12/20/2023 0 Comments South africa cricket sounds![]() What if that was Bavuma’s last chance to ton up again? The South African fast bowler walked off in wide-eyed disbelief. In March 2018 he faced an Australia side reeling from the sandpaper-gate fiasco and struck an unbeaten 95 before Morne Morkel edged Pat Cummins to second slip. He scored 74 in Hobart, 89 in Dunedin and 71 against Bangladesh in Potchefstroom. Then we waited for another hundred that never came: 2016 became 2017 which became 2018 and still we waited. And as Bavuma raised his bat in a stadium where his father would have once been barred, we added a new line to our checkered tale. Three Rugby World Cup wins have done little to bring about the “rainbowism” he promised but that truth hasn’t stopped us from tethering our self-worth as a country to our athletes. Nelson Mandela once said that sport has the power to change the world. Of course this was just a yarn we told ourselves. Bavuma’s milestone was a sign that the crimes of the past generation were perhaps fading a little further in the rearview mirror. In South African cricket those are predominantly expensive high schools that are disproportionately filled with white students. That high elbow on defence, that understanding of length, those wrists and nimble feet, all of that is the product of meticulous development on the manicured training pitches of an elite talent factory. His craft relies on more than physical gifts and fast-twitch muscle fibres. More importantly, he is a batter, still the only black African batter with a Test century for South Africa. It wasn’t just Bavuma’s skin colour that mattered. It was a streaky stroke in an otherwise superb knock at Newlands and was a landmark moment for a nation perpetually gripped by the horrors of its past. I'm unsure how you can take Alex Carey to India in the World Cup squad, give him one game and then drop him," he said.Īustralia face Sri Lanka in Lucknow on Monday.That was Bavuma’s first Test century. "I love him and I'm more than happy for him to be captain but he's got to do some work on that."Ĭlarke also criticised the decision to drop wicketkeeper Alex Carey after the opening defeat to India. How is Cummins not bowling in the first 10 overs? "The easiest way to slow scoring is to take wickets yet we continue in Twenty20 cricket and one-day cricket, try to prevent runs. I don't think he looked to take wickets," he added. "He won the toss and bowled, I think he ball-chased and I don't think he was aggressive enough. The 42-year-old also said captain Pat Cummins "got it wrong" tactically. ![]() "If we're not careful the conversation we've been having for the last three weeks about the Wallabies, in two weeks' time we'll be having that about Australian cricket," said Clarke, who won the World Cup twice with Australia in 20. "If we're getting shown up like that against South Africa, with the spin in the sub-continent teams. I'm more worried about the subcontinent teams. "We've got some really tough cricket ahead of us and if we play like this, we are not qualifying. We haven't played Pakistan yet," Clarke told Sky Sports Radio. We could still qualify with two losses, but Sri Lanka are going to be tough in those conditions. ![]() The 134-run loss in Lucknow marked a second straight defeat at the 50-overs showpiece and Clarke said things do not get any easier with Sri Lanka and Pakistan up next for Australia, who have failed to reach 200 runs in both games so far. (Reuters) - Australia got their tactics and team selection all wrong in Thursday's World Cup defeat by South Africa and the five-times champions must quickly get their act together if they are to avoid a group-stage exit, said former skipper Michael Clarke. ![]()
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