After a barren period for the Proteas spinners in T20Is, they have taken more than half the team’s wickets in matches in 2021. This is a piece of the World Cup puzzle that could be critical to their performance at the tournament, writes RYAN VREDE.
Great coaches are able to find solutions to their team’s most difficult challenges in relatively short periods of time. Mark Boucher’s capacity to do so is now in question, writes RYAN VREDE.
RYAN VREDE rates the Proteas players on the weight of their performances in the series defeat by Pakistan.
The Proteas have the makings of a very good one-day side, and there’s a path for them to be among the format’s elite if they address some deficiencies, writes RYAN VREDE.
Aiden Markram’s declaration that the Proteas want to play a certain ‘brand’ of cricket is concerning because the team has a history of wanting to be something it cannot, writes RYAN VREDE.
The short-term pain of an international ban may be worth it, if it means fixing the deeply dysfunctional leadership in Cricket South Africa, writes RYAN VREDE.
As Cricket South Africa lurches from one crisis to the next, there are no winners. There is only the potential for cricket to be irreparably harmed, writes RYAN VREDE.
Virat Kohli highlighted one of cricket’s greatest threats when he called for players to be consulted on scheduling during the pandemic. Bubble life has the potential to break cricketers and end careers, writes RYAN VREDE.
The four-day season is almost done, and one of South African cricket’s great deficiencies persists: there are just no black African batsmen pressing for Test honours, laments RYAN VREDE.
Match-fixing had disappeared from cricket’s consciousness until a UAE duo were pinned for it this week. It’s a reminder that this scourge continues to be one of the game’s greatest threats.
In the wake of the two-day Test pitch in Ahmedabad being deemed ‘average’ by the International Cricket Council, one has to examine why England and their friends in the media can’t let go of a game and a series in which they simply failed to match India.
Michael Vaughan questioning Jofra Archer’s appetite for Test cricket is reflective of how many from the former England captain’s generation lack insight into the mentality of game’s younger generations.
RYAN VREDE asks: If one of the objectives of a 15-team domestic structure is broadening the potential to build international-quality players, where are the elite coaches who contribute significantly to growing that calibre of player going to come from?
Kyle Verreynne can no longer be denied a Proteas Test spot, and there needs to be a broader, bold selection philosophy that rewards domestic form in order to arrest the team’s batting mediocrity.
Chris Morris says there are no plans in the works for a Proteas return, despite his mind-blowing selling price at the recent Indian Premier League auction.
