Solskjaer goes toe to toe with Lampard
joined forces in the commentary box and the duo shared a unique moment when Thando Ntini – Makhaya’s son – was introduced into the attack.
Makhaya: “Will you look after him (Thando), Graemy?”
Smith: “Definitely”
It was significant for Ntini was placing his son’s future in the trust of someone that may previously have let him down.
All the players also wore Black Lives Matter armbands, while Tabraiz Shamsi, who was one of the first Proteas to publicly support Ngidi, took it a step further by shaving “BLM” into his hair. These were all welcoming gestures.
The road ahead remains long for Cricket SA and all its stakeholders to make the sport fully inclusive. It requires sincerity much like what Michael Holding, Ebony Rainford-brent and Nasser Hussain displayed last week on Sky Sports ahead of the first Test between England and West Indies.
Supersport may have missed a trick not to get Ntini, Ashwell Prince or perhaps Hashim Amla to share their stories of why Black Lives Matter in the build-up or at halftime. Instead we were treated to a show from pop star Sho Madjozi.
Equally Arnold could have been utilised as a commentator and not only as build-up presenter. That would have been a powerful statement for gender equality.
I can only hope these issues will be discussed behind closed doors for the road ahead remains a long and winding one for Cricket SA and its premier broadcaster.
MANCHESTER United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hit back at Frank Lampard after his Chelsea counterpart suggested Video Assistant Referees (VAR) have favoured United his season.
Lampard said United benefited from contentious VAR decisions and poor on-pitch decisions, commenting on how a “clear and obvious decision” went their way on Thursday when Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha was fouled but no penalty was awarded.
Ahead of today’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea, Solskjaer suggested United have also been unlucky with decisions.
“I can sit here for hours now and try to talk about this. It looks like there’s a narrative, it looks like people want to influence whoever is making the decisions,” the Norwegian told reporters yesterday.
“I hear people talking about luck, that we’ve been lucky more than unlucky. If you look at the factual decisions - I don’t want to sound like a certain manager talking about facts - but if you’re offside, you’re offside, that’s clear.”
Solskjaer listed incidents in which he felt United were hard done by, describing how a late penalty against Tottenham Hotspur was overturned and how Southampton’s Oriol Romeu and West Ham’s Mark Noble should have been sent off for rash tackles.
“So it’s actually me that should be complaining that we get decisions against us on the pitch by the on-pitch referee,” Solskjaer added.
“There’s a narrative there but we have to focus on our games, we let other people talk about that. I don’t want to go too much into it because I might be in trouble.
“I’m pretty relaxed on these and referees are going to be making objective decisions and are not going to be influenced by any emotion in any way.”
Left back Luke Shaw will miss the semi-final and his replacement Brandon Williams is also doubtful after suffering a facial injury against Southampton on Monday.
On Friday, Lampard admitted that Chelsea’s defence will have to be on their toes when they are up against United’s in-form attacking trio which is the most potent in the country.
United forwards Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial have scored 22 goals each in all competitions this season while 18-year-old Mason Greenwood has also had a breakthrough season with 16 goals so far.
Lampard also said the mid-season addition of midfielder Bruno Fernandes has vastly improved United’s attack as Solskjaer’s side look to extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to 20 games.