Transforming the Women's game.

Mawande says...

I was thrashing around some ideas for an article on young South African athletes who have made a name for themselves in 2012. There was no shortage of names in my head, think Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Chad Le Clos, Tokelo Rantie, Ronwen Williams, Lucky Baloyi, the list goes on.

It came as a concern to me that I couldn't come up with the names of any female athletes. Sure there is Bridgette Hartley who won a bronze medal at the Olympics and I'm not suggesting there aren't female athletes who have made breakthroughs or done well, but very few of them are household names. Apart from Portia Modise, Natalie du Toit, Caster Semenya and maybe Marsha Marescia, there are very few recognisable female athletes in South Africa and even fewer announcing themselves on the big stage in a big way.

There has been a lot of talk on transformation regarding the national sports like rugby and cricket. Beyond the societal and representative aspect, for my mind transformation also means making certain sports a viable career option to young and aspirant black children but I think that women's sport is being forgotten in this in amongst all the conversations that have been going on. There are no women competing at very high levels enabling young girls to see sports as something worth pursuing as a result SA has few female athletes reaching the finals in Olympic events and we lose out on seeing our own versions of Missy Franklin or Gabby Douglas taking the world by storm.

How do we remedy this? I really don’t know. But it was pleasing to see our women’s hockey team garnering attention prior to the Olympics games this year and seeing them in action, live, on television. The main difference between men and women’s sport is exposure. Perhaps if the national netball and hockey teams were on our television screens more often, more people would give a damn about women’s sport and we would be talking about transforming women’s sport in South Africa, which I maintain is the biggest source of untapped potential in the country.

Overrated: Shane Watson

Last summer, the Australians had a tough season ahead of them. Well, on paper at least. The Indian side had just been knocked off their perch as the World's number 1 ranked Test side and one would have thought they would be on a quest to retain their crown when they landed on Australia's golden soil.

Watson: I don't know either but they say I'm good.

It was not to be. The Indians were licked. All too easily as well. The test series ended in a 4-0 whitewash with a number of Australians producing sterling performances apart perhaps from batsman, Shaun Marsh who made a paltry 17 runs in 4 matches at an average of 2, 83 in that series.

Marsh and Ed Cowan had been selected in place of Phil Hughes who was dropped owing to poor form and Shane Watson who was side-lined by injury. Cowan and Marsh would have to scrap it out for a place because Watson, the Aussie vice captain, was always going to walk back into the side. Now while that was not surprising then, I was astounded at the premium placed on Shane Watson's place in the Aussie team this summer. What has changed from the previous summer to this one? 

Not much at all really. Watto hasn't put together an amazing sequence of performances with bat or ball this year. How did it come to be then that he suddenly became the great Australian hope? I would love to know. The Aussie media had a lot to say about him when Cricket Australia withdrew him from the Champions League T20 competition so as not to burn him out as he was expected to be a key member of the Aussie side this summer. I read about how he was their premier all-rounder and offered balance to their side. I personally reckon Watson is a better ODI player than a test player. With bat in hand, Watson has the potential to be dangerous and do a lot of damage upfront but he is not prolific.

 I would think the world of him if he could dismantle bowling attacks, as he can, on a consistent basis. For all the hype around him, he only averages: 36, 92 with bat in 36 tests and has scored only two 2 centuries in his 66 innings; the last of which was in October 2010 against India. With the ball his bowling average stands at 29, 20 and has accumulated a total of 60 test wickets. While his stats may compare favourably to England's premier all-rounder, Stuart Broad, I don't know if the fuss that has been made of Watson is worth it.

Last Chance Saloon: Jacques Rudolph playing to save his career.

Last week, I wrote about Jacques Rudolph and how he stood to gain the most out of JP Duminy's injury if he made the most of his opportunities.

I wrote how Rudolph has perhaps struggled to make runs in the number six batting slot because South Africa's top order had done very well over the last 12 months and when he did come in it was always in search of quick runs, which perhaps is not his natural game. But in the 2nd Test in Adelaide, Rudolph had the opportunity to make plenty of runs, in part because the top order collapsed and because he batted at no.4 because of an injury to Jacques Kallis and perhaps some tiredness on AB De Villiers' part due to the extra burden of keeping wicket.

Regardless, Rudolph couldn't make the most of his chances and scored 29 and 3. The man who did take advantage of his opportunity though was Faf du Plessis, Duminy's replacement for this test. I thought going in to the Test though that the South African selectors would relent and give Thami Tsolekile the gloves but even he says he didn't expect to get into the XI as quoted by Australian papers. 

Duminy will not make an immediate return to the Proteas but between know and when he does come back there could be a lot of players who have put their names in the hat for a place in the team. Rudolph needs to be careful beacuse other players offer a little more than solid batting, like du Plessis who can turn a few with his wrist and is also an excellent fielder. Robin Peterson and Duminy also bat and bowl a bit so when the selectors look back, maybe they could decide Rudolph offers the least if he's not scoring big runs. Rudolph will survive until the 3rd Test but when the Proteas return for their home series against NZ & Pakistan, he might find himself back playing for the Titans if he doesn't put up a very big score in the final test. The SA batting line up will be under a lot more scrutiny since Kallis is expected to miss the final Test through injury putting a lot more pressure to make runs on the other batsmen. When the third Test does come around, Rudolph might find himself in the match to fight for his career. Who knows, it could be motivation he needs.

Ricky Ponting's Big Test

During the lead up to the current Test series between Australia and South Africa, the Aussies reckoned that their bowlers were on par with the South African bowling attack which is pretty much the most dangerous bowling unit going around in World cricket. Their concerns were placed on the batting department, more especially on Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey. Both players performed terribly in their last series against South Africa and had been pointed out as weak links by their own media.  

Ponting and Hussey have terrific statistics to back up their ability. They have done it all in cricket and right now, there have been questions on whether they can still sustain their performances enough to justify their places in the Aussie line up. Both players have indicated that they would like to end their careers after the next Ashes series, but in order for them to end their international careers on their own terms, both players have to be at their supreme best from now until then. Hussey has done well scoring 2 centuries in his first 2 test innings this summer and might have booked his place in the team for the rest of this summer. Neither can afford the slightest dip in form and all the luck has to go their way otherwise, it's all over. There won't be a way back for either of them as revered as they are Down Under.

In contrast to Hussey’s form, Ponting has registered scores of 0 and 4 so far this summer. Australia at the moment doesn't have any outstanding performers threatening the places of Ponting and Hussey which is probably why they have stayed in the team so long that people would start to have their doubts, that and a couple of brilliant knocks at the SCG against India at the beginning of the year. Ponting and Hussey are what Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman were last summer. Only difference is, these two have a chance to prove themselves, and Hussey is erasing his name off the list of suspect batsmen.

The next innings Ponting plays will be a very important one. The highly regarded Shane Watson has not played a Test this summer because of injury and should his replacement, Rob Quiney, hit a century and Ponting fails, I would not be surprised if the ex-skipper was axed. The Australian selectors have shown they have little regard for sentiment as was seen with Brad Haddin losing his place in the test team after leaving the series against the West Indies to attend to his critically ill daughter. Haddin has been in great domestic form this season, but while he was away from the game, his replacement Matthew Wade hit a century in his absence, prompting the selectors to stick with him. There is no telling whether or not they will hold on to their places until the Sri Lanka tour of Australia which will probably be a less cumbersome task than facing the South Africans.

 I would like to see Ricky Ponting end his career on his own terms. There is a certain satisfaction that comes to me when a legend gets to bow out with a smile a wave goodbye. Besides that, I watched a lot of Ponting last summer and I came to the conclusion that he wasn't past it, and selfishly, I would like to see him batting at his best, at least once more.

Misfortune and Opportunity.

Nobody wants to see a good player, or any other player, sidelined by injury especially one as serious as an Achilles tendon snapping. But when it does happen, we can only hope for a swift and complete recovery and to see that player get back to his best. With JP Duminy's freak injury ruling him out of action for up to six months, it might seem as though the Australians are the biggest beneficiaries in the short term, but the person who stands to gain the most out of the situation is Jacques Rudolph.

Rudolph has been in the number 6 slot since last summer after years of good performances in domestic and county cricket. But since he returned to the Test side, he hasn't stamped his authority and made that spot his own. There will come a time when the SA selectors decide that AB de Villiers is not suited to keeping wicket and performing with the bat. Class wicket-keeper batsmen aren't a dime-a-dozen and it is extremely rare that a keeper can hold on to his keeping spot and still perform with the bat. Look at Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara who has performed far better as a batsman without the added responsibility of the gloves. At some point, the Proteas would have had to find a spot for a specialist keeper and the person most likely to fall away would have been one of Rudolph or Duminy.

Rudolph now has the opportunity to make runs without looking over his shoulder to see what Duminy is doing. Granted, it is difficult to make runs in the South African line up at number 6 especially when the top order has been performing so well over the last year. During the recent Test series against England, the first which featured Rudolph at number 6 and Duminy at 7, Rudolph averaged 35,25 in 4 innings whilst Duminy averaged 67, 5. There will be a little added pressure on Rudolph though, as every innings he bats from now until the New Zealand and Pakistan tours to South Africa in December and early 2013 will be watched with intense scrutiny, but at least in the race for the number 6 spot he doesn't have to worry about Duminy breathing on the back of his neck, for the time being.