Cricket: Smith and Arthur are Wrong!
Graeme Smith and Mickey Arthur’s so called loyalty and faith philosophy (according to Neil Manthorp) is very flawed, especially when that loyalty and faith is only applied when it suits them.
Where was their loyalty when Ashwell Prince was dropped?
Why don’t cricket writers in newspapers and cricket magazines speak up when our cricketers want to act as if the team is their private club?
Other than just being plain ridiculous in their attempts to make demands on player inclusion when they don’t own the team, it is also makes no sense for players trying to win a spot.
How can you give job security to under-performing players like Neil Mckenzie yes, but also Makhaya Ntini?
Yes, you do need a core group of players who are performing well most of the time and you can’t drop players at a whim, but at the same time if a player only performs against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, then he does not deserve to be given job security for life!
I’m currently watching Wayne Parnell opening the bowling with Dale Steyn against the Australians, and the difference to the entire team is obvious.
New players bring new energy and excitement.
They also are unknown quantities to the opposing team, as we are now seeing with Parnell’s swinging deliveries.
It shows, cricket commentators and cricket magazines can get it wrong (actually they get it wrong a lot), no matter how much inside info they think they may have from the national team’s dressing room.
Neil Manthorp, who professes to know the thinking in the much discussed dressing room, again had doubts about an outsider’s inclusion.
Wayne Parnell was given a Cricket SA contract recently at age 19, but according Manthorp (quoting Boeta Dippenaar of all people) it is premature.
Must the player first be offered an overseas contract before he is noticed?
If Smith and Arthur have the best interest of SA cricket at heart - which they say they do – they will mentor the young cricketer and use him wisely.
Sooner or later Parnell will be tested – whether he is 19 or 24.
It has nothing to do with age. If you’re good enough, you’re good enough at any age.
Just ask Morne Morkel.
Johan Botha captained the Proteas in Australia and in T20′s recently – succesfully! Just proves the point that things don’t have to remain the same for the team to win.
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