Some sticky wickets

It has been a turbulent two weeks for South African cricket, with information leaked to the media about undeclared bonuses of R4,7 million from the Indian Premier League and other ICC events paid to 40 employees of Cricket South Africa being the low light. But the pre-season also brought some exciting news.

There were three undoubted highlights. The first was the appointment of Johan Botha as South African International 20/20 captain after Graeme Smith decided to step down as captain for this format.

Smith also indicated that he would declare the innings closed as South African captain in One-Day Internationals on the conclusion of the World Cup.

Smith showed his maturity when deciding to vacate the hot seats. He was only 22 years and 44 days old when he succeeded Shaun Pollock as captain in 2003.

Many observers warn that captains or coaches could become stale and lose their competitive edges after five years.

Smith has been a lead-from-the-front leader. Watch out Jacques Kallis, Smith might chase down all your records if you decide to quit as a player sooner rather than later.

Already, Smith has scored 21 centuries and more than 7000 test runs, and this while at age 29 he still has at least six or so fruitful seasons to go.

Botha brings new lease of life

The decision to open the door for Botha could also give SA 20/20-cricket a new lease of life.

Botha has immediately indicated that he would love to see a fearless approach to the shortest format of the game, and that an infusion of fresh, young blood is also needed.

South Africa must be more pro-active, more adventurous and surely more dynamic during the first six overs, instead of chasing the game in the final 10 overs like the Proteas did in their disappointing campaign during the Cricket World Cup of 2010 in the West Indian islands.

Botha is a fearless character, one who occupied the crease with a cracked ankle once as an SA under-19 player against New Zealand. The battered and bruised warrior scored a ton in spite of the immense pain that day.

Upcoming “Oscars”

The second highlight has been that so many SA players were shortlisted for the International Cricket Board’s ‘Oscar-award ceremony’ in India on the 6 October.

Hashim Amla, recipient of five awards from Cricket South Africa in July for his magnificent performances in tests and one-day internationals, has been shortlisted for the Cricketer of the Year award together with AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, Morné Morkel and Dale Steyn.

Talking of Steyn, he and the other members of the SA bowling attack were credited by three notable former international cricketers as part of the second-best attack in the world, behind Australia. (the third highlight).

The panellists who discussed the effectiveness of the different international bowling attacks were Allan Donald of South Africa, Sanjay Manjrekar, former batsman of India, and Ian Chappell, a former captain and top-order batsman of Australia.

All three gentlemen argued that the Australians and South Africans fielded the most successful bowling attacks at home and on foreign soil. (Source: Cricinfo)

They said Mitchell Johnson, Dean Bollinger, Peter Siddle and Nathan Hauritz were able to turn on the charm away from home, even on the Indian subcontinent.

South Africa has had similar success away from home, as demonstrated by Steyn during his one-man demolition effort against India and the West Indian islands in 2010.

Donald expressed his confidence in Steyn and Morkel and said these two formed the best opening attack in the world.

Why did England not feature more promisingly? Because Donald, Chappell and Manjrekar argued that the inability to move the ball off the Cookaburra seam away from home on docile pitches, could prove troublesome to the England bowling attack. (Source: Cricinfo)

The Ashes

That is a verdict that might be overturned once the jury witness the performance of the English attack in the Ashes on Australian soil starting in November this year.

James Anderson is arguably the best opening bowler in the world behind Steyn with his ability to move the ball through the air both ways. Graeme Swann has established himself as the best spinner in world cricket, an opinion supported by the ICC rankings, which makes him the best spinner on sight right now.

Graham Ford, a former SA coach and a former director of cricket of Kent County in England, has said the Australian bowling attack lacks a real tearaway fast bowler who can run through top-orders. And they also have not found a suitable successor to the legendary Shane Warne, a world-class spinner able to demoralsze batting orders.

Chappell also shared his view about Steyn, claiming that he is not the best fast bowler in the world. He told Cricinfo that when Steyn was “good, he was very good, but he tended to be very moody.”

The view by this former Australian captain would not be supported by statistics. Steyn has taken five-wicket hauls in test cricket on 13 different occasions and has won tests single-handedly against New Zealand, Australia, the West Indian islands, India and Pakistan.

And he claimed his 200th test wicket in his 39th test, which made him the fourth fastest bowler in the history of test cricket to reach this milestone. His strike-rate in test cricket is also the second-fastest ever.

That, Mr Chappell, makes one think that you might be very wrong with your verdict on Mr Steyn.

He is the best – and thiis is supported by the ICC bowling rankings which have been headed by Steyn for the past year or more.

And these statistics seldom lie.