Having recently read Mickey Arthur’s book, Taking the Mickey, it’s become apparent to me that the national selectors don’t actually watch cricket, when you see them in the Presidents box on the first day of a Test series, they’re not there to watch the game, they’re there to socialize and consume the sponsors beverage. This is sad news for Roelof van der Merwe, because I really hope that someone has got word to the selectors that this boy is needed for our World Cup attempt in 2011.

The South African Cricket team has long been accused of being chokers, a label that I personally despise, but it is true that some players lose their cool under pressure. Herschelle Gibbs refers to this in his book, To the point, he’s of the opinion that the Protea’s approach to the game is far to conservative which leaves to much to be done at the end of an innings, rather than the team being chokers.

Let it be known that there is absolutely nothing conservative about Roelof van der Merwe. Roela has also recently reaffirmed his ability to perform under pressure in both the MTN40 semi-finals that the Titans recently played.

Having been set a total of 300 runs by the Lions in the first semi-final, the Titans soon found themselves 3 wickets down with just 93 runs on the board. Needing 10 runs per over, van der Merwe came to the wicket and smashed a career best 93 off 51 balls (5 x 4’s, 7 x 6’s, 182.35SR), now if that is not BMT, then I’ve never seen it.

In the second MTN40 semi-final at the Wanderers, it was again van der Merwe who this time bowled the Titans back into the match. The Titans set the tone scoring 287 in their innings, The Lions and more specifically Jonathan Vandiar blazed the Titan’s bowlers all over the place, the Titans were getting into real trouble with the Lions on 116 without loss, enter Roelf van der Merwe, two wickets in two balls, removing Vandiar and Cameron. Titans captain Rudolph took Roela off while he was on a hat-trick, but Roela returned later in the innings to remove a few more batsmen ending with figures of 41/5 from 8 overs. In his spell van der Merwe removed the four highest scoring Lions batsmen, and the other for a golden duck.

Going into the Final of the MTN40 on Friday evening, Roela finds himself joint second on the table for most wickets taken this season, one behind Ryan McLaren on the opposition team in the final, the Knights.

So if you have a line to the national selectors, please let them know Roelof van der Merwe can bat and bowl under pressure…. We need him, we really do.

I was uber chuffed when an email popped up in my in-box from Vincent Hofmann inviting me to the SA Cricket Awards Gala Dinner. As a blogger I don’t often get invited to official events and it’s very difficult for me to get access to the players. Vincent and I were accompanied by Mike Stopforth for the evening festivities.

It’s fantastic to see a sports organization like Cricket South Africa embracing social media, their #CSAawards campaign on Twitter was a creative value add to the evening, and it showed how social media can compliment a live event. When writing this article I counted that there were 1024 tweets with the #CSAawards hashtag, which is an awesome level of interaction. CSA has encouraged the players to join Twitter which is a great step forward in giving their fans access to the players on an individual bases.

The various sponsors of the event also made use of social media to cover the event, Standard Bank, Cricket South Africa and KFC Fangaea we’re all tweeting like crazy and posting Twitpics in an effort to include the general public. They even had the presenter Ryan O’Connor reading out tweets from an iPad!

Cricket South Africa have a great Facebook page another sign of the integration of Cricket and social media, now if only we could find more cricket bloggers….

Mark Boucher, me, Graeme Smith and Roelof van der Merwe at the CSA Awards

Would you have picked Robin Peterson in your Proteas squad for the ICC Champions Trophy?

Consider that he’s the third spin bowler in the squad behind Johan Botha and Roelof van der Merwe, add to that JP Duminy is also coming on as a spinner in recent times, so he’s possibly the fourth spin bowler.

Peterson has in my opinion a poor average in ODI cricket, 58.35. Compare his average to that of Johan Botha’s 38.41 and add to that, he’s over 30 years old and has only played 35 ODI’s, doesn’t inspire confidence in me to be honest.

Mike Procter was quoted as saying: “Planning for the 2011 World Cup is very much part of our thinking but there is a lot of cricket to be played before then. We must take our selections series by series and not get ahead of ourselves.” How is picking a 30 year old with very little experience a plan for the future? By the time the world cup comes around Peterson will probably be at the end of his career, and looking to earn some pounds in county cricket.

If I we’re planning for the future, I would play a young fast bowler like Ryan Mclaren or promote Paul Harris to the ODI team.

Proteas’ Standard Bank ODI squad: Graeme Smith (Nashua Cape Cobras, capt), Johan Botha (Chevrolet Warriors, vice-capt), Hashim Amla (Nashua Dolphins), Mark Boucher (Chevrolet Warriors), AB de Villiers (Nashua Titans), JP Duminy (Nashua Cape Cobras), Herschelle Gibbs (Nashua Cape Cobras), Jacques Kallis (Chevrolet Warriors), Albie Morkel (Nashua Titans), Makhaya Ntini (Chevrolet Warriors), Wayne Parnell (Chevrolet Warriors), Robin Peterson (Nashua Cape Cobras), Dale Steyn (Nashua Titans), Lonwabo Tsotsobe (Chevrolet Warriors), Roelof van der Merwe (Nashua Titans).

Poor planning or the blooding of a youngster? That’s my question. Graeme Smith left the final over to Wayne Parnell, in the nail biter last ball finish against New Zealand on Tuesday night. Needing 15 runs from the last over Graeme Smith called up Wayne Parnell (19) to bowl, but as he called him up he seemed to check with Parnell that he had one more left to bowl.

That couldn’t have been much of a confidence boost ahead of a pressure over for Parnell, nor the previous over by his senior Dale Steyn which went for 12 runs. The pressure seemed to get the better of Steyn; his last over was filled with wides and bye’s . Perhaps Graeme Smith wanted to give Parnell some exposure to death bowling, whatever Smith’s reckoning Parnell delivered. Bowling to Jacob Oram and Scott Styris he managed to keep the runs below the required 15.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man

My boy Roelof van der Merwe who so many people wrote off before his international career even got started delivered when needed. Van der Merwe stepped up and bowled his four overs for just fourteen runs, taking two wickets, including the wicket of Brendon McCullum stumped for 57 off 56 balls in the 17th over. In the end it was another quality bowling and fielding performance from the Proteas, great to see the boys respond when they were under pressure.

Image Source: Flickr

Asked and answered. Herschelle Gibbs was under pressure to score runs to retain his spot in the Proteas side and boy did he do it in style, scoring 110 runs from 116 deliveries. The century from Gibbs and the 84 runs from AB de Villiers lead South Africa to a massive 317/6 and a series victory. The Australian team was unsure of themselves going into the fourth MTN ODI at Sahara Oval St. George’s in Port Elizabeth on the back of two comprehensive losses. The Aussies showed their hand before the game by including Shane Harwood (35) making his debut as the third oldest Australian to make the ODI team.

A further sign of the lack of confidence came when Australian captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and choose to field first, unsure of what a good total was.

Smith and Gibbs started the innings in a nervous and unsure manner, both played at balls that should have been left alone with Gibbs chasing the ball on almost every occasion. Luck was on Gibbs’ side as he made it through the first ten overs though, Smith unfortunately departed early for just 20 runs. The further departure of Kaills (17) brought AB de Villiers and Herschelle Gibbs together.

The pure class of Gibbs started to show, with AB putting in a fine performance at the other end. The Australian bowlers had no answer to the onslaught during the pairs 136-run third-wicket partnership. Gibbs, Morkel, de Villiers lost their wickets between the 38th and 42nd overs, JP Duminy and Mark Boucher ensured that they lower order played a significant role with Duminy scoring 40 runs from 25 balls.

Chasing a total of 318 for victory it was always going to be a huge task, but as usual the Aussies were up for a fight. Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin put in an opening stand of 129; Ricky Ponting was also on a mission with the bat, knocking four fours off Dale Steyn in one over before he was caught by Albie Morkel for 53. The bowling of Roelof van der Merwe must again be applauded for turning the game as he took the wickets of Clarke, Ferguson and Michael Hussey within five overs. Dale Steyn took the key wickets of Ponting and David Hussey, ending the innings with four wickets. Australia was all out in the 46th over for 256.

Over the home and away ODI series South Africa have won 7 and lost 2, with the ODI No. 1 ranking changing a few times. South Africa has now won three ODI series in a row against Australia and retains the ODI No. 1 ranking. Onwards to the ICC World T20… Forever  Proteas.

In the previous MTN ODI at SuperSport Park the bowling from Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell lead to the demise of the Australians. At Sahara Park Newlands in Cape Town it was the batting of Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers that put the game beyond the reach of Ricky Ponting’s men. After finally winning a toss in the home series, Graeme Smith elected to bat first, knowing well that chasing a total at Newlands is an almost impossible task. The opening pair of Smith and Gibbs was ineffective; they gave way for Kaills and de Villiers to take control.

It must be said that the bowling from Mitchell Johnson built the pressure on the openers, Johnson finished with figures of 10 overs, 2 maidens, 32 runs taking 4 of the 6 wickets that fell in the Proteas innings.

Kaills and de Villiers both went to half centuries as they built their partnership, taking South Africa from 50/2 to 164/3. This partnership was the foundation that allowed the rest of the batsmen room to play shots. Duminy, Morkel and Boucher all scored at more than a run a ball. In the final over of the innings Roelof van der Merwe came to the wicket, with four balls remaining everyone was suggesting he take a single and let Boucher do the rest, but Roelof had other plans. He flashed at the first one, swung wildly at the second, and then knocked a massive six to square leg. This man has passion; he wears his inexperience on his sleeve. I can’t wait to see this young player mature into a regular in the Proteas side. South Africa posted 289/6 after their 50 overs.

With the knowledge that the highest successful run chase at Newlands was 229, the South Africans were confident. The spectacular bowling carried over from the previous game, with Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell restricting the run rate. On the back of the good work the pace bowlers had done, the new spin bowling partnership of Botha and van der Merwe came into play. Roelof van der Merwe, taking 3 wickets for just 37 runs from his 10 overs, was the pick of the bowling attack.

Australia batted well in the end to score 264/7, something the Proteas should keep an eye on. Looking forward to the fourth MTN ODI in Port Elizabeth on Monday the Proteas will be confident, both their bowling attack and middle order batting attack have performed well. It’s time for our openers to perform, leading 2-1; I’ll back them to win the series.

Allrounder Roelof van der Merwe’s impressive international debut in the Twenty20 against Australia at Centurion on Sunday has earned him a place in the one-day squad for the first two matches. van der Merwe top scored with 48 and took the wicket of David Hussey with his left-arm spin to set up the team’s 17-run win and bag the Man-of-the-Match award.

Chief selector Mike Procter said van der Merwe will be a welcome addition to the squad for the injured Jacques Kallis.

“Roelof as an allrounder provides us with cover for Jacques Kallis who is recovering from a groin injury,” Procter said. “Jacques’ fitness will be assessed by our medical team when the squad assembles in Durban today.”

South Africa experimented with their line-up for Sunday’s match, resting Dale Steyn and Hashim Amla among others to try out their Twenty20 stars and Procter was excited by the young talent.

“Roelof, Yusuf Abdulla and Robin Peterson have all performed outstandingly from the opportunities they have been given which is extremely encouraging. It enables us to broaden the base of our playing talent and gives us some exciting options when we select the squad for the ICC World Twenty20 in England in June,” Procter said.

“Although he is not part of the ODI squad, Yusuf Abdulla will practice with the Proteas this week to give him another opportunity to work within the national team environment.”

The first two ODIs are at Kingsmead and Centurion on Friday and Sunday.

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What is all this noise about how Roelof van der Merwe scored his 48 runs in the second Standard Bank Pro20 International? Journalists and fans alike are saying things like; “he got lucky”, “he didn’t play with any class”, “miscued swipes, freakish top edges and lots of laughs” and “there we’re no traditional cricket shots in his game”.

Since when was Pro20 cricket about class and elegant cricket strokes? Where is the tradition in Pro20 cricket? Ahh there isn’t any is there. Ask the 20 000 fans that attended the game at SuperSport Park if they thought Roelof van der Merwe played badly. Chances are they enjoyed every stroke because Pro20 cricket is about hitting the ball high and far, and scoring quickly which he did.

If Roelof van der Merwe had played a few elegant and classy cricket strokes and got out for 12 runs, everyone would be saying ooh he’s not quite ready yet. But on debut he scored the most runs and set his team up for the win (FTW).

Give the guy a break, help build his confidence and he’ll never look back.