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.