2011 Standard Bank Pro20 Cricket Schedule:

It wasn’t long ago that there was talk the One Day International cricket in it’s current format is dead and buried. There was a public out cry with conflicting opinions. The old school called for the 50 over format to stay, while the younger crowd were punting the success of T20 cricket.

Cricket administrators have been fiddling with the format of 50 over cricket at the domestic level, the domestic series in South Africa has gone from 50, to 45 and is now at 40 overs in the MTN40. They’ve also introduced all sorts of power plays which is just too boring to explain.

It’s now been reported that the Australian cricket administrators are considering implementing a domestic series of 40-over matches, with each team to bat for two innings of 20 overs. But wait don’t jump to conclusions yet, there’s more. In this ‘new’ format, wickets lost and runs scored would accumulate over the full 40 overs, as I understand it; if a batsman get’s  out in the first innings, then he can’t bat in the second innings.

Crazy if you ask me, and this just as the issue of 50 over ODI cricket had started to settle down.

I’ve previously written about the failings of the MTN40, but over time I’ve started to change my opinion on the various formats of cricket. The success of a format, series or tournament is directly related to the quality of the players competing. It’s simple, cricket fans want to watch the best batsmen and best bowlers. It doesn’t really matter if they playing 50 or 40 overs. The reason the IPL is such as success isn’t because it’s T20 cricket, it’s because the worlds best players come together to compete.

If domestic cricket in South Africa wants to attract more spectators to the cricket grounds then they need to attract international players to the domestic competitions. The IPL, the county championship and England’s domestic T20 (Friends Provident T20) all attract international players.

The MTN40 and the Standard Bank Pro20 need to attract international players – this will bring the crowds back to the cricket grounds. Look at IPL 2 held in South Africa, every single game was well attended.

This brings me to the concept that Shane Warne and the Rajasthan Roylas have introduced, an international brand for a team that competes is domestic competitions, with a pool of players from all over the world…. Doesn’t sound like such a bad idea after all.

2010 Standard Bank Pro20 Log was last updated:22th February 2010

The Titans hosted the defending Standard Bank Pro20 champions The Cobras on Sunday afternoon at SuperSport Park. Before the game started there were rain clouds all around the stadium, having shared the points with the Dolphins the week before due to rain, the Titans could not afford another non-result due to the weather.

The Cobras won the toss and elected to bowl, which I found strange due to the chance the game could be affected due to rain, I’d always choose to bat under those circumstances. The Cobras premier bowler Charl Langeveldt opened the bowling, and was immediately hit for consecutive boundaries. This set the tone, the Titans batsmen put on 53 runs from 5 overs before lightening and then rain stopped play.

After the rain interval the game was reduced to 12 overs, which only gave the batsmen license to go for the big shots, and it was Bodi that came off. In his innings Gulam Bodi scored 88 runs from just 44 balls which included six 6’s and seven 4’s. The Titans ended their shortened inning on 136/1.

Needing 11.3 runs per over, The Cobras were under pressure from the first over. Andrew Puttick got them off to a flyer, before he was out caught and bowled by Basheeru-Deen Walters for just 9 runs. The ever powerful Herschelle Gibbs came in at three, and rocked the party. Gibbs hit 6’s all over the park before he got bogged down by the bowling of Titans captain Pierre Jouburt and Roelof van der Merwe. The two bowlers stopped the flow of runs and the pressure told. Gibbs was out caught by a brilliant Albie Morkel catch two short of his half century. The fall of his wicket was the beginning of the end, the game was already in the bag by the time Morkel bowled the penultimate over, taking two wickets.

In the end the Titans won comfortably ensuring that their Standard Bank Pro20 hopes stayed alive. The Cobras on the other hand have some thinking to do, their bowling was poor which resulted in massive pressure on their batsmen.

What a crazy week it’s been for cricket in South Africa. We’ve had the resignation of Mickey Arthur, the board of selectors were dismissed and we’ll be watching the MTN40 final on Friday evening. With all that going on it’s almost easy to forget that the Standard Bank Pro20 is starting in a few days, the 3^rd of February to be exact.

If last year was anything to go by, then we’re in for a spectacular series this time. Remember the two semi-finals that both went down to the power over, on the same day, resulting in a final at Newlands between the Cobras and Eagles? The Cobras won the title last year with their Proteas filled team, but this year the Proteas will be away in India until the second round of the semi-finals.

Looking forward to the 2010 series, I’ll be keeping my eye on the ever present Titans. In 2009 the Titans were dealt a low blow with two out of five games being rained out. The Titans have an experienced team, watch out for Farhaan Behardien, Jacques Rudolph and Faf du Plessis.

The Highveld Lions have come off another poor limited overs season and will be looking to put things right. The Lions have signed Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith ‘Slinger’ Malinga and captain Neil McKenzie is in excellent form.

The Cobras will still be a force to be reckoned with even without their stars, away on national duty. Look out for the new kid on the block Stiaan van Zyl, who scored consecutive centuries in the MTN40. With Andrew Puttick at the other end, and Charl Langeveldt an ever present death bowler, the Cobras must be fancying their chances of retaining their title.

Without the Proteas in the Pro20 the Warriors will struggle, they have a decent team but like the Dolphins, they just can’t seem to put it together consistently.  The other team that has played good Pro20 cricket is the Eagles, but they too have had a poor season with the coach having left them last year.

My early prediction is a Titans vs Cobras final, but then this is Pro20 cricket… anything is possible.

South Africa has announced the one day international (ODI) squad to play Australia. The same team that did the business against Australia on tour has been retained.

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), Morne Morkel (Nashua Titans), Makhaya Ntini (Chevrolet Warriors), Wayne Parnell (Chevrolet Warriors), Dale Steyn (Nashua Titans), Vaughn van Jaarsveld (bizhub Highveld Lions).

Cape Cobras, 2009 Standard Bank Pro20 Champions

Herschelle Gibbs put on a one man show, to help the Nashua Cape Cobras win the Standard Bank Pro20 Final on Saturday 21 February at Sahara Park, Newlands, Cape Town. Gibbs opened the batting with Proteas and Cobras captain Graeme Smith. Smith didn’t last long as he fell for two runs. Gibbs played a classic Pro20 innings, he started slow, built his momentum and then unleashed the fury at the end. He scored 87 runs off 62 balls not out, but the brilliance of the innings came from his ability to stay calm and maintain the run rate as wickets fell at regular intervals.

Posting a total of 147 the Cobras had their tails up when they came onto the field to defend their score. Charl Langeveldt bowled a superb 4 overs, for 20 runs picking up 3 wickets. The Eagles were never going to achieve the total and fell behind the run rate from the first over. Another Cobras bowler that needs to be mentioned is Vernon Philander who took 3 wickets for only 17 runs from his 3 overs.

So the Nashua Cape Cobras with their Proteas filled team have finally put a season together and won a trophy. Well done Cobras!

Looking back at the Standard Bank Pro20 series, The sponsors need to be congratulated on a magnificent campaign.They have continued to innovate the game of cricket in both South Africa and the world. How inspiring it is to see domestic cricket selling out stadiums, I hope this carries over into the test series against Australia soon to get underway.

Standard Bank did not only innovate the in-stadium experience, they also continued to take a unique approach to covering the series with a major focus on social media. They invited bloggers from around the country to attend the games and write for the Standard Bank blog Pro20. They even flew some of us around the country to attend the final. They also communicated on Twitter through their Pro20 account. And if that wasn’t enough, included in their SM strategy was a Flickr stream and a YouTube channel which can be found here

Some highlights from the series had to be the two semifinals that both went to the third leg, then to a power over as both games were tied. That will be remembered as one of the great evenings in domestic cricket in South Africa.

Henry Davids 112* for the Cobras was amazing as was the 92 scored by Herschelle Gibbs in the second semifinal to keep the Cobras in the competition.

The Titans got done in by the weather, having two games rained out. They’ll be back next year. And don’t forget about the Gestetner Diamond Eagles, they reached the finals of both the MTN Domestic championship and the Standard Bank Pro20, the work that Corrie van Zyl has done needs to be commended.

The Standard Bank Pro20 series exploded this evening, in what could never have been scripted both 3rd leg semifinals were tied, with a power over deciding the out come.

The Gestetner Diamond Eagles stole the game from the Cheverolet Warriors in the power over, Dillon du Preez performed under pressure in the power over hitting a 6 from the first ball, with partner R Bailey they hit 16 runs off the over.

All the pressure was on the Warriors, and after their early celebrations they were just not focused enough and didn’t come close to getting the 17 needed for victory.

All the excitement of the power over has cleared my memory of the actual game. The Warriors batted first but could only post a lowly 97 runs in 19.3 overs. Another stand out performance by the Eagles bowler CJ de Villiers taking 5 wickets for just 12 run in 3.3 overs.

The Eagles could have put this one away easily, but the found themselves 11/3. Dippenaar and Elger came together and steadied the ship, the Warriors fought hard through Juan Theron’s bowling. when the Eagles got a single off the last ball, the Warriors burst into premature celebration thinking they had won the 3 leg semifinals.

The Eagles will now travel to Cape Town to face the Cape Cobras.

Just as we were recovering from that tied match the Nashua Dolphins and the Nashua Cape Cobras also played their game to a tie. The Dolphins needed 17 runs off the last over which they got to the amazement of the crowd.

Then the power over came, the tension built, even more drama was about to unfold. Dolphins batted first and only managed to make 3 runs, Jayasuryia out, bowled first ball. Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith came to the wicket only needing 4 runs off 6 balls, the drama continued, Smith was run out at the non strikers end on the first ball. Gibbs thrives under pressure, he took two runs from the third ball and the next one went for four. Gibbs and Grant Rowley had a heated argument after the winning boundary.

During the game the Cape Cobras posted a defensible 148. with JP Duminy again top scoring with 53, well supported by Justin Ontong’s 44 and another solid 34 from the captain Graeme Smith.

The Dolphins struggled loosing HD Ackerman and Jayasuriya very early, but it was Johann louw that hit 17 runs from the last over to take it to the power over.

So the Final will be in Cape Town, Saturday 21st at 17h30. Nashua Cape Cobras vs The Gestetner Diamond Eagles.

Today saw the round robin stages of the Standard Bank Pro20 come to an end, The Nashua Dolphins absolutely demolished the Highveld Lions, the Lions batted first and were quickly in trouble with the opening batsman Petersen out for a duck, the only sign of hope came from Vilas who scores a half century. Vilas scored almost half the 112 that the Lions managed to put on the board. There has to be some head scratching going on after yet another poor series of limited over’s cricket at the Lions franchise, something dramatic needs to change.

The Dolphins wasted no time, they were in control from the first over with a quality performance from the top four. The Dolphins got to their target only loosing two wickets, to end the round robin stages second on the log.

In Bloemfontein the Warriors put in another quality performance beating the Eagles by 18 runs. The Warriors must be the favorites to take this years series having won 4 from 5 games. They are top of the log and will again play the Eagles in the first semi-final.

At the end of the round robin stages of the 2009 Standard Bank Pro20, the log stands as follows:

The next fixture in the Standard Bank Pro20: