SA Cricket Annual
Tomorrow marks the release of the 57th edition of the SA Cricket Annual, it’s also the last edition of the SA Cricket Annual editions sponsored by Mutual & Federal. The Annual consists of 688 pages of articles, statistics, records, match reports, player profiles and colour photographs and is widely considered the most comprehensive account of cricket played in South Africa.
The 2010 edition of the SA Cricket Annual includes an assessment of the career of Makhaya Ntini, who played in his 100th Test match last season, by his former teammates and fellow fast bowler Shaun Pollock.
In the article Shaun Pollock notes that the Ntini’s delivery from wide on the crease was not something that was recommended by the MCC coaching manual.
“Commentators and journalists may have gone to great lengths to suggest that if he could just get closer to the stumps he would be far more successful. But I disagree,” wrote Pollock in explaining how Ntini’s technique was developed from his need to avoid the concrete strip at the Mdingi village ground after he received his first pair of cricket spikes.
“Very few bowlers delivered from wide and swung the ball in which meant that batsmen worldwide weren’t used to this angle of attack,” according to Pollock. “This forced right- and left-handers alike to play at many more deliveries than they had to and the uncertainty of whether to leave or play often led to their downfall. It was thought that Mak wouldn’t be that effective against left-handers as he pitched most deliveries outside leg stump. What he lost out in ‘lbws’ he made up for in ‘caught behinds’ as the left-handers found it amazingly difficult to discipline themselves into shouldering arms to a length delivery pitched outside leg.”
An unique perspective on Mak’s bowling from a SA Cricket legend Shaun Pollock, probably the most qualified person in the world to analyze Makhaya Ntini’s bowling action.
I’m lucky enough to have been invited to the launch of the 2010 edition and will keep you updated via Twitter on who the five Mutual & Federal South African Cricket Annual Cricketers of the Year will be.
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I may be ahead or behind of things but I am totally dismayed by SA performance. Zero co-hersion, zero game plan, zero BMT or intent. Like a good CEO accepts the blame when its shareholders show no profit after the finacial , so too should Graeme Smith be held accountable. Come on chaps- ring the changes and let’s move on forward.