SA Cricket

I was listening to the radio and watching TV during South Africa's batting yesterday at Newlands. The batting, that is, not me. And the amazing thing is that suddenly Graeme Smith is the best cricketer ever. OK, I was listening to Radio 2000 and SABC 3 which have the same commentators and they were probably saying the same thing on both media. Can anyone actually listen to Mike "The Mullet" Haysman?

How can Graeme Smith go from looser to hero in 3 weeks? I think that the commentators have been told to hype him up. Also, I know that there is a policy at the SABC to be positive about South Africa and everything South African, even to a fault. In other words, even if things are bad, the SABC still have to find a positive angle to it. It's not always easy, but that is why you hear reports about how close the loss was or how well the side played or about all the positive things a team have learnt from thr 50 point drubbing.

Back to Smith. He only scored 24. Granted, it was fast, but it was still only 24. Three all-rounders scored more than he did and faster! If Shaun Pollock scores more than your opener, surely there is something to be worried about. These commentators were going on about how he was suddenly on form, all confident and all. He got bowled!!! How good can his form be? He didn't hole out to someone on square leg, he wasn't run out by some other batsman, HE MISSED THE BALL!!!! Lesson 1 in cricket, stop the ball from hitting the stumps.

Was he a good captain last night? Probably, if a team wins, then the captain must have done something, right? Nope. Ntini bowled the Ozzies out, Pollock restricted them and players held onto thier catches.

Will Australia come back from 0-2 and win the series? The injuries are a problem so we see. It's just sad that if or when we beat them, we can't claim to have beaten the Ozzies as half of thier side stayed at home.