Zondeki in line for SA tour call
Fast bowler Monde Zondeki has been awarded a central contract by South Africa and looks certain to be selected for their forthcoming tour to England.
Zondeki, currently playing county cricket for Warwickshire, replaces Charl Langeveldt in a 15-man list.
Langeveldt turned his back on international cricket when he opted to join Derbyshire on a Kolpak contract.
His decision followed a row over racial quotas earlier this year, which led to him withdrawing from a tour to India.
"We are sorry to lose a player of Charl's calibre...he is currently playing the best cricket of his career," said Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola.
"At the same time we are delighted that Monde has accepted the vacant contract."
Zondeki, 25, made his Test debut at Headingley during South Africa's 2003 tour to England, but has only made four further appearances in the intervening period.
If chosen for the tour, which begins at the end of next month, he will face fierce competition for a place in the Test side from Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel and Morne Morkel.
Fast bowler Morkel had to cut short a spell with Yorkshire after suffering a hamstring injury earlier this month.
BBC (c) MMVIII
Bakers mini cricket celebrates 25 years
THERE is a saying that time flies when you are having fun and that is it certainly applicable to the Bakers Mini Cricket programme, which was launched 25 years ago by former United Cricket Board managing director Ali Bacher.
The former South African captain and leading administrator wanted to involve young children in the game of cricket in a fun and informative manner. He found a willing sponsor in Bakers and the rest, as they say, is history.
Next Thursday, Bakers Mini Cricket will attempt to set a new Guinness world record for the most number of children playing cricket at one time. This event is part of the festivities planned by Bakers and Cricket South Africa to celebrate the significant impact 25 years of mini cricket has had on the lives of children throughout South Africa.
Six thousand children between six and 11 will descend on eight venues across the country, including Sahara Oval St George's, as part of the mega Bakers Mini Cricket festival.
Over two million children have passed through the Bakers Mini Cricket programme, which has produced some of South Africa's major cricketing heroes, including Mark Boucher, Makhaya Ntini, Mfuneko Ngam and Shaun Pollock.
The Bakers Mini Cricket sponsorship has grown the popularity and reach of the game, particularly among the youth. Today, over 100000 children among 5000 schools nationally, take part in the Bakers Mini Cricket programme.
(c) AVUSA Media Ltd
Harbhajan was offender in South African incident
EVIDENCE is mounting against Harbhajan Singh in the aftermath of "slap-gate", the latest controversy surrounding the Indian spinner, with the revelation he had to apologise for a personal insult directed at South African batsman Ashwell Prince during the recent Test series.
Judging by the testimony of South Africa's mild-mannered coach, Mickey Arthur, Australian players are not the only ones to have been infuriated by Harbhajan, whose most recent temper tantrum, a slap that left fast bowler Shantha Sreesanth in tears, has seen him banished for the remainder of the Indian Premier League and facing further repercussions from the Indian board.
Contacted by The Age last night, Arthur clarified that the insult was not racial, but stood by his comments in an interview with website Cricinfo, in which he said India's problem children, Harbhajan and Sreesanth, both behaved poorly during the recent series.
"At the end of the day, we are not squealers," Arthur said. "We strongly believe that what happens on the field stays on it. Besides, we were very happy with the general spirit in which the series was played in, and we left with very pleasant memories of the tour …
"There was an incident in Kanpur. There was a hearing by the (International Cricket Council) match referee (Roshan Mahanama) during which Harbhajan apologised to Prince. It was settled and we were happy with the apology. I am not 100% sure what was said. But Ashwell felt very strongly about it at that time and that's why we took it up."
The following day, Harbhajan and Prince shared a flight to Mumbai, where they became IPL teammates. In relation to Sreesanth, the emotional fast bowler, Arthur said: "Sreesanth was just Sreesanth. Perhaps our players lost a lot of respect for him on the tour. He constantly abused A.B. de Villiers and it was very personal. But considering the general spirit in which the series was played, we didn't feel strongly enough to complain."
Harbhajan's IPL ban will cost him more than $500,000 in match payments and came with a warning from co-founder Inderjit Singh Bindra that another incident may cost him his career.
The spinner avoided a ban in Australia last summer because of an ICC bungle and the 27-year-old had a racial abuse charge downgraded because of a lack of evidence.
Meantime, as Australia's Test players leave their Indian franchises to attend a national camp ahead of the tour of the West Indies, Victorian batsman Brad Hodge will join the Kolkata Knight Riders as a replacement. Hodge had been overlooked in the initial player auction and instead played at Lancashire.
In Kolkata, he will play under Sourav Ganguly and reunite with Bushrangers teammate David Hussey.
(c) 2008. The Age Company Ltd
Gibbs to join Glamorgan
South Africa batsman Herschelle Gibbs will represent Glamorgan in this summer's Twenty20 Cup.
The Welsh county have confirmed the 34-year-old, who has made 90 Test and 227 one-day international appearances, has been cleared by Cricket South Africa to join up with Glamorgan from June 11.
Glamorgan cricket manager Matthew Maynard said: "I'm absolutely delighted that Herschelle will be joining us for our Twenty20 Cup games."
He added: "Herschelle has an outstanding track record, especially in the shorter form of the game, and I'm sure that our supporters will be eager to see in action for Glamorgan a man who entered the record books in the 2007 World Cup by hitting six sixes in an over."
Copyright (c) 2008 The Press Association.
Cricket: South Africa sweeps past English
South Africa assured itself of the fourth and last place in the World Cup semifinals when it beat England by the overwhelming margin of nine wickets at Bridgetown, Barbados.
As well as eliminating the hapless English, the result also ended the vestigial hopes of host West Indies. An England victory Tuesday would have reignited West Indian hopes and made the match between the two that ends the Super Eight stage Saturday a head-to-head eliminator. Instead the final few days of this part of the tournament will be largely academic.
South Africa will be seeded fourth in the semifinals, unless Sri Lanka loses heavily to Ireland in its final group match Wednesday. One lesson of this World Cup is that nothing is impossible. An Irish victory would, though, be a shock even by the standards of this competition.
Fourth place means South Africa will meet the top seed in St. Lucia next Wednesday. This is likely to be Australia, which can only be displaced if New Zealand beats it heavily when the neighbors meet Friday in Grenada. The other semifinal will be played in Jamaica next Tuesday.
Instead of the hoped-for tight contest with a thrilling finish, South Africa beat England in one of the most one-sided matches of the entire World Cup. South Africa had a day on which it justified the No. 1 rating with which it came into the tournament.
England was shockingly bad. When Ireland and Bangladesh beat Pakistan and India to qualify for the Super Eights, a number of former England players complained that this devalued the tournament by making mismatches likely.
It was their team, though, that has produced the greatest embarrassment. Bangladesh beat South Africa, while Ireland forced it to take considerably longer before winning by seven wickets.
This performance, the worst by any established nation at this World Cup, will undoubtedly renew pressure on England's coach Duncan Fletcher. The Zimbabwean has transformed his team in five-day tests, but has a poor record in the one-day game with no coherent strategy or real continuity of personnel.
Captain Michael Vaughan is also in jeopardy in this format of the game. He has never performed well in one-day cricket, with only 130 runs in eight matches in this World Cup representing a new low.
As one commentator put it, the only thing England won was the toss. It chose to bat, but was immediately in trouble against a South African team which had omitted its leading fast bowler, Makhaya Ntini.
Three wickets went early, the most important that of England's most dangerous batsman, the South African-born Kevin Pietersen. South Africa fears his attacking talent, but also regards him as a quitter who left his home country rather than adapt to post-apartheid conditions. He was caught by his most vocal adversary, South Africa's captain, Graeme Smith.
England's best innings was played by another South African-born batsman, Andrew Strauss, who scored 46. Once he had gone, England collapsed hopelessly against the swing bowling of all-rounder Andrew Hall whose five wickets for 18 runs were the best ever by a South African in a World Cup match. Only young all-rounder Ravi Bopara, who hit 27 not out, managed any late resistance.
With only 154 runs to defend, England had to start well and restrict South Africa's early batting in the way its own top order had been tied down.
Instead it bowled even worse than it had batted. Smith and AB de Villiers are dangerous attacking batsmen under any circumstances. Their task was simplified by inaccurate bowling and poor fielding. They blasted 28 runs from the first two overs bowled by England paceman Sajid Mahmood and went on to treat its other bowlers in the same way.
By the time De Villiers was caught by England's hyperactive wicket-keeper Paul Nixon from the bowling of Andrew Flintoff, South Africa had scored 85 runs in less than 10 overs.
Smith was joined by Jacques Kallis, who became the first South African to reach 9,000 in one-day internationals as he provided backup for the captain.
Smith ended on 89 not out from 58 balls, striking the final boundary from the hapless Mahmood whose 26 deliveries cost 49 runs. South Africa won with more than 30 of its allotted 50 overs to spare, barely half the time it took to reach a similar target when it was set by Ireland's part-timers and club cricketers.
Copyright (c) 2008 the International Herald Tribune
Indian cricket ... from the sublime to the ridiculous
South Africa won the second Test in Ahmedabad by an innings and 90 runs - are India just suffering from burn-out?
The Indians performed two unbelievable acts in the space of two weeks. The first one was an individual feat - Viru Sehwag scored 319 in the first innings of the Chennai Test against South Africa. The second one was a team effort - in the first innnings of the second Test in Ahmedabad, the Indian team could not last beyond the 20th over on day one! What a come down for team that gave the Aussies a good run for their money.
The South Africans played well in every department and totally overshadowed their Indian counterparts. Even their batting, which was supposed to be suspect against the Indian spin twins, performed better than the Indian stars. All this contributed to a huge innings win for the Proteas.
India looked tired on the field and their mind seemed to be somewhere else. The BCCI, in their efforts to milk the golden goose that is the Indian team, has filled the schedule with so many tours (overseas and home) that for the next year, they don't seem to have any breathing time at all. Even the one month they had left between this tour and the Sri Lankan visit, is now taken up with the IPL concept.
This means that the players have no time to recuperate. One has to look at the on-field efforts to gauge the fitness levels of the players. Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble are fighting against time to play the Test matches on this tour. These are two of the most committed players of the Indian team - the fact that they are missing matches is a reflection of how badly the schedule has been planned by the BCCI.
India's overseas record is now better than their domestic record. It is so surprising to hear about it, when a few years back it was exactly the opposite. The home tracks do not support the spinners as much as they used to. So, as it is in other countries, the home advantage is no longer present. Players are much more confident of playing the Indians on their own soil.
South Africa have come prepared and that is because they had more time after their series against Bangladesh. They even went to the extent of playing the first drawn Test of the series without any warm-up matches. So much for confidence!
Back to the game - the Indians must start phasing out their senior members in the batting line-up. Wasim Jaffer can play only on featherbeds - that is not good news for him. It is time Gautam Gambhir is brought into the Test eleven. Over the next 6-9 months, Sourav Ganguly first and VVS Laxman next should be replaced by younger stars like Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma. Same time next year, Rahul Dravid and then, after another six months, Tendulkar should be replaced. Of course, all this should be done in consultation with them. But, will the BCCI do it? Going by their past record, I doubt it.
(c) SportBuzz
South Africa fined for slow overrate
CHENNAI, India - International Cricket Council match referee Roshan Mahanama on Monday penalized South Africa for its slow overrate in the opening Test match against India.
The first Test match of the three-match series ended in a draw Sunday.
South Africa's team has been fined 10 per cent of its match fees, while the penalty for captain Graeme Smith will be 20 per cent, an ICC statement said Monday.
The statement said Mahanama imposed the fine as the overrate of the South African bowlers fell two overs short, after the time allowance for interruptions was taken into consideration.
ICC's regulations stipulate a five per cent penalty for every over that a side falls short, and the captain is fined double that amount.
Copyright (c) 2008 The Canadian Press.
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