CAN THE COIN, SAYS FAF
PROTEAS captain Faf du Plessis has re-opened the toss debate, with the recently turned 34-yearold suggesting it needed to be scrapped altogether.
Du Plessis was quick to point out that his view had nothing to do with the Galle pitch that saw his team crash to a 278-run defeat within two-and-a-half days here in the first Test, saying: “I thought it was actually a decent Test wicket. It’s obviously a lot more challenging to face spin. But there weren’t any demons in the wicket at any stage while we were playing.”
Instead, Du Plessis is more concerned about the product
Test cricket is serving up at the moment. The ratio of teams winning Test series away from home is diminishing all the time, with even the Proteas – once the “Road Warriors” after virtually enjoying a decade without an away series defeat – becoming susceptible to conditions abroad.
The Proteas surrendered their proud record on the Bunsen burners of India in 2015 before succumbing in England last year too.
After Saturday’s mauling, they are on the brink of a third series defeat abroad in three years.
In contrast, after years of DEFENDING champions Tshwane romped to a comprehensive 47-34 victory over Mangaung Metro in the final of the SPAR national netball championships at the Missionvale Sports Arena on Saturday.
It was coach Jenny van Dyk’s sixth tournament win since the national championships in Durban last year.
Mangaung surprised Tshwane during the round robin phase of the tournament, beating them 46-35 and the Pretoria side showed early on that they were not going to allow that to happen again.
They were three goals ahead after the first quarter and increased their lead with every successive quarter. By half-time they were 25-17 ahead and they stepped up another gear in the second half, to lead 3824 at the third interval. Mangaung fought back hard in the final quarter, which they won narrowly, 10-9, but it was too little too late.
Tshwane did more with their turnover ball than the young Mangaung team and that was the main difference between the two teams.
“I spent a lot of time last night going mediocre performances in home series – even when in possession of the famed ICC World No 1 golden Test mace – South Africa have transformed the republic into a fortress with series wins over powerhouses such as India and Australia recently. In fact, the 3-1 triumph over the Baggy Greens had historical significance for it was the first time the Proteas had achieved this feat before its new rainbow nation audience.
Ironically, all of this home success has come under Du Plessis’ leadership, a man who has been frank about his desire to maximise familiar seam bowling conditions through consultation with local curators in the build-up to any major series.
“I think even in South Africa you’ll still prepare the conditions the way you prepare them now,
but you just make sure that you bring some balance. In home conditions teams will still win the majority of the games, but you do it to even it out a little. I think over the last two or three years away-records over the footage from the USSA (University Sports South Africa) final last week,” said Van Dyk. “We knew what kind of attack they wanted to play, and we played to our strengths rather than theirs,” she said.
“We started better than we did in the round robin match, and we also had a better warm-up this time.”
Van Dyk said the team would to use the prize money from the Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League to travel to New Zealand for the international Super Club have definitely gone down, and games are finishing a lot sooner than they used to. “I’m a big fan of taking The triumphant Tshwane team competition.
“We leave there on August 24th and we play our first Varsity Cup match on the 26th,” she said. “But it is important to go to the Super Club, because we learnt so much last year about where we need to be.”
Dr Kenneth Kaunda (Potchefstroom), who missed out on a final berth by 0.07 of a point on goal average, finished third. Tshwane also won the Under-21 title, beating Cape Winelands 55-47. away the toss,” he said.
“When I started playing Test cricket, 400s and 500s were happening quite regularly. So I’m not just speaking about subcontinent conditions.
“In South Africa games hardly reach the end of day four anymore. I think that’s one of the ways you can make sure that balance is a little better.”
South Africa’s opportunity of achieving the rare distinction of winning consecutive away series in Sri Lanka may already have floated into the Indian Ocean, but they will at least be able to salvage some sort of pride should they manage to turn it all around in Colombo next week.
This is undoubtedly a monumental challenge that awaits the Proteas in the island’s capital, which has left Du Plessis, coach Ottis Gibson and selection convenor Linda Zondi to mull over both team composition and strategy for the next couple of days.
“It’s a case of our batters somehow trying to put pressure back on the quality of spin bowling that Sri Lanka have. There’s two ways of looking at it.
“You could sit it out and try and bat for as long as possible, but you also need to put pressure on the opposition. We’ll have those conversations.”