Going into the final 5 day test of the 4 test series against England the Proteas were trailing by 1 test in the series. England were ahead 1-0 in the series. 2 of the 5 day tests in the series ended in draws. From the get-go the South African cricket team seemed determined not to loose the series. On the first day of the final test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, South Africa Dale Steyn was the star of the show, taking 5 wickets in 13.5 overs. England were dismissed for 180. South Africa came in to bat and achieved a total 29 without loss at the end of play. On the 2nd day South African captain Graeme Smith scored a century and in the process helped South Africa to gain a total of 215 for the loss of only 2 wickets. Graeme Smith did have a little bit of luck on his side though. He was clearly caught behind when he had only 15 runs behind his name. A distinct sound could be heard. Even though the appeal was referred to the television umpire (who clearly did not have his sound on) and he survived. On day 3 South Africa added more runs to their total (thanks to contributions by AB De Villiers and Mark Boucher) and declared with their total at 423 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. England were sent in to bat. The English team suffered a top order collapse and the day ended with England at 48 runs for the loss of 3 wickets. The 4th day of the test match belonged to the Proteas. The South African team managed to bowl out England just before lunch for only 169 runs. All credit to Morne Morkel who took 4 wickets for 59 runs in 16 overs against the visitors. All credit to the Proteas for fighting back. This win means that South Africa retains the Basil D’Oliveira Trophy. It also means that the series against the visitors ends in a draw. Definately a better performance by the South African cricket team.

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This past weekend the South African cricket team played in 2 different T20 Internationals against England. England were victorious in the first match played at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Friday night. The Proteas won the 2nd match played at Supersport Park in Centurion yesterday.

On Friday night Graeme Smith sent England in to bat first after winning the toss at the Wanderers. England managed to score 202 for the loss of 6 wickets. Contributions of 33 by Trott, 57 by Collingwood and 85 by Morgan helped to power the English innings. Mclaren (fairly new to the South African side) manage to take 3 wickets for 33 runs in 4 overs (the best South African bowler in the match). Langeveldt managed to take 1 wicket for 39 runs in 4 overs. The other 2 dismissals in the English innings were run-outs. Batsmen Loots Bosman and Graeme Smit opened the South African innings and put up an impressive opening partnership for the Proteas in 8.3 overs. They scored 97 runs between the two of them before Graeme Smith was dismissed for 41 runs. Loots Bosman joined him shortly after this on the pavillion and England were back in the game (dismissed for 58 runs). A small contribution by JP Duminy did not help the Proteas (managing to score only 6 runs from 5 balls). A thunderstorm was brewing in Johannesburg. South Africa needed to progress from 121/3 to 129/3 in 1 over to clinch the match for South Africa (according to the Duckworth / Lewis system). The batsmen, AB De Villiers and Albie Morkel only managed to score 6 runs (instead of before rain came pouring down at the Wanderers. South Africa lost by a single run (again). South Africa were a bit unlucky, but would have won this match if the batsmen were not so cautious in the last over.

On Sunday, South Africa batted first in the 2nd T20 International match against England at Supersport Park in Centurion. The Proteas scored the second highest total ever in T20 Internationals, 241 runs for 6 wickets. Loots Bosman and Graeme Smith opened the South African batting innings and managed to put the highest ever opening partnership total in T20 cricket. South Africa only lost the first wicket of their innings with their total on a 170. Graeme Smith scored 88 runs from 44 balls. Loots Bosman scored 94 runs from only 45 balls. Minor contributions by AB De Villiers (24) and Albie Morkel (14) helped the home side to reach 241 runs from 20 overs. England came in to bat but could only manage a total of 157 runs for 8 wickets. South Africa won the match by 84 runs. Loots Bosman was awarded the Man of the Match award for his contribution. The Proteas have proved once again that they are a force to aware of in International cricket. Only time will tell if they manage to keep up this reputation.

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Gary Lineker was born in 1960 in Oadby, Leicester, England. He played for Leicester City during his youth footballing career between 1976 and 1978. He moved on to play for Leicester City, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur in England. He also played for Barcelona in Spain and Nagoya Grampus in Japan in his professional football career (between 1978 and 1994). He scored 239 goals in the 461 he played in professional. He was the top scorer in the English Football league in 1985, 1986 and 1990. But that’s not all. He also played in 80 matches for the English National Football team. He scored 48 goals for England in those matches. 10 of those goals were scored for England in FIFA World Cup Tournaments (In 1986 in Mexico and 1990 in Italy). He truly is one of the best footballers who has ever walked on the face of the earth. Nowadays Gary Lineker is a sports broadcasting for the BBC and Eredivisie Live. During his career as a footballer he was never cautioned by a referee for foul play with a yellow or red card. For this achievement he received the FIFA Fair Play Award in 1990. It’s unclear if Gary Lineker will be part of the BBC’s broadcasting team for next year’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa, but it would be great to have one of football’s greats on African soil.

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The Proteas have been knocked out of the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy, so there’s almost no need to report on what’s happening in that tournament, since South Africa is not in it anymore (even though we’re hosting it). England is facing Australia today in the 1st semi final of the ICC Champions Trophy at Supersport Park in Centurion. Hopefully the Proteas have learned something from this year’s ICC Champions Trophy tournament. I’m sure that Graeme Smith and the boys are turning their sights and focus towards the upcoming England Cricket tour to South Africa later in 2009. England and South Africa will be facing each other in 2 T20 Internationals, 5 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 4 five day tests. This promises to be a very exciting series. It’s always exciting to see the Proteas take on England with home ground advantage.

Here is a list of the matches that will be played between the 2 nations:

• 13 November 2009 – SA vs England, 1st T20 International – The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
• 15 November 2009 – SA vs England, 2nd T20 International – Supersport Park, Centurion
• 20 November 2009 – SA vs England – 1st One Day International – The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
• 22 November 2009 – SA vs England – 2nd One Day International – Supersport Park, Centurion
• 27 November 2009 – SA vs England – 3rd One Day International – Newlands, Cape Town
• 29 November 2009 – SA vs England – 4th One Day International – St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth
• 4 December 2009 – SA v England – 5th One Day International – Kingsmead, Durban
• 16 December – 20 December 2009 – SA vs England – 1st Test – Supersport Park, Centurion
• 26 December – 30 December 2009 – SA vs England – 2nd Test – Kingsmead, Durban
• 3 January – 7 January 2010 – SA vs England – 3rd Test – Newlands, Cape Town
• 14 January – 18 January 2010 – SA vs England – 4th Test – The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

Hopefully the Proteas will brush off the bad experience which was the South African Campaign in the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy and perform much better in this series against England. I’m sure that Graeme Smith and the boys will be giving their best, are at least be trying to.

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South Africa faced England in their last match of the group stage of the ICC Champions Trophy. The Proteas had a chance of making it in the semi-final for the tournament, but lost by 22 runs at Supersport Park, Centurion in Gauteng. England batted first, racking up a total of 332 for the loss of 8 wickets. Collingwood was the 2nd highest scoring batsmen for England, knocking 82 runs off 94 balls before being dismissed by Wayne Parnell. Shah was the best batsmen for England hitting 98 runs off 89 balls. Johan Botha dismissed Shah, he was caught behind by Mark Boucher. On the bowling side, Wayne Parnell managed to get 3 wickets for South Africa. Johan Botha picked up 2 wickets.

South Africa came in to bat, chasing the biggest total ever at Supersport Park, but once again choked under pressure from a very well disciplined English team. At least South African captain Graeme Smith finally found some form, scoring 141 runs off 134 balls. AB De Villiers was the 2nd highest scoring South African batsmen, only managing 36 runs off 41 balls. Minor contributions by Gibbs (22), Kallis (12), JP Duminy (24), Mark Boucher (8) and Morkel (17) wasn’t really instrumental into helping South Africa reach the target quicker. Broad and Anderson each took 3 wickets for England. Shah was named as the man of the match. Some people might say that the Proteas are continuing the old trend of “choking” in big matches. One could also argument that South African Cricket is in a transformation stage. New, unexperienced players are coming in it will be a while before the Proteas are on top form again. I don’t go pub crawling to watch them play any more, since I can’t handle the disappointment of South Africa losing yet another big game. Well done to the Proteas for trying harder than usual. In my opinion, this was just a case of South Africa being outplayed by England, pure and simple.

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England is one of only 7 nations who have won the FIFA World Cup. They did so in the 1966 when the tournament was hosted by them. Since then England have only managed to reach the semi-finals of the 1990 FIFA World Cup which was hosted in Italy. England have qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to be hosted in South Africa. The English National Football Team is the oldest Football team in the world and was formed in 1870. England joined FIFA in 1906 but had a bumpy relationship with the governing body which resulted in them leaving in 1928. England did rejoin FIFA in 1946. The result of this was that England only competed in their first FIFA World Cup in 1950 in Brazil. England have rarely dropped off the list op top 10 FIFA rankings. They are definately not be underestimated. It’s hardly likely that England will make it into the final 16 at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It will be the 13th time that England competes in the FIFA World Cup. England are 1 of 13 European teams that will feature in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. If England plays in Johannesburg or Durban theres bound to be a significant amount of English support in the stadium.

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The ICC Champions Trophy is a One Day International cricket tournament, second in importance only to the Cricket World Cup. The tournament was inaugurated as the ICC Knock Out tournament in 1998. Since then it has been played every 2 years. The tournament underwent a name change in 2002 and is known as the Champions Trophy since then. Previous ICC Champions Trophy competitions have been hosted by Bangladesh (in 1998), Kenya (in 2000), Sri Lanka (in 2002), England (in 2004), India (in 2006). Pakistan was supposed to be the host country for the competition in 2008. Security constraints led to the tournament being postponed to October 2009. Security concerns by some participating countries has led to the tournament venue being changed to South Africa. The ICC Champions Trophy will be held in South Africa from the 22nd of September until the 5th of October 2009. 2 venues will be used in the ICC Champions Trophy, the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg and Supersport Park in Centurion. The world’s top 8 nations in cricket will compete in the ICC Champions Trophy. The nations will be split up into 2 groups of 4 nations. Group A will be made up out of Australia, India, Pakistan and the West Indies. Group B will be made up out of South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and England.

Here’s a list of fixtures for the ICC Champions Trophy:

• 22 Sept 2009 – Centurion – South Africa vs Sri Lanka – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 23 Sept 2009 – The Wanderers - Pakistan vs West Indies – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 24 Sept 2009 – Centurion – South Africa vs New Zealand – 09h30 – Day
• 25 Sept 2009 – The Wanderers – England vs Sri Lanka – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 26 Sept 2009 – The Wanderers – West Indies vs Australia – 09h30 – Day
• 26 Sept 2009 – Centurion - India vs Pakistan – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 27 Sept 2009 – The Wanderers – New Zealand vs Sri Lanka – 09h30 – Day
• 27 Sept 2009 – Centurion – South Africa v England – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 28 Sept 2009 – Centurion - Australia vs India – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 29 Sept 2009 – The Wanderers – England vs New Zealand – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 30 Sept 2009 – The Wanderers – India vs West Indies – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 30 Sept 2009 – Centurion – Australia vs Pakistan – 09h30 – Day
• 2 Oct 2009 – The Wanderers – A1 vs B2 – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 3 Oct 2009 – Centurion – B1 v A2 – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 5 Oct 2009 – Centurion – Final – Day / Night

South Africa have only won the ICC Champions Trophy once, in 1998 in Bangladesh. The Proteas are very determined to add this year’s trophy to their collection. The South African Cricket Team have failed to be victorious in the last 5 Cricket World Cups and the last 2 T20 World Cups. Hopefully this year the Proteas can add the ICC Champions Trophy (nicknamed the mini World Cup) to their collection. Guess I’ll have to look for some tickets for sale and go check out the ICC Champions Trophy. Let’s hope the Proteas make South Africa proud.

Related Links:
Mickey: Proteas Want The Trophy – Sport24
Arthur: We’re the best – Sky Sports
The new team to beat – Mail & Guardian
SA Cricket – Official Website
Cricket – Supersport

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