Thursday, 5 December 2019
Lungani Zama is an international freelance sport and travel journalist, and a regular contributor to New Frame.
The Proteas’ opening batsman has been typecast as a Test cricketer only, but he and those who have played with him know that Elgar has what it takes to be a star in white-ball cricket.
The Springboks are the toast of the country while the Proteas are drowning in despair. But the Boks were there not so long ago. Can the cricketers turn it around like their rugby brethren?
The Springboks’ Rugby World Cup triumph will have a lasting impact on a sport that is still viewed along the colour line. It lifted the mood of the country, but there are things that it won’t change.
The Proteas’ batting coach for their disastrous Indian tour was a man who’d been looking forward to playing Test cricket for his country, even though it didn’t play out that way for Amol Muzumdar.
The drubbing India has inflicted on South Africa, and the Proteas’ woeful display, have made this a cricket tour to forget. But it could prepare the newer members of the team for the future.
South Africa won the Blind Cricket World Cup in 1998, but the sport has fallen on tough times despite being a lifeline for players such as KwaZulu-Natal Blind Cricket president Ndu Nyawose.
The series in India is part of the South African national team’s preparations for the T20 World Cup. It comes at an exciting time for women’s cricket with its inclusion in the Mzansi Super League.
Adulation, fame and fortune are often the flipside to the mental demons sports stars face as they strive for ever-higher levels of success, a phenomenon sometimes made worse by retirement.
The 1995 Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok, Chester Williams who died on Friday, inspired millions of black South Africans by showing that they belonged in a team that was a symbol for apartheid.
The interim Proteas team director faces an army of doubters despite winning three of the four franchises trophies on offer in his first year as a coach in South Africa.
Liverpool’s Champions League victory parade was a kaleidoscope of colour and The Reds will undoubtedly start their English Premier League season against Manchester City with high hopes.
With the dust settled on another disastrous Cricket World Cup, Chris Morris assesses where the Proteas erred. Crucially, they must start planning now to avoid a repeat performance.
While the 15-year-old Wimbledon sensation is on the rise, Serena Williams is waning. But the Grand Slam champion remains defiant in her fight for women’s rights because without it, there would be no Cori.
England and New Zealand produced a Cricket World Cup for the ages. There was no loser, but someone had to get the trophy and England brought it home. The good guys in black finished second, again.
The champagne and confetti are out, ready to celebrate England winning their World Cup and bringing it home. But cricket’s good guys want to spoil the party and make up for falling at the final hurdle four years ago.
A record number of spectators watched the Fifa Women’s World Cup, an entertaining spectacle that will only grow the game. Despite this, the fight for respect is not over for women.
Afghanistan may have been the whipping boys at this World Cup but with talented players, and a look to Bangladesh for inspiration, they could go from toothless to ferocious.
Edgbaston, the scene of South Africa’s 1999 nightmare, and a must-win game against New Zealand, their regular conqueror in World Cups, is the double whammy the Proteas must confront.
The Barbados-born fast bowler has won English hearts, while his countrymen understand his change in allegiance. But Archer’s worlds will collide when the West Indies and England meet.
The Proteas’ ship is on the brink of hitting an iceberg exactly where the Titanic started its disastrous voyage: Southampton. But how did we get here, their tournament on the brink of ending before it starts?
The most successful team in Cricket World Cup history is out to shake off the shame of Sandpapergate and, with their backs against the wall, Australia are in the exact circumstances under which they thrive.