis' runs at the moment, but he is a long way from being dispensable just yet. Read him on cricinfo.com

Luke Alfred looks at five promising five promising young South Africans who have made their mark in the domestic season. Read about them in the Times.

	Duncan Fletcher joins a team that already includes bowling coach Vincent Barnes and performance consultant Jeremy Snape © Getty Images

Duncan Fletcher’s involvement in the South African cricket team brings together quite a comprehensive coaching structure for coach Mickey Arthur, Daryll Cullinan points out in the Weekender.

I can remember as a young Province player seeking his advice. I visited him at his engineering business which required a climb up some rickety stairs to his office

We had a discussion around trigger movements batsmen make before the bowler releases the ball. Against quick bowling it is crucial in determining whether you want to stand still or make a small movement back or forward or a combination of both.

He made an important point that if I wished to use a trigger movement, I could not pick the bat up and move my feet all at the same time. It was a question of doing either one first and completing it before moving on to the next one. It was clear to me then that he was an astute thinker and student of the game who definitely had something to offer.

December 17th is what the South African cricket team are focusing on right now, the day that the first test kicks off against Australia in Perth. A venue which has witnessed some match-saving heroics from the visitors last time around. Mike Haysman in Supercricket calls for a change in approach from last time around - Graeme Smith's deliberate verbal attacks delivered from press conferences and other media gatherings was to force the Australians to focus their energy on him, therefore releasing a pressure valve to allow his less experienced teammates to prosper.

The South Africans need to embrace the tour of Australia with a degree of enjoyment and respect that will win over the public and the media. They are a likeable bunch and doing such will take little effort. Make no mistake, the steeliness and aggression that will be required in the heat of battle will be simmering below the surface and that will naturally rise to the fore when needed. That is the hallmark of South African and Australian clashes and nothing will ever change that. Rightly so.

Since readmission in 1992, the South Africans have not beaten Australia in a Test series. Andy Capsotagno in the Mail & Guardian believes South Africa have a squad capable of turning the tide around this time, as he looks back at the team composition from the last series, back in 2005.

Amla replaces Rudolph, whose best Test innings came in the first Test of the 2005 series. Rudolph batted through the final day against Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Shane Warne, and he deserved the plaudits that came his way.

The best praise you can direct at Amla is that the apex of Rudolph’s career would be no more than a staging post for the KwaZulu-Natalian, who has greatness written through him and will prove a stumbling block of immense proportions for the latest clutch of Australian bowlers.

He’s understandably hogged the domestic cricket headlines over the past two or three days and I’m comfortable with South Africa’s decision to call up Lonwabo Tsotsobe for the three-Test tour of Australia, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24.

The only thing that concerns me, if any of the Steyn-Ntini-Morkel strike trio, heaven forbid, gets crocked, is the lack of proven experience for near-unique Australian conditions among the Zondeki-Tsotsobe back-up. We cannot skirt the issue of what happened the last time Zondeki represented his country in Australia, even if he answered an injury SOS and was understandably badly undercooked when tossed straight into ODI combat in 2005-06 after the Test series had been surrendered 2-0. He was unceremoniously thumped for 106 runs in just 14 overs (one wicket), over the course of two appearances against Australia at Brisbane and Sydney.

JP Duminy was in the headlines again on Tuesday morning. This is not an uncommon occurrence for him. However, it was again about when he will finally get an opportunity at Test level. Having known the man since he was eight, Duminy was probably cringing at the question being posed yet again, writes Zaahier Adams on iol.co.za.

I have spent many hours debating with cricket people, the majority with exceptional cricket pedigree, (and by this I mean with Test-match playing experience), about what those options are. The consensus generally reached is that the only way for Duminy to be accommodated is for de Villiers to be handed the wicket-keeping gloves, with Mark Boucher dropping out of the team ...

... For the record, I am not suggesting that Boucher be axed ahead of the most crucial Test series in South African cricket history. All I am doing is exploring the options of possibly strengthening the South African batting line-up.

Jacques Kallis managed just 16 off 35 deliveries [in the first innings against Bangladesh] and yes, I’m sure some people, still mindful of his grim struggle in England, will be starting to wonder now whether his heyday has passed, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24.

I have my own theory: maybe he is indeed on a slow comedown from some lofty career heights, but that certainly doesn’t mean he is a spent force. And there may be a good reason why he hasn’t made major runs this year: he hasn’t had to. So satisfyingly consistent has been the form of Graeme Smith, Neil McKenzie, Hashim Amla and [Ashwell] Prince that Kallis has not had to drop anchor in the manner he knows best. You can bet that come Australia, there may be times when South Africa totter a bit in the top-order; it may well be a signal for normal Kallis “restorative” service to resume.

In Aussie parlance, Graeme Smith must lighten up and pull his head in down under, and then he might even win [in Australia], writes Peter Roebuck in the Witness.

However, it would be unwise to look too far ahead. South Africa cannot win unless they raise their game on and off the field, and Smith himself has a big part to play in that. Previously he arrived down under as some sort of chest-thumping provocateur intent with every word on making his own life harder and the prospects of his team grimmer. It was a mistake born of immaturity and bad advice. If Smith has learnt his lesson then his team have a chance. Otherwise the cause is lost.

Charl Langeveldt is still not willing to reveal why exactly he decided to turn his back on South Africa, just saying that his withdrawal provided an opportunity for another player of colour in Cobras team-mate Monde Zondeki. Zaahier Adams interviewed him for iol.co.za.

Do you ever sit at home and watch the Proteas feeling that you are missing out?

Yeah, I do miss playing international cricket. I do watch the guys and think that I can still do a job out there. I still have the feeling to play for my country. I mean Australia will always remain a nice place to tour.

So is there a realistic chance that you might make yourself available to the Proteas for the end-of-year Australian tour?

I don't think so. I've got a Kolpak contract with Derbyshire and one of the clauses within the contract is that I'm not available for the Proteas. I had a really good season last winter, so I don't think they would release me anyway.

Charl, you worked as prison warder before you became a professional cricketer. Has that perhaps shaped your attitude towards managing your career?

I think that probably does have a lot to do with the way I approach my cricket. I mean bowling a ball across 20 paces for 10 to 15 overs a day, is a lot easier that working in a prison. I mean a cricketer's life away from match days is quite simple. You go to gym, then go practice, finish up at around 1:30 and the day is finished. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed working in the prison. I had a good time there too. But what it taught me was that I didn't want to go back there. Youngsters haven't worked out in the real world. And they probably don't realise that if they don't make a success of their cricket careers, then they have to go and get a 9-5 job. And let's be honest, there aren't too many bright cricketers out there.

On Supercricket, Neil Manthorp writes that the number of people offering Morne Morkel advice on how to improve his bowling form is an indication of how important he is to the South African team.

But the problem with the concern (panic?) amongst the wise and not-so-wise onlookers is that Morkel is clearly feeling it, and the tension in his body is palpable. Before any advice can used constructively, he needs to relax. Oh great, yet another piece of useless advice from yet another person who doesn't know what it feels like to bowl a cricket ball at 140 kilometres per hour. Just relax. That's as helpful as telling a struggling batsman to 'time the ball', or a long distance runner to 'breath'. It's not the 'what' which is the problem for Morkel, it's the 'how'.

As much as Cricket South Africa’s appointment of Duncan Fletcher to aid the Proteas at key times over the next year or so is to be deeply lauded, national coach Mickey Arthur deserves bouquets of his own for giving it the tick of approval. Rob Houwing in his column on Sport24.com talks about the latest move in South African cricket and believes the occasional alliance may very well bear fruit as long as both men know very clearly, and also appreciate, what their specific and separate areas of jurisdiction are.

Certainly, there would be some instances in which more firebrand personalities might be expected to clash pretty quickly in such circumstances but Arthur, for one, is a thoroughly decent person for whom ego issues come some way down on his list of characteristics and priorities.

Fletcher, too, while an intriguingly more complex individual - this comes out in his autobiography, in which an arguably excessive distrust for an array of people is a recurring theme - is, at the end of the day, a salt-of-the-earth and utterly proven “cricket man” to the core.

Sometime there is a limit to how much licence or latitude you give a sportsman before telling him enough is enough.That is the situation right now with Herschelle Gibbs after his drinking episode the day before the match against Bangladesh, which quickly prompted the management to send him home and order him to attend a rehab centre for drinking problems, writes Michael Tarr on iol.co.za.

My view is that Gibbs should not be chosen for the tour to Australia because his lack of discipline once again undermines the team and gives credence to the feeling that perhaps he thinks he is bigger than the game.

I certainly got the sense, after a chat with Graeme Smith and Mickey Arthur at the Oliver Tambo domestic departure area the other day, that their rebuilding quest for the South African ODI side remains frustratingly unfinished, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24.

	Will Steve Harmison put India on the back foot? © Getty Images

Mickey Arthur, the South African coach, reveals a ten-step guide to succeed in the subcontinent, a task that awaits England in India. South Africa have won series under Arthur in Pakistan and Bangladesh in the past 12 months, and also drew a three-Test contest in India earlier this year.

Two of the ten factors he highlights in the Times:

7 Use your bouncer

Don't be scared to bowl bouncers. It's the seam bowlers' one weapon in India to stop their batters lunging forward all day long and that is why Stephen Harmison is crucial. None of the Indian batsmen pulls, they prefer to cut. You bowl your bouncer to keep the batsman in his crease for your next ball.

10 Play with field settings

We always say that in India “caught cover” is as good as “caught second slip” in our part of the world. Seam bowlers don't like getting wickets caught at cover but they need to change their mindset. Having catchers in front of the wicket is the Indian equivalent of second and third slips.

Any visiting team should be able to outfield India. Whereas Steyn might dive to stop a boundary at fine leg, Ishant Sharma will stick a boot out and it will go for four. India's fielding has improved but they're some way off most teams

	Problem child: Herschelle Gibbs © AFP

Dropped for the ODI series at home to Bangladesh after breaking the team curfew, this may well be the end of the road for Herschelle Gibbs. While the flawed genius does not have age on his side, his Test career is as good as over.

The question must be asked how long is a piece of string and for how long will Cricket South Africa be prepared to tolerate this behaviour. Arthur Turner in Sport24.com believes this type of behaviour and attitude needs to be rooted out of the team.

He needs to be given an ultimatum that if he transgresses again he will play no further part in the national team. The national players’ are role models for the country and earn huge sums of money from the game, he needs to start taking responsibility for his actions.

Gibbs will always be remembered as a cricketing genius, but also as an uncomfortable reminder of the dangers that the fame and fortune of professional sport can bring. Neil Johnson, the former Zimbabawean cricketer, in his column for the Natal Witness says Gibbs' zest for life and the fact that he never wanted to miss out often got him into trouble. But he got away with a lot, because his natural genius would always bale him out on the field irrespective of what was happening off it.

The quota system was another factor that made Herschelle appear almost bullet-proof. If Herschelle were dropped due to disciplinary reasons, there were very few players of colour to replace him and certainly no-one who could match his ability.

	Gibbs was dropped for the Bangladesh ODI series after breaking a team curfew © Getty Images

Rob Houwing, in his comment piece on the Sport24 website, laments the absence of Herschelle Gibbs in the Bangladesh series, and writes that despite Gibbs' lack of form and his problems off the field, South Africa are still in need of a player of his class.

The Proteas’ one-day team is in transition, and it needed to be after the 0-4 humiliation in England. It cried out for new blood, but whenever that requirement arises, you also need a few old-stagers to stick around and provide stability.
................
Gibbs is an enigma, wrapped in a contradiction. He is a compass that either ensures good courses or goes crazy; a GPS, to use more modern lingo, that is alternately focused and orderly like his wardrobe at home and then ziggy-zaggy haywire.

Mike Procter's appointment as the South African chairman of selectors is a high-profile one, given his experience as a cricketer and a an ICC match referee. Zaahier Adams wonders if he will be able to understand the intricacies of the "transformation policy", one that caused controversy during Joubert Strydom's stint. Read on in Independent Online.

Procter was at the centre of a storm during the New Year Test in Sydney this year when he relied only on the evidence of three Australian players in finding Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh guilty of calling Andrew Symonds a "monkey". Why do I make reference to this? Because there is no doubt that similar pressures, especially related to transformation, are associated with the national convenor's post.

	Gary Kirsten: now coaching in India © AFP

With former South African players taking up coaching roles overseas, Proteas fan Ryan Bubear finds it a bit tough to swallow. He writes on iafrica.com:

In the build-up to his first official series at the helm, ironically against the country of his birth, Kirsten revealed on his blog that he felt 'completely Indian'. After the Test series, which ended in a 1-1 draw, the man who still holds the record for the highest individual score for South Africa in one-day cricket, declared that he felt like his 'bloodline extended back for 100 years in India'. Ouch. For a South African fan, that's akin to swift kick in the groin.

A similar situation played itself out with Allan Donald during his spell as part-time bowling coach to England. To see the legendary Proteas fast bowler, a hero of my youth, grinning in an England tracksuit while trying to coax Steve Harmison back to something resembling form, was gut-wrenching.

.......................

And while I understand Kirsten's decision and wish him well, the fan in me anxiously hopes that his success doesn't pierce the skin of South African cricket, leading to a violent haemorrhage of valuable coaching talent.

Jean-Paul Duminy is currently enjoying a rich vein of form, having struck two successive SuperSport Series centuries, and is a regular fixture in the South African one-day team. Life, however, has not always been this simple for the stylish left-hander finds out Zaahier Adams in an interview for the Independent Online.

There were always going to be doubts. It was one of the biggest challenges I faced, to see how I would come back after that disappointment. My confidence was shot. I didn't know if I was coming or going. I actually went back to the national academy the next year, where they asked me what I wanted to get out of my time at the academy. I said I just wanted to enjoy the game again.

	Graeme Smith and his men will fancy their chances against Australia later this year after Ponting and his men were crushed by India in Mohali © Getty Images

What happened to the Australians in Mohali wasn't quite a temporary blip. That once impregnable sense of invincibility had waned which has brought South Africa's tour of Australia later in the year into sharp focus. Alex Parker in the South-African daily, the Times, believes Graeme Smith and his men, if they can find the form and the fitness, will fancy their chances. And with a tougher Ashes assignment to follow, it may well be that the halo is slipping for the Australians.

But Australia, for the first time in as long as I can remember, actually looked weak. They looked like they didn’t know how to bowl on a nice flat batsman’s wicket. Suddenly you look at the Aussie bowling line-up and think that perhaps the aura has gone.

Rob Houwing in his column in Sport24.co.za echoes a similar sentiment and wonders whether South Africa should chortle?

With the South Africans gearing up for the challenges this summer, Siyabonga Ntshingila lines up 'The 2008 International Season Drinking Game' on his blog for Mail & Guardian Online.

Beer Sip

1. Andre Nel fails to subdue his alter-ego “Gunther” and hisses at a No11 batsman after being pasted to all corners of the field by the top order.
2. A commentator bemoans our lack of quality spinners.
...

Double Beer Sip

1. Graeme Smith fishes outside off-stump. Yes, this happens often enough to warrant demotion to the sip category above but surely the sight of the national captain displaying such poor juvenile flaws in his technique is enough to warrant more alcoholic relief?
2. Mode Zondeki makes an appearance in the team room NOT on crutches.

	Virat Kohli, India's Under-19 captain at the recent World, did a commendable job when called up to the national side. Will Wayne Parnell, his South African counterpart, get a chance soon? © Getty Images

Zaahier Adams says South Africa's one-day squad recently selected for the Kenya and Bangladesh series has no traits of the "brave cricket" philosophy that the team adopted three years ago. He writes on iol.co.za:

India showed the cricketing world what "brave cricket" really is. And it all started with their selection. They chose to rest their "fab four" (Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman) for the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa last year, handed the reigns to a new skipper, and returned to the sub-continent with the trophy.

..................

Stalwarts such as Jacques Kallis also still hopefully have long international careers ahead of them. But what the retirement of Shaun Pollock has shown us is that a succession selection plan is crucial to long-term success. And here I'm not talking about a group of six players called up to train with the team.

When Virender Sehwag was ruled of the India-Sri Lanka ODI series mid-year, the Indian selectors called upon young Virat Kohli to open the innings. The 19-year-old responded by scoring the second most amount of runs by an Indian player in the series. And those who follow age-group cricket, will remember that Kohli was South African under-19 skipper Wayne Parnell's adversary in the ICC under-19 World Cup final last year.

On the issue of Ryan McLaren's withdrawal from the South African squad, Neil Manthop, in Supercricket, feels Kent could have allowed him to fulfill his international dream and still had him for 90% of next season if they had been prepared to change his registration and make him their overseas player rather than a 'Kolpak' player.

Kent County Cricket Club is well aware that Ryan McLaren, for all his honour, respect and commitment, will barely bowl or strike a single ball next season without thinking that he could, or should have been doing so with a Protea on his chest rather than the prancing horse of the county.

Also read Manthorp's Cricinfo piece.

Rob Houwing, writing on Sport24, says he will be following the SuperSport Series as closely as possible for any signs of a true new tearaway shock bowler or two.

Of course, things happen in cycles and you can’t always expect fearsome head-hunters of the calibre of Allan Donald, Brett Schultz, Mfuneko Ngam or Nantie Hayward to announce themselves every summer, just as fruit farmers can’t always guarantee a robust annual haul from the trees ... But toothcomb the squads thrown up for the earliest salvoes of the SuperSport Series and you don’t see too many other, intriguingly callow “express men” among them.

SuperCricket looks at some of the players to watch out for in the SuperSport series which starts today. They include Warriors allrounder Wayne Parnell, “the most talked about cricketer to hit the first-class scene for some time”, and 22-year-old fast bowler Basheer Walters representing the Titans team.

The Nashua Titans have developed an ability over the years to identify unfulfilled talent from other regions and turned it into the finished article. Proteas’ spin bowler Paul Harris and young all-rounder Farhaan Behardien are examples that spring to mind and they may have unearthed another diamond in 22-year-old fast bowler Basheer Walters who hails from the Eastern Province. He has done well enough at amateur level to attract attention and will certainly benefit from playing alongside the likes of Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn.

South Africa A's victory in the Test series against Sri Lanka A followed by a 4-1 defeat in the one-dayers mirrors the problems facing the senior side, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24.

The outcome adds weight to national coach Mickey Arthur’s contention that the A side not only requires more game-time but a full-time coach as well. Batting depth, in particular, appears not to be a problem in a broad national context at present – the young South Africans won the series of four-day matches primarily on the grounds of strong performances in this department ... But the one-dayers against Sri Lanka A also revealed that the country’s all-round bowling depth isn’t what it should be.

Ken Borland, in the Mail & Guardian, pins the blame on the BCCI for an unattractive draw for the upcoming South African cricketing summer: a depleted Bangladesh team after 13 of their players signed up for the ICL.

The barefaced truth is that India is, at the moment, blackmailing the rest of the cricketing world to protect its own commercial interests (the IPL) from competition, which is a signature of all democratic countries.

Andrea Nagel in the Times is not too impressed by Hansie, the movie based on the life of former South African captain Cronje.

We never really get an insight into the deep motivations behind Hansie’s behaviour. His fall from grace is treated in a fairly straightforward way. The sporting moments’ slow-motion sentimental scenes are, quite frankly, irritating. The film makers should have known that such obvious emotional ploys would reek of filmic manipulation.

...

Hansie belongs on the Hallmark channel. It’s a made-for-TV movie that is dramatic, sentimental and of limited global interest.

The 13-month long presidential tenure of Norman Arendse that ended on Wednesday was perhaps the most acrimonious period endured by South African cricket since unity, writes Stuart Hess in iol.co.za.

Arendse was, and will probably remain, an abrasive character, one whose heart was in the right place, but someone not shy of using people and manipulating situations. That left many people - even those who supported him as he ascended to the presidency of Cricket South Africa (CSA) - angry ... Besides his calling into question the integrity of Majola, what really galled many administrative officials was Arendse's proclamation that those who were opposing him did so because they were against trans-formation.

Luke Alfred of the Times catches up with Dave Nosworthy, the new coach of the Lions franchise in South Africa. Nosworthy talks about his experience in New Zealand, where he coached Canterbury for three seasons.

The cultural diversity — the Chinese, Japanese, Polynesians and Maoris — and the ease of doing business in a First World country. There’s no red tape there — things happen. That stood out. And then there’s the natural beauty of the country — it’s magnificent. But the African blood remains. I really wanted to come back. With all these people emigrating to New Zealand it amazes me how they become All Black supporters overnight — I got into a couple of animated conversations over that topic!

The screening of Hansie: The Movie, a film made by Cronje's brother's Frans, has evoked reactions in South Africa. Janet Smith writes in the Independent:

Hansie was a liar, a greedy liar, and a damned cheat, and that is why he was banned from cricket and abandoned.

Unlike British Conservative Party politician John Profumo, who resigned and repented by working as a volunteer cleaning toilets at a charity after he was involved in a sex scandal, Hansie banished himself to a sweet life of continued privilege at Fancourt in George with a wife whose devotion beatified him.

Of course, the film shows - as he tosses and turns, sweats and cries - that Cronje went through serious emotional pain. Of course, it was tough to accept isolation.

But the simple question which those who are now being labelled detractors have asked is: Should we have felt sorry for him? What exactly did he do to deserve our forgiveness except make his way through the passage of time?

And that is the critical issue around the movie, which has all but bankrupted Frans. Are you an enemy if you cannot forgive?

Looking back at the sudden and controversial resignation of CSA president Norman Arendse, on Wednesday, Ken Borland wonders just what the controversial Cape Town advocate achieved during his term.

Like a malicious seer in some fantasy movie, Arendse was gathering his forces for a climactic battle in Johannesburg on September 26 when Cricket South Africa was due to hold fresh elections after combining their professional and amateur arms to form a new body. If Arendse hoped to cast aspersions on Nyoka's transformation credentials by roping in his buddy, Butana Komphela, the chair of Parliament's sports portfolio committee but with little understanding of what is happening in sport at grassroots level in this country, then he failed dismally.

Read on in the Mail & Guardian.

	Will Norman Arendse be in charge of Cricket South Africa come October? © Getty Images

The knives are out for Cricket SA’s president Norman Arendse, writes Neil Manthorp in the Weekender.

There will be blood in the corridors of power at Cricket SA in the coming fortnight as the 11 provincial unions prepare to usher in a new president and vice-president after a huge restructuring of the administration of the game.

The CSA (Pty) Ltd company is to be dissolved to form a new governing body which will incorporate the amateur and professional arms of the game. The move is meant to streamline an unwieldy and expensive administration and to qualify for proposed tax concessions.

Such a move, according to the majority of stakeholders, will necessitate fresh elections for office bearers as their positions will have become redundant — one cannot be president of something that no longer exists. CSA president Norman Arendse disagrees, saying fresh elections can be held only in the event of resignation or death. As he said on Wednesday from an ICC meeting in Dubai, “I am not dead and I have no intention of resigning.”

	Mark Boucher hasn't been taking the criticism quietly © Getty Images

Daryll Cullinan's comments in the media over South Africa's 4-0 loss in the ODI series to England haven't gone down too well with Mark Boucher. In his column in the Weekender on September 6, Cullinan had suggested phasing out a few of the seniors from the ODI squad, and a certain Boucher was the first to be mentioned.

I have said for some time now that it is a luxury to carry two wicket keepers in the side. Mark Boucher may have to go. AB de Villiers is just as capable with the gloves, and can do the Adam Gilchrist thing of keeping and opening the batting.

Boucher hit back at the criticism, telling Business Day: "Isn’t it strange how everyone gets so judgmental and calls for heads when we lose, without looking at the facts."

“I respected Darryl as a cricketer, but since he has become a commentator we have had words — and I will prove him wrong again, as I have done in the past."

...

“How young does he want the team to be when they play the world champions? Does he want us to play Australia without any senior players in the team at all?"

He also came out in defence of his team-mate Jacques Kallis.

“If Jacques (Kallis) was scoring 100 after 100 no one would be saying he’s fat. But now he has been struggling, people are saying he is fat."

Cullinan responds in his latest column in the Weekender.

True, you don’t become a bad player or team overnight; but to give two such contrasting performances in such a short time has left everyone asking questions.

Dale Steyn’s achievement when he was voted Test cricketer of the year was great news for the fast bowler and the South African team, writes Mark Smit in Business Day. But is Steyn the genuine article yet? Is he an Allan Donald, or a Glenn McGrath, or a Fanie de Villiers?

He has to learn how to keep batsmen constantly under pressure. He has to learn how to stop allowing his left shoulder fall away, which inevitably leads to a ball wide outside the off stump. He still has to learn how to think batsmen out and how to adapt his attack to the requirement of the conditions — be it on the subcontinent, in England or Australia. It has so often been shown that wickets in Test cricket come almost as much from pressure, as they do from outstanding deliveries and Steyn — and his new-ball partner Morne Morkel for that matter — needs to learn how to tighten the screws and keep them tightened.

As majestic as the Test performances [in England] were, the ensuing belting showed all too clearly how paper-thin South Africa's reserves are. Five changes were made from the Test squad to the one-day squad and, rather than strengthening it, they shredded it, writes Neil Manthorp in the Mail & Guardian.

Every one among the 15-man Test squad knew his place, knew his team-mates and knew his role. Those who were there as "cover" for certain places accepted and understood that those in the starting XI were happy to perform unglamorous tasks - like McKenzie's stoic batting that helped produce a world-record 50+ opening stand with Smith in eight successive Tests. And everyone knew they deserved to be there, too. They knew that for one very simple reason - because the transformation "target" of seven black players was not reached. That meant it really was a "target" and not a quota. It was reached in the one-day squad, however, and the insipidly creeping doubts about merit, which have haunted so many squads in the past, were quick to return.

But there are even more fundamental and practical reasons for the ODI squad's demise, and they primarily concern the plundering of what is, historically, the country's greatest cricketing resource -- its all-rounders.

South Africa's one-day side has surely been weakened by the retirement of Shaun Pollock, and Neil Manthorp highlights in the Mail and Guardian the all-round talent that's defected, either on Kolpak contracts to England or to the Indian Cricket League.

Almost 40 South Africans played county cricket during this English summer, and the vast majority of them renounced their country to do so. One happily accepted the money a couple of months ago and remained convinced that South African cricket's health was "okay".

Now, after 10 weeks in an English change room, his views have changed.

"The Kolpak ruling is killing our cricket. Unless we start getting guys to come back and contribute, we'll simply feed the English game. I learned so much -- we had four or five international guys in the team and we discussed techniques and tactics, how to win games and how to behave as professionals.

"At the franchise last season the conversation was pretty much based around who had the girlfriend with the biggest tits," said the player, understandably preferring not to be named.

	Mark Boucher must pass the ball ... err gloves ... to AB de Villiers © Getty Images

Barend Prins looks at the 4-0 loss in the ODIs to England as a blessing in disguise for South Africa. While highlighting the exodus of potential international players via the Kolpak route, Prins gives a suggestion on iafrica.com:

If I were part of SA's ODI selection committee, one head that would roll is that of long-time wicketkeeper Mark Boucher. Not that he has done any worse than many of the other senior players (or for that matter any of the other players), but now just seems the perfect opportunity to hand the gloves — in the ODI side at first — to AB de Villiers. In an ideal world, De Villiers would give the Proteas something similar to what the dominant Aussies had in Adam Gilchrist — a genuine batsman behind the stumps, effectively opening up the side to play an extra bowler or batsman, depending on the make-up of the rest of the team.

On News24.com, Rob Houwing predicts a bumpy ride ahead for South Africa's ODI side.

Hashim Amla, now firmly established in South Africa's Test top order, tells Richard Sydenham how religion has helped him focus on his career. Read on in Reuters.

"I'm certainly no saint but the discipline of the Islamic way of life has helped my cricket without a doubt. I don't drink, I pray five times a day, which gives stability to my daily routine and I am generally more disciplined about my game and my life."

Arthur Turner in Sport24.com worries about South Africa's AB de Villiers succeeding Mark Boucher behind the stumps. He feels that de Villiers will not realise his immense potential with the millstone of wicketkeeping around his neck, if Mickey Arthur and the South Africa selectors have their way.

Proof of this are the career statistics of great wicketkeeper/batsmen in history like Alan Knott who averaged 32.75 in 95 Tests, Rod Marsh who averaged 25.51 in 96 Tests and Jeffrey Dujon who averaged 31.94 in 81 Tests.

Only the great Adam Gilchrist who averaged 47.60 in 96 Tests finished his career with an average of over 40 as a wicketkeeper/batsman in the modern era. However, Gilchrist did bat at seven in Tests as is the norm for wicketkeeper/batsman because of their work load.

	No numerical recognition for Mike Procter from Cricket South Africa © The Cricketer International

Although the likes of Bruce Mitchell, Roy McLean, Robert Catterall, Alan Melville and Percy Sherwell feature on the honours board at Lord's alongside South Africa's latest entrants in Ashwell Prince, Neil McKenzie and Hashim Amla, in the eyes of Cricket South Africa they remain "illegitimate children", writes Gary Lemke in the Independent Online.

You might have noticed that McKenzie wears the number '42' below the Proteas badge on his shirt, Prince has '48', Smith '49' and Amla '60'.

This is where they are recognised in CSA's numerical system, a controversial badge of honour that starts with Kepler Wessels, who captained the first unified South African team back into Test cricket. The official excuse a few seasons back was that the "older" generation, like the above- mentioned, plus the likes of Mike Procter, Barry Richards, Graeme Pollock and Eddie Barlow, lived and played in a "parallel universe" and as such could not be honoured in such a manner for having represented their country.

Dale Steyn has had a phenomenal year in Test cricket and is now getting ready for his first tour of England. Bigstarcricket.com caught up with him for a chat.

Everybody can bowl the ball 135kmh and put it in the right areas. You can go and get a school kid nowadays to do that. But if anyone can run in and bowl 145 or 150k’s is something special especially if you can swing the ball at the same time. Pace is definitely my biggest weapon but pace combined with the swing is deadly. And we have a few guys who can do that like Makhaya (Ntini) and Morne Morkel. It’s important to me that I am always outwitting the guy next to me and staying a step above those guys because it raises the bar all the time. It’s healthy competition within the team. The more they are pushing the better I have to become so it doesn’t allow you to relax, it means I am always fighting for a spot. I have always got to be better than the guy next to me.

South Africa’s Neil McKenzie has ended his bizarre pre-game rituals and is ready to take on England, finds out Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times. Wilde questions McKenzie about his oddities, which range from taping bats to the ceiling to decreeing toilet seats be closed before he left the dressing room, and finds out that McKenzie is cured. There's also his views on South Africa's tour of England, which McKenzie feels "is going to be hard work".

In the Observer, Vic Marks says that for England's batsmen, the honeymoon is over. Because Dale Steyn and South Africa are in town. Marks traces Steyn's rise to stardom and finds a tearaway fast bowler just wanting to run in and bowl.

Steyn also chats to Stephen Brenkley in the Independent on Sunday.

	Graeme Smith today is a mighty impressive man © Getty Images

On the occasion of his debut he had already irked the Australians by revealing the truth behind their tactics of so-called 'mental disintegration' - all manner of abuse, he said. But now Smith chose to indulge in some of it himself. By the time England visited South Africa in 2004/05 his puerility was becoming tiresome ... Not exactly Mr Popular then. But, talking to Smith at Taunton last Friday, none of this washed. To meet him for the first time was to meet a mightily impressive man. "I was quite impulsive before because a lot of people were challenging me, questioning whether I was good enough to do the job. Opposition teams were feeling I was a weakness and taking me on. You keep feeling you have to prove yourself or show you're strong. And you can get too strong and say the wrong thing. I'm much quieter in many ways now. I'm really enjoying the captaincy and enjoying being who I am."

In his column in The Times, Michael Atherton says that two documentaries on Monday evening, one about Hansie Cronje and one about Basil D'Oliveira, proved conclusively that sport remains the finest polygraph test known to man. The two South African cricketers, Atherton believes, say much about their nation but more about humanity.

In an indepth interview to the Cape Times, Norman Arendse, the president of Cricket South Africa, speaks out on the controversial transformation policy, his version of the Andre Nel-Charl Langeveldt fiasco, relationship with Mickey Arthur, women's cricket, Twenty20 and his cricket career as well.

All I can say is that I did not interfere in the team selection. I never took him out and put in Charl Langeveldt. Whoever spread that story must take responsibility. It is absolute lies.

He also shares his opinion on Langeveldt signing as a Kolpak player.

But yes, it has been disappointing that Charl made himself unavailable, and also his turning down of a contract offered by CSA. The irony is that he would have been an automatic choice for England, and the further irony is that Andre Nel has benefited from his non-availability.

Though he thinks the series ended with a fair result, Jacques Kallis is keen not to play in Kanpur for a third time. It was a gamble, he writes in the Hindu, to order such a poor wicket and it could have easily backfired.

I am a traditionalist when it comes to pitches and I believe that the surface for a Test match should have something for everybody. Some pace and movement for the quick bowlers, good batting conditions in the middle and then help for the spinners on the last two days.

Like India, we have been pretty dominant at home and have lost a series only to Australia on our own turf. But we have also been competitive away from home beating everyone (apart from Australia!) at some point.

India should be aiming for the No. 1 spot, too, but they will need to improve on ‘good’ pitches.

Neil Manthorp can't wait to leave Kanpur as well. He writes in supercricket website:

If the Proteas could be accused of leaving with indecent haste, think again. Given the fact that nobody in the world of cricket was thinking of a three day finish when the third day began, not a single bag was packed nor extras bill paid. Yet the home side were on a bus pulling out of the city within an hour of returning to the hotel. The best Goolam Raja could manage for Graeme Smith and the boys was a 6.00am departure the following morning. Is Kanpur really that bad? Yes.

The Indian team and media can't stand coming here and actively encouraged the South African media and players to highlight how unacceptable it is as an international venue and to lodge formal complaints, where applicable.

If India take a few gambles in Kanpur to try and square the series, it might mean their playing three spinners and just one full-time seamer to share the new ball with Sourav Ganguly. This plan, Jacques Kallis thinks, could backfire for three reasons. He writes in the Hindu:

Firstly, South Africa really isn’t that bad against spin as our record over the last five or six years shows. Secondly, I believe the new ball is still the best way to take wickets and, with respect to Sourav, he isn’t a great threat. And thirdly, if the pitch is dry and uneven, then Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini and Morne Morkel will be just as dangerous as Anil and Harbhajan.

In the Hindustan Times, Mark Boucher writes that India missed Sachin Tendulkar in Ahmedabad.

"Much has been made of us not playing a warm-up match before the series. To be honest, I don’t understand the fuss," writes Jacques Kallis in the Hindu on the eve of the first Test against India.

A couple of days ago I admitted that the selection problems and off-field controversies that have hung around South African cricket for the last month or so had adversely affected the team. I was asked the question and I didn’t see any point in not telling the truth it has been unsettling and emotions have run high at times. But let me be equally honest now: we are fully focussed and by the time we walk on to the field on Wednesday morning, the last thing on our minds will be selectors or administrators.

	Charl Langeveldt in happier times © Getty Images

Langeveldt's reaction has caught everyone on the wrong foot. He has pulled out of the team, not so much in sympathy with Nel but in protest at the system as a whole.

Indeed, he becomes the first black sportsman to withdraw from a national team because he believes he has been picked for the wrong reasons.

In so doing, Charl Langeveldt has made a statement far more eloquent than anything that has spewed from the mouths of those officials and politicians who would use proud and sensitive players as their own little pawns.

Hartman's view is shared by the Mercury's Mike Greenaway, who feels Langevedlt deserves "our respect for reacting to racial discrimination in our sport and our sympathy for the humiliation he suffered at the hands of social engineers who use players as pawns."

Gary Lemke, the Cape Argus' sports editor, praises Langeveldt's decision.

He did the hardest thing imaginable and turned down the opportunity to play Test cricket for his country. Had he been born 30 years before, Langeveldt would have been denied the chance to represent South Africa because he is black. Now he was selected, because he is black. What irony.

So Langeveldt withdrew. He didn't want to be a quota player.

They should erect a statue in his honour outside the gates of Newlands, and every other cricket ground in the country.

It should remind officials and politicians that quotas in sport is a damaging system that's been abused by officials.

	"Langeveldt's stand will start the long and weary process of helping the politicians to understand that sport and sportsmen, like politicians, want to be the best." © Getty Images

Charl Langeveldt's understandably distressed, if emotional withdrawal from South Africa's Test tour of India was a serious accident waiting to happen in the republic's sports system, writes Trevor Chesterfield in the Cricketnext.com.

Sources tell of how Langeveldt and Nel were in tears in the room of the team's captain - Graeme Smith, after the squad to tour India was announced. It left a decent man such as Langeveldt embarrassed. The controversy, fired by additional unthinking media reportage, left the Cape Cobras bowler with a sense of humiliation. It is quite understandable while those in Asia view such selection policy as abhorrent as it cuts across race lines, the South African media have already indulged in the contemptible callow error of categorising such as Langeveldt and Nel by colour.

Neil Manthorp looks back at an incident that occured three years ago in South African cricket which he believes was the turning point. Read it at Supercricket.co.za.

Gauteng ... had travelled to Sedgars Park in Potchefstroom with a squad of 13 for the match and had met their transformation target of four black players with Garnett Kruger, Enoch Nkwe, Eugene Moleon and Ashraf Mall.

During a knockabout game of six-a-side soccer half an hour before the match started, Mall was hit in the face by the ball which broke his sun glasses ... With barely 25 minutes to go before the start, Lions coach Shukri Conrad faced the stark reality that one of either Gerrie de Bruin or Juan le Roux, the 12th and 13th men, both right-handed allrounders and both white, would have to play. And yet, the possible political ramifications of making such a decision were so intimidating that not even as forthright a man as Conrad was able to make that call.

Just then, the cricketing gods sent a messenger - his name was Thando Bula. A promising prospect with the North West province, Bula had brought some mates to watch the game and thought he'd try his luck with Conrad for a few free tickets. "Never mind the bloody tickets," was the gist of Conrad's reply, "what's your bloody shirt size?!"

On paper, South African cricket is at the top of the world. But Alex Parker of the Johannesburg daily the Times, feels ICC rankings are rendered dodgy by Bangladesh.

I do fear that being catapulted into the position of “world’s best”, courtesy of Bangladesh’s ineptitude, is more of a cross to bear than a trophy to brandish.

Certainly, the Indians will have much to say on the matter — both with their bats and with their new- found gobbiness. Aussie opener Matthew Hayden recently got into trouble for calling Indian offspinner Harbhajan Singh an “obnoxious little weed”. This was the best description of Harbhajan I’ve ever heard — I find his epithets are better than his offbreaks — and I wonder who his South African target will be: “the best batsman in the world, captain of the best team in the world”, perhaps?

Dale Steyn brings an uncommon freshness to his profession of fast bowling, a sense that he is a human being of normal height and build at once amazed and disturbed by his ability to take someone’s head off with a shiny, stitched orb, writes Telford Vice in the Johannesburg-based Mail & Guardian.

Not for him the mustachioed madness that Merv Hughes and Dennis Lillee brought to cricket along with all that biker leather and the brazenly bared chests and big hair that, 30 years ago, might have been a hit at your friendly neighbourhood gay bar.

Steyn is certainly no English fop in the way of Graham Dilley, but rather that than the Poms’ modern yob squad, represented by the likes of Andrew Flintoff -- who else would answer to the nickname of a prehistoric cartoon character? -- and Steve Harmison, who, in the words of former England coach Duncan Fletcher, “gets homesick when he fetches the paper from his postbox”.

There is nothing remotely Ambrosial about Steyn, a fact that might melt Curtly’s permanent glare just a touch, and he is probably not in danger of waggling his noggin in the way that Waqar Younis would when a screaming yorker veered from outside off-stump all the way to the fine leg boundary.

No matter, because what connects all these fine bowlers is a dash of the quick stuff: speed, and not the kind that will get you arrested.

Also read Vata Ngobeni writing in the Independent Online on the Andre Nel issue.

"By the end of this week South Africa will be the No1 one-day team in world cricket, if all goes according to plan," writes Archie Henderson in the Times, the Johannesburg-based daily.

Please note, the Proteas could be No1 in the world by Friday lunchtime, not necessarily the best in the world. Not until they can convincingly beat the Aussies at home, defeat England in the one-dayers later this year and take care of India, the hottest team in the world right now, can they be considered the “best”. Nevertheless, we should enjoy our team’s progress while it lasts.

	Neil McKenzie’s innings was, for him and a few others, an innings of great significance © AFP

There is little worth reflecting over in South Africa’s massive second-Test victory against Bangladesh, says Ray White of the Witness. After the slight embarrassment of the first Test, the home team was disposed of in a suitable manner with regard to the respective status two participants in an unequal struggle.

But what White does pick out is comeback man Neil McKenzie's maiden double-century, in any form of the game. Having survived all the shenanigans that preceded the selection of this particular squad together with his failures in the first Test, says White, it was vital for McKenzie that he make the most of his remaining opportunity before the team to tour India was chosen.

From the team’s perspective, it is important that McKenzie continues to prosper at the front of the batting order because it is now clear that Gibbs has not been able to revise his technique to enable him to cope with skilled new-ball bowlers who are keenly aware of his technical frailties. There are also disturbing rumours that Gibbs has become gun shy at the prospect of dealing with determined pacemen such as Brett Lee. No other opening batsman in domestic cricket suggests that he is ready for promotion so McKenzie may be the only card left for the selectors.

One wonders what went through Jacque Kallis’s mind as he watched the long partnership between his captain and McKenzie. So often in the recent past he has had to rescue his team from the direst of starts. He may have enjoyed putting his feet up for a time but as the day progressed he must have begun to wonder at the unfairness of the situation. His bowling had saved the team in the first Test but now he had to watch as two lesser batsmen filled their boots. Still it is a team game and Kallis has not always put his team’s interests ahead of his own.

"Until Graeme Smith can produce against Australia, some pundits might see him as a flat-track bully who can plunder two double tons against minnows Bangladesh, but when it comes to the finest opposition, is found wanting. However, that's also the magic of being Graeme Smith," writes Gary Lemke on iol.co.za.

While there is no debate as to the merits of Eddie Barlow, Barry Richards, Graeme Pollock and Mike Procter among The Selected's top 25 players of all time and even the presence of Allan Donald, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Makhaya Ntini can't be disputed Smith's appearance ignites discussion. For, at the end of a career a player is judged by his statistics. Not on his ability as a captain, or the fact that he has to wear several other hats, in dealing with the tricky issue of transformation and captaining a team that may include some players who aren't in the Test XI entirely on merit.

	Should a coach control selection? © Faras Ghani

The two changes that he made to the 'official' squad to form the 'Arendse squad' were quite possibly the least radical anybody in South Africa could have come up with. Herschelle Gibbs in for Neil McKenzie and Charl Langeveldt in for Andre Nel. Gibbs and Langeveldt? Herschelle has over 300 international caps and Langers has been established international cricketer for five years and has earned over 50 one-day caps. Where was Lonwabe Tsotsobe and Yousuf Abdullah in Arendse's squad? Where was Henry Davids and Ahmed Amla? At the beginning of the week Arendse spoke of "giving the youngsters a chance...if not against Bangladesh, then when?" His solution was to recall two 33-year-olds, one of whom - Herschelle - is the oldest nationally contracted player and will celebrate his 34th birthday on the 23rd of this month.

In the Johannesburg-based Times Archie Henderson writes that it appears the real battle is for control of the team.

Arthur and his anonymous comrades believe they should have complete control over the team. The captain even has a say in the selection of the team, which is outrageous ... When the Proteas coach objects to “interference” by the president, what is he implying? That Arendse should meekly sign off on the team (like some notorious cabinet minister did in the apartheid era)?

In the same paper, Alex Parker puts forth his idea of transformation where in eight black players should be included in a South African XI.

And iafrica.com's contributing editor Dan Nicholl writes a letter to Arendse backing Herschelle Gibbs' selection in to the squad for Bangladesh as Nicholl has Gibbs in his Cricinfo fantasy squad.

The current selection row in South Africa between Norman Arendse and Mickey Arthur has raised some interesting points, like the issue of the quota system supposedly being a thing of the past, writes Tony Becca in the Jamaica Gleaner.

Over the years, for many, many years, selectors, most of them, have believed that they are the sacred cows of cricket. Maybe it is because the job is usually reserved for ex-players and most times for ex-great players why most of them, behave so.

South Africa’s home international series is over, but not everyone is happy with what they have seen. Writing on the 24.com website, Arthur Turner says that the expansion of the game has led to too many poor sides, and he blames the ICC.

Over exposure has also made a big contribution towards the weakening of international cricket as a product. The ICC has totally lost the plot with regards controlling its product at the source. The simple principle of supply and demand has been ignored for greed.

Despite a thumping return to his best form in the second half of the summer, Graeme Smith still struggles to shake off his critics and the sceptics, writes Neil Manthorp on Independent Online. He spoke to Smith on various subjects such as the imminent Bangladesh tour, his favourite memory of Shaun Pollock, and the best delivery that has dismissed him.

I would like to be rested for that [Bangladesh] tour! It's a tough one, but I think we should definitely consider resting players, particularly for the three one-dayers after the two Tests. The wickets will spin square, they are going to make life as difficult as possible for us, and rightly so! It'll be a wonderful opportunity for some of the up-and-coming players to learn (laughter). It is being discussed now. I can't see that guys like Jacques [Kallis] and Mark [Boucher] will benefit from playing those games, but other players certainly could benefit. If we want players like Jacques to be around for the next World Cup, then we need to start managing them.

Wonder why Jacques Kallis has not managed to score a double century yet? Blame it on the media, writes Neil Manthorp in the Supercricket.co.za website.

It should suprise nobody that the media's obsession soon became his with the result that he concentrated his efforts on doing everything he could to raise his average. It meant, of course, that he could not get out. Not outs were the bricks and cement required to build a proper average. It meant that not only did a couple of potential double centuries go abegging, but even some centuries. Kallis was determined to cement his place in the team and if that meant scoring slowly and playing so far within his limits that even his fabled cover drive was limited to sporadic displays, then so be it.

South Africa's success in last month's rugby World Cup, with only three black players in the squad, has apparently triggered the end of the quota system in South African cricket. David Hopps writes in the Guardian that the decision could be beneficial to English cricket as it will help stem the flow of white South African cricketers taking the Kolpak route to county cricket.

The England and Wales Cricket Board is so concerned about the number of South Africans in county cricket under the so-called Kolpak agreement that Giles Clarke, the ECB's new chairman, discussed the issue at an International Cricket Council meeting in Dubai last week with Norman Arandse, Cricket South Africa's president.

"What South Africa chooses to do is a matter for them, but the ECB has made it clear that we do not encourage county cricket to take the Kolpak route," said Clarke. "It is healthy for the game that England and South Africa both remain strong."

Taschica Pillay profiles Dolphins fast bowler Ugasen Govender in the South Africa based Sunday Times.

Also check out Colin Brydon's weekly round-up in the same newspaper.

When it’s life and death you’re talking about, runs and wickets don’t carry quite the same allure, writes Neil Manthorp in the Supersport website.

Meanwhile in News24.com Kass Naidoo believes a perfect opportunity exists for sponsors to help revive the flagging fortunes of domestic cricket in South Africa.

There is a huge opportunity for a sponsor (or an inspired group of them) willing to look further than 2010, personal gain or corporate strategy, to bring a version of a well-loved game back into our lounges, to create a buzz big enough to guarantee the interest of the national broadcasters.

When the incomparable, deeply respected and much admired CSA official statistician, Andrew Sampson, announced that he had started a blog, there was much 'logging on' amongst South Africans in Pakistan writes Neil Manthorp in Supersport.

Check out Samson's blog here :

Jacques Kallis likes batting in the 3rd innings of a Test when South Africa are setting up a declaration. His 107* in South Africa’s 2nd innings against Pakistan at Lahore yesterday is the 5th century that he has made in the 3rd innings of a match in which South Africa has declared. In all, he has batted 19 times in these situations and scored 1264 runs with 5 centuries and 6 fifties. With the help of 10 not outs, he averages 140.44 in these innings.

Also see Charles Davis' stats blog here.

The overwhelming support that India received in the World Twenty20 event has triggered a raging debate on racism in South Africa, reports the Press Trust of India .

Kass Naidoo, the South African broadcaster, puts forth her view in the News24 website:

Everything is hunky-dory, until we lose. When we win, we pump out our chests and feel so proud to be South African, and when we lose, we start fighting over quotas, the captaincy, and chewing gum.

South Africa's thrilling victory in last night's opening encounter against West Indies at Johannesburg has given the ICC World Twenty20 the perfect start. But, says David Hopps in The Guardian, it will take more than just moments like that to arrest the alarming disintegration of South Africa's national team, with every day bringing another disgruntled player into the headlines.

Even success for South Africa in Twenty20 would not remove the feeling that an aged side is growing old gracelessly. Jacques Kallis has resigned as South Africa's vice captain after he was omitted from the Twenty20 squad and Mark Boucher was fined for criticizing his omission. Andrew Hall has announced his retirement and is heading for the breakaway Indian Cricket League. The ill feeling does not stop there.

Neil Manthorp recalls the messy episode that Cricket South Africa had got into when it rested Lance Klusener for a tour to Bangladesh in a piece on the SuperCricket website. He says the mistake has been repeated again with Jacques Kallis' omission from the Twenty20 squad. Manthorp believes a player of Kallis' stature should have been given the nod, though many may consider his batting style undesirable for the format.

Who is South Africa's leading six-hitter in both test and one-day cricket? Klusener, Justin Kemp? Shaun Pollock? No. Try someone else. Someone who isn't suited to 20-over cricket. Maybe Kallis really isn't suited to this game. But surely his status means he was worth a chance to prove it, a chance to bat without the constant threat of collapse at the other end weighing him down.

Neil Manthorp writes in his SuperCricket column that South Africa coach Mickey Arthur has taken a gamble by rubbishing fitness trainer Adrian le Roux's report that states the "use of alcohol is a problem in the national team"

But what if it [Arthur's comments] made some of le Roux's many, many friends really angry and they decided to defend his honour and integrity by providing some evidence of what le Roux observed at close quarters for four years?

Manthorp also feels that denial of the problem is fine if "it is used to buy a little time and privacy to address the issue" but not if "it is used to brush the issue under the carpet."

	© Getty Images

Neil Manthorp, writing in the Supersport website, lists South Africa's potential pitfalls during the World Cup.

Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince score runs in a similar fashion and a similar pace. They both know that and, in fact, are sick and tired of hearing about it. Nonetheless, they need to be perfectly clear about how they will approach their partnership in whatever circumstances they find themselves batting together.

Meanwhile, in the Natal Witness Ray White, former president of the South African board, profiles his four favourite teams to reach the World Cup semi-finals.

If pressed, I fancy five teams for the semi-finals. If pressed further, I would eliminate Australia on the basis that their team lacks even one world class bowler now that McGrath looks past it and Lee is injured.

Writing on the Supersport website, Cricinfo's Neil Manthorp gives the alternative angle on the Gibbs controversy, and wonders just how much provocation a player should have to put up with.

Let's just say, for example, that a player happens to be...at third man. During a test match. You can't just walk away. So you stand there, for most of the day, being told that your sexual orientation leans towards sheep, and members of your own family, and that you are racist. And more.

Defeat in the Test series against India would have been catastrophic for the careers of a few senior South African players and the level of interest of the supporters in the country, writes Neil Manthorp in Supercricket. While Shaun Pollock received the accolades for his allround performance, his side's come-from-behind win was possible largely due to the mental strength of Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince.

Though it may sound dramatic in the warm afterglow of a magnificent, against-all-odds triumph, it is worth remembering that the line between triumph and disaster has probably never been finer in South Africa's cricketing history.

	South Africa needn't sweat once Pollock retires for Ntini has already taken over the role of the lead fast bowler © Getty Images

When Allan Donald retired and Shaun Pollock slowed down his his pace, a void was created in South Africa's fast bowling. But that has now been well and truly filled by Makhaya Ntini, writes S Ram Mahesh in Sportstar

There is something inherently dark, borderline masochistic, about quick bowlers. Courtney Walsh cloaked it with a raised, philosophical brow; Andy Roberts rarely spoke — his choice of expression was the sadistic smile; Ray Lindwall, a man of great charm by most accounts, had his ugly moments; others, Jeff Thomson and Sarfaraz Nawaz among them, unabashedly chose to let it all hang out.

Ntini's run-up, while splendidly athletic, is earthy and grounded, not airy and ethereal as Holding's was — but now he meters how wide he leaps in delivery stride. Wasim Jaffer's hopeless pull at Durban from outside the off-stump was a consequence of this angle: those watching might say the Indian opener should have left it on line, but Jaffer was suckered into it because of the illusion that the delivery was straighter than it actually was.

Graeme Smith speaks to the Telegraph's Lokendra Pratap Sahi just a few weeks before completing four years as South Africa’s captain:

My decision making as a 22-year-old probably wasn’t as good... As captain, I trust my gut feelings a lot more now... Today, there’s more conviction in my decision making... Then, for example, I wasn’t sure about giving Polly (Shaun Pollock) an extra over or two or getting (Jacques) Kallis into the attack... Things like that.

South Africa had a horrid second day at Johannesburg. Their batsmen collapsed for 84 and their bowlers allowed India to stretch their lead to 311 with five wickets in hand. One of the reasons for "South Africa's dismal batting performance and considerably below par bowling effort, Shaun Pollock excepted" is the lack of first-class cricket played by the national squad, writes Neil Manthorp on supercricket.co.za.

"If India win, it will be a fascinating human drama that Rahul Dravid’s team will owe so much to that inspirational knock from Ganguly, a man who had been given up for lost by them," writes Kadambari Murali in The Hindustan Times.

Greg Chappll said that India needed just one innings to turn their fortunes around, Bobilli Vijay Kumar says that "it's just so ironical that it had to come from Ganguly's blade".

Will Sachin Tendulkar get out of his lean run and score valuable runs in South Africa? Yes, feels South Africa batting great Graeme Pollock, in an interview to Mumbai-based tabloid Mid-Day:

He hasn’t been playing enough. He has not looked confident and convincing as he was years ago. But once the talent is there — you see it with Lara all the time — disappointing in a few innings and suddenly he puts it together — I think you will see that Tendulkar will be a contributor in this series.

It’s been 15 years since Dave Callaghan was cured of cancer, but memories of those scary months in 1991 cannot be erased, writes Mid Day's Clayton Murzello.

'I lost all my hair through chemotherapy sessions. Everyone was very concerned about my health. People used to ask me how I was and when I said I’m fine, I could see that they were not convinced. But as a cancer patient, you are always positive and you always believe that you will live.'

	Minki van der Westhuizen, Graeme Smith's girlfriend

We've all heard far too much about Footballers' WAGs (Wives and Girlfriends, for those not in the know), but the cricketers wives are an elusive bunch. Stick Cricket, that marvel of time-wasting during office hours, have been running a poll to ascertain the most popular WAG - and Minki van der Westhuizen has come out on top. More in The Corridor.

And here's another South African cricketer in the arms of a model. Herschelle Gibbs and his fiancé, Tenielle, are considering a wedding ceremony on the idyllic island of Antigua during next year's World Cup in the West Indies. Read the full piece in News24.

It was unusual to see Gibbs - well-known for his late night gallivanting - up and on the go before breakfast. And to see Gibbs out of bed that early and in the presence of a member of the opposite sex could only mean one thing - he was smitten.

In The Times, former Wisden editor Tim de Lisle highlights the fact that cricket's international merry-go-round is not only hard on the players, it's also pretty environmentally unfriendly. He recalled that while editing Wisden Cricket Monthly a few years ago, he commissioned an investigation into the mileage of top players:

"We named the first winner — Australia's Ian Healy, who had done, from memory, about 70,000 miles. Within a few years, the winner (by then Stephen Fleming, of New Zealand) was doing 100,000 miles. International cricket’s total emissions, for a relatively small sport, must be colossal."

"Open an Indian magazine and the chances are you will see Sachin Tendulkar sharing a little of his personal cachet with a motorbike. And administrators in the subcontinent still think it’s OK to give the man of the match a bike or even a car. Not even the umpires are immune. Fly Emirates, say their shirts, which is demeaning to them and damaging to the planet."

Kevin Pietersen could be in hot water for branding Graeme Smith, the South African captain, "an absolute muppet" in his new book, Crossing The Boundary, feels the Mirror's Mike Walters. With a poor run of form in recent one-day internationals, Pietersen's jibe at Smith looked ill-timed, believes the writer.

"Kermit, Miss Piggy and the Swedish chef have so far kept their counsel, but firebrand Smith is unlikely to let the matter rest if England cross paths with him at the World Cup in seven months."

Amid the tension in Sri Lanka, Neil Manthorp writes on the security situation:

... the problem with an 'upgrade' of security for the team to 'presidential' level is that presidential security is reliant on the military which is, of course, not just a target for the Tamils, but the primary target. So does surrounding the South African team with high numbers of primary Tamil targets constitute an increase in their safety, or a significant decrease?

The secret of England's famous Ashes coup last year was attention to detail, which was missing in South Africa's defeat in the two Tests against Sri Lanka, feels Ray White. The writer also laments the decline of Shaun Pollock.

The margin between victory and defeat is often tiny but regular winners make a habit of getting past the post first even in the tightest of finishes.

Read the full piece in The Witness.

Prince didn't choose or ask to be captain, Arthur didn't arrange for Kallis to have elbow surgery or encourage his captain to go a little over the top on his pre-tour holiday in Knysna. Whether South Africa head to Sri Lanka to face a carnage or not remains to be seen. Neil Manthorp in Supercricket recommends they just smile through it all, no matter what.

In fact, many of the chief protagonists in the French Revolution (before the common people started to win) were led to the guillotine with a smile, a cheer and wave to the crowds. There was something very noble about having your head sliced off in front of a crowd of colleagues.

Few cricket coaches in this country know anything about finger spin let alone the mysteries of wrist spin as practised by the likes of Murali and Shane Warne. The touchstone of knowledge is the ability to teach. If the knowledge of spin bowling is absent in our coaches who will impart it to the young?

I cannot agree with the modern tendency to crowd our schools’ cricket fixtures with so much limited over cricket.

Ray White, former UCB president, analyses the reasons why spin bowling is a dying art in South Africa.

Tom Eaton, in the Mail & Guardian, pays tribute to Ntini, who has almost singlehandedly carried the South African attack in the recent times.

The numbers tell the story. Ntini took 34% of all South Africa's wickets, and bowled 41 overs more than his nearest colleague, the apparently indefatigable Pollock. Most teams rely on spinners, whether specialists or part-timers, to wheel through overs while the speedsters rest. This summer six slow bowlers were tossed the ball. Ntini bowled 85 overs more than all of them combined.

In other words, any discussion of South Africa's bowlers, and what they might have done without Ntini, must invariably end in allusions to disastrous canoeing trips up excremental creeks. The sheer weight of his burden took us into Muttiah Muralitharan territory and, although Dale Steyn did an admirable impression of Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lanka's one-ring circus is not a show we want to emulate

Makhaya Ntini has matured into a fine bowler. He made the most of his opportunities. Others came and went, passengers unwilling to pay the fare, but he persisted, writes Peter Roebuck.

Herschelle Gibbs, the South Africa batsman, was dropped for the remaining two Tests against New Zealand. "Gibbs knows all the flaws and pitfalls of his life and lifestyle. He knows what he needs to do," writes Neil Manthorp. Click here to read the supercricket.co.za article.

Ray White, former president of the South African board, talks about the rise of Makhaya Ntini, the decline of Shaun Pollock and the emergence of some new players. Click here to read the Witness article.

I would like to see Friedel de Wet given a go against the New Zealanders before this series is over. He bowls at over 145 km/h from a good high action and will run in all day. Some say De Wet does not do enough with the old ball but I think that the amount of wickets he has taken this season require that the national team take a long look at his potential. One wonders which of the selectors, if any, have ever seen him bowl?

How do the Australians show their appreciation when they see a good cricketer? Name a racehorse after him.

Read about how Makhaya the racemare produced the run of the night at Shepparton.

Archie Henderson celebrates the honour and says that for for South Africans seeking solace from a 5-0 drubbing, Ntini provides the answer.

Peter Roebuck watches Michaelhouse and Durban High School contest in a semi-final of a local night tournament in South Africa:

Apart from their positions as school captains, they stood out in only one respect. Both captains had brown skin. Both were of Indian origin. They have risen to the highest point possible in their school's cricket and clearly command respect among their peers ... Never forget that, not so very long ago, it could not have happened. Oh yes, and one of the youngsters is a Muslim.

Robert Craddock says in The Courier-Mail it’s time for Australians to dip their lids to Graeme Smith, a feisty captain and unifying influence.

Smith may be an occasional trash talker but the game is the richer for that. Most rival captains who visit Australia keep their tongues tied and their eyes down and end up being brutally nailed to the canvas.

Smith was aware of this and made a promise to himself he would go down swinging, or should we say sledging. It did not work but it certainly helped to generate a robust, competitive vibe among his team. World cricket is lucky to have him.

Mike Coward praises Ashwell Prince’s century on day two in The Australian, his finest moment in Test cricket.

Prince did not just score a century. With great pride and conscientiousness he validated his nascent Test career, realised a dream he had dared to dream from boyhood and gave heart to those who have been criticised, if not ridiculed, for their unflinching commitment to fundamental change in South Africa's cricket in the new democratic republic.

Peter Roebuck also looks at Prince’s performance in the Sydney Morning Herald after detailing Australia’s “rash” response.

Not the least remarkable aspect of his batting was the calmness of his manner. Most batsmen enduring bad patches and dogged by ill-fortune bring baggage with them to the crease. Prince's approach is simple. He does not attempt things beyond his repertoire.

The current series between Australia and South Africa has certainly not been short of a word or two. Graeme Smith has made more of an impact off the pitch with his pre-match talking than he has at the crease with the bat. Now Kepler Wessels, the former South African captain, has warned him his tactics could leave him looking rather foolish if Australia continue to dominate the visitors.

I think it's a dangerous style. I think cricket history has shown that somebody like Tony Greig has been made to grovel and eat his words against the West Indies when he did the same thing. He was totally humiliated.

The Surfer stumbled upon an interesting piece that talks about Brian Jerling, the South African umpire, being involved in a storm with the Dolphins side in the domestic competition.

The Jerling-centric incidents also resulted in a situation where Lance Klusener may now face a two-match ban.

Neil Manthorp introduces the four new faces in the South African side, currently touring Australia:

A former prison warder, a guitar-playing songwriter, a farmer's boy fined for smoking marijuana in Antigua and the man who did most to officially end race quotas in domestic cricket - these four head the new faces in Graeme Smith's South African squad that landed in Perth yesterday.

Owen Slot writes on the latest biography of Hansie Cronje and adds:

... a fact that may frustrate British readers because Cronje’s story has sold so well in South Africa that the publishing company — which happens to belong to his brother, Frans — cannot print copies fast enough.

Ray White, a former UCB president, goes to watch a top of the table clash between the Highveld Lions and the Cape Cobras at the Wanderers and writes about the quota system in action

Neil Manthorp writes on South Africa's red hot run:

South Africa's commanding victory in Hyderabad has put the Australian media and public on high alert ... Thanks to the clinical efficiency of the Iceman Kallis in Hyderabad, Australians are also starting to look ahead with a sense of caution, even nervousness.

Meanwhile Harsha Bhogle feels that the loss at Hyderabad would have taught the Indians some valuable lessons early in the series.

Neil Manthorp bemoans the fact that Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje will not be touring India for the forthcoming ODI series:

A certain section of South African society remains obsessed with its own superiority complex and, even more sadly, convinced that most foreigners outside Europe are lawless, untrustworthy savages. Do they really believe that the Indian police are not governed by law? Apparently so.

Franz Cronje, Hansie's elder brother, has said a film is to be made of the former South African captain:

"We started on the script more than a year ago and a lot of work has been put into it..."

His book has been flying off the shelves in South Africa.

Is Graeme Smith the best man to lead the World XI side? Read Peter Roebuck's take in Natal Witness.