The best and the worst of cricket in 2017
Our three Independent Media cricket writers – STUART HESS, ZAAHIER ADAMS AND LUNGANI ZAMA – look back on the highs and lows of 2017. And they have a wish list for 2018 ... Stuart Hess
THE BEST OF 2017
1 SA WOMEN’S TEAM With the exception of Dane van Niekerk, her players and the coaching staff, not many in this country gave the Proteas Women a chance at the Women’s World Cup, but they came within two wickets of gaining a spot in the final. Laura Wolvaardt’s cover drive has rapidly become one of South African cricket’s greatest gifts to the world. 2
DEAN ELGAR The 30-year-old left-handed opener did not get to finish as Test cricket’s lead run-scorer in 2017 with an average outing in Port Elizabeth (and Steve Smith has made a mockery of England).
3 AIDEN MARKRAM Finished the 2016/17 season in glorious fashion, notching the highest score in South African one-day domestic history and smashing a stunning 161 in the Momentum One-Day Cup final. Started the 2017/18 season in the SA Test side, and two games in has a century. Now, if he could just sort out his running between the wickets….
4 PAKISTAN Rammed India’s faces in it, beating them by 180 runs in the final of the Champions Trophy. It was all so Pakistan, nothing could be predicted, but once they got on a roll, they were impossible to stop and magnificent to watch. Whatsmore, one of cricket’s good guys, Mickey Arthur, coached a winning team at an ICC tournament.
5 TITANS What a force this is in South African cricket. From the boardroom – where their administrative discipline has been recognised by Cricket SA – to the playing field where they won one trophy, finished second in another and ended the year with a third consecutive T20 crown, they’ve set themselves apart as SA cricket’s best domestic franchise.
THE WORST OF 2018
1 SA IN THE CHAMPIONS TROPHY The Proteas wilted under the spotlight once more at an ICC event, not even able to get out of the group stages at the tournament. Planning and execution were very very poor. Couple that with SA’s inherent mental fragility in tournaments and it was one to forget.
2 SA TOUR TO ENGLAND Too many distractions off the field – from CSA’s shambolic handling of the coaching situation to players being out of form – this was one of the worst performances by a South African team that had earned a reputation as great travellers. A record of three wins out of 10 international matches tells the story.
3 CANCELLATION OF GLOBAL LEAGUE T20 An enormous embarrassment for Cricket South Africa given the months spent publicising the competition, the players signed and the teams created. Ultimately it fell apart because a broadcast deal couldn’t be secured. CSA are still hopeful of reviving the thing, but…..
MY WISHES FOR 2018
1 CSA to right administration The mother body ends 2017 with an ‘acting’ CEO and given the rapid changes in the game, that’s one area that needs solidifying immediately.
2 THE PROTEAS TO BEAT AUSTRALIA IN SA It’s the only item missing from the SA Test cricket story in the post-isolation years.
3 LESS KP ON ‘COMMENTARY’ We’re not sure what Kevin Pietersen should do to keep himself attached to cricket, but commentating definitely ISN’T the answer.
Zaahier Adams
THE BEST OF 2017
1 HASHIM AMLA’S CENTURY IN HIS 100TH TEST Amla approached his 100th Test match having gone through 13 innings without a hundred. So, instead of the usual “razzmatazz” that has become synonymous with such milestones, Amla opted for a “quiet build up”. It paid dividends with the “Mighty#” becoming the eighth player to score a century in his centenary Test.
2 KESHAV MAHARAJ’S 6/40 AT THE BASIN RESERVE SA had loaded their squad with pace bowlers for the New Zealand tour, but instead it was their unheralded left-arm spinner who won the series for the Proteas with an outstanding spell of bowling into the notorious Wellington wind. It was not a once-off, for Maharaj had claimed a maiden five-for the previous week in Dunedin.
3 PROTEAS WOMEN’S MARCH TO THE ICC WORLD CUP SEMI-FINAL For one glorious month Dane van Niekerk’s team took the country on a rollercoaster ride second to none. After months of good preparation, they fulfilled their immense potential by coming within a whisker of being the first South African senior team to reach an ICC World Cup final.
4 DEAN ELGAR’S 199 V BANGLADESH The cornerstone of a Proteas Test batting unit that has been “consistently inconsistent”, the gritty left-handed opener has been “Mr Reliable” in 2017. There has been centuries in Cape Town, Dunedin, London, Bloemfontein and it was such a pity that he could not eke out just one more run for a well-deserved double ton in Potchefstroom.
5 IMRAN TAHIR’S 5/24 V NEW ZEALAND AT EDEN PARK Twenty20 internationals statistics are generally quickly forgotten, but Tahir’s performance was not just a career-best but he also became the second-quickest bowler to 50 T20I wickets. Tahir has been South Africa’s most consistent white-ball bowler for some time and it confirmed his World No 1 status in T20 and ODI cricket at the time.
THE WORST OF 2017
1 CHAMPIONS TROPHY & ENGLAND TOUR Yet another major ICC tournament disappointment for the Proteas. This one was even harder to swallow for supporters back home as the team entered the competition ranked No 1 in ODI’s – in fact they still are – which leaves just so many questions unanswered. It spilled over into the England tour where the Proteas were simply horrible.
2 RUSSELL DOMINGO’S DEPARTURE The way South Africa’s former coach’s exit was conducted was simply inexcusable. From the moment he was asked to re-apply for his job in the basement of St George’s Park midway through a Test, right up until captain Faf du Plessis virtually informed the media that Domingo was being replaced, the whole process was extremely disrespectful.
3 GLOBAL LEAGUE T20 POSTPONEMENT Everyone was dressed up for the wedding only for the bride not to arrive. That was the hollow disappointment that everyone felt after the postponement of the GLT20. It had a severe impact on CSA, with former CEO Haroon Lorgat stepping down, and the signed players having to be compensated at a great cost despite not even delivering one ball!
MY WISHES FOR 2018
1 THE GLT20 TO GET OFF THE GROUND South Africa needs a T20 League of its own. It has to happen in 2018.
2 GREEN PITCHES FOR THE ENTIRE INDIA SERIES India have become the “bullies” of modern-day cricket. Would it not be a nice sight to see Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel working the likes of Virat Kohli over on bouncy, seaming tracks?
3 AIDEN MARKRAM TO SLAY THE AUSSIES The Titans youngster has been phenomenal since bursting on the scene. He could just be the catalyst for the Proteas to finally beat Australia on home soil.
Lungani Zama
THE BEST OF 2017
1 DEAN ELGAR In a difficult year for South African cricket, the Titans opener became a rock for the Proteas. He has looked increasingly comfortable at the highest level, with vital centuries, and was even handed the captaincy in the absence of Faf du Plessis from the Lord’s Test.
2 PROTEAS WOMEN Brilliant to see them take centre stage in the Women’s World Cup, and show that they are making strides year by year. Dane van Niekerk’s team’s passage to the semi-finals was a massive statement of future intent. Here is hoping that we see more and more of their matches on our screens.
3 IRELAND AND AFGHANISTAN I met the Afghan team after a practice at Lord’s, and it was like seeing little boys on Christmas morning. They were pinching themselves. The game needs newcomers, and having these two, contrasting nations at the ICC’s top table is terrific. May they not be the last to be handed the privilege.
4 PAKISTAN Homeless, but never hopeless. Pakistan’s kamikaze adventure through the Champions Trophy was a joy to behold. Their fans are some of the very best and most boisterous in the world, and their players have a wonderful way of making their own headlines. A great success for the neutral. And, well done Mickey Arthur – on keeping your marbles and your humour intact!
5 WEST INDIES The proud Caribbean islands are the cricket force most ravaged by the proliferation of T20 leagues around the world, so it is always encouraging to see them find new blood. Their win over the pompous English at Headingley was a small ray of (Shai) Hope for their Test ambitions. Blood fire!
THE WORST OF 2017
1 PROTEAS IN THE UK Seldom has a tour promised so much, and delivered so little. The Champions Trophy challenge was limp, and no one seemed to have even Allister Coetzee-type answers for the mess. The Test series was a logistical disaster, with players injured, suspended or flying home and back. They made England look a lot better than they are.
2 THE T20GL FAILURE TO LAUNCH An embarrassment that will live long in the memory. One significant head has rolled since, but South African cricket administration as a whole needs to take a long, hard look at itself if they are serious about trying again in 2018. The world is watching, and the country is wincing.
3 RAIN STOPPED PLAY IN DURBAN We all know that it rains in Durban at the end of the year, but on we blindly hope that it will somehow miss cricket matches. There surely has to be another way, or else matches that matter will continue to be washed away.
MY WISHES FOR 2018
1. MAKE MZANSI A FORTRESS Proteas need to make visitors uncomfortable again, starting with India. Fast pitches, loud crowds, and uncompromising cricket, please.
2. SETTLING THE QDK DILEMMA The new management must settle on a defined role for De Kock, and let him be the plunderer he was born to be. He is not a yo-yo.
3. PROTEAS TO MOER THE AUSSIES The only thing worse than a whinging Aussie is a winning one. Here’s hoping Rabada and co make them whinge again.