LOVELY TOUCH FOR LOMBARD, KIWIS LEFT IN THE DARK AND ‘PAINTING’ THE OUTFIELD
Lombard Lorded
A lovely touch from the Northerns Cricket Union to name the media centre at SuperSport Park in honour of the former CEO Elise Lombard, who sadly passed away in 2012. Lombard was a great friend to the many hacks who’ve reported on cricket at the most fan friendly venue in the country.
Black Caps blacked out
While South Africans get to enjoy the series between the Proteas and the Black Caps – on digital Pay TV or Free to Air – over in New Zealand, cricket fans have been left in the dark. They’re not watching this series (at the moment) as Sky Sports NZ have failed to acquire the rights from Cricket SA. Craig McMillan, New Zealand’s batting coach claimed the players are “annoyed”, while Sky claimed to have “put in a really good bid – a big bid” that hasn’t been accepted. Cricket SA are still negotiating with Sky, and CSA”s chief executive, Haroon Lorgat said all his organisation wanted was a “market related rights fee”. Seems a whole lot of fuss for
winter cricket in two small TV markets.
If you schedule it, they will come
T20 cricket is the sport’s most popular format and while we are nowhere near the season in which the sport is played, a huge crowd still turned out at SuperSport Park. There are enough places in South Africa that don’t get rain in the winter, making ‘out-of-season’ cricket a viable option for CSA. “Playing international cricket in August could become a regular feature on our calendar,” said Lorgat.
Make-up for the outfield
It may not have looked – or felt like it – but we are still officially in winter and cricket fields at this time of year, especially on the Highveld, are normally brown. For the purposes of TV however, SuperSport Park needed some make up, so green ‘paint’ was used to make the outfield look pretty. Unfortunately for the boundary fielders it presented a problem as they couldn’t slide as they would in the summer. It was the main reason for Dave Miller dropping Guptill when he had 38, when he attempted a slide and jammed his knee into the dry outfield.
Faf absent
The T20 skipper’s knee once again didn’t allow him to play here yesterday. He will continue to be assessed this week, but if he isn’t ready for the first ODI – also in Centurion on Wednesday, then he is likely to sit out all three matches against the Kiwis. With South Africa facing an extremely busy schedule over the coming months, such caution is warranted.