Tour Diary
Life goes on at numbed Newlands
Barely twelve hours after one of the most widely-read columnists on the game, one of the sport's most distinctive commentators, had taken his own life , Australia's cricketers were in the nets
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
Sunday at the Newlands cricket ground was at once a typical day and an abnormal one. Barely twelve hours after one of the most widely-read columnists on the game, one of the sport's most distinctive commentators, had taken his own life, Australia's cricketers were in the nets.
As one life ends, others go on. The game does not wait. The Australians have plenty to work on after their loss during the week. On what was to be the fifth day of the Cape Town Test, they were already looking ahead to the Johannesburg match, which starts on Thursday.
A match that, in one of his final columns, Peter Roebuck had described as a chance for Australia's incumbents to redeem themselves and for the new selectors to study the trends. Trends, Roebuck noted, like their trouble against the seaming or swinging ball.
Full postAustralian rules in South Africa
One of the most unexpected sights for the Australian visitor to Potchefstroom is the office of AFL South Africa
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
One of the most unexpected sights for the Australian visitor to Potchefstroom is the office of AFL South Africa. Australians are mad about their indigenous football code - at least, those who aren't from the rugby heartland states of New South Wales and Queensland. But few foreigners follow or even understand the sport. That's something the game's governing body wants to change, hence a presence in South Africa since 1997.
It was strange indeed to peer in the window of an office behind the grandstand at Senwes Park and see framed Fremantle and Essendon jumpers and a pile of oval balls. It is the off-season, but when the summer of cricket finishes, goal posts will be erected at either end of Senwes Park and the footy begins.
Leagues run in four of South Africa's provinces, with matches every weekend, culminating in regional, then provincial and finally national championships. Surprisingly, there are 11,500 players of Australian rules in the country.
Full postA town with two World Cup wins
If there was any doubt about what sort of place Potchefstroom is, the name of the cricket ground provides the answer: Senwes Park
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
If there was any doubt about what sort of place Potchefstroom is, the name of the cricket ground provides the answer: Senwes Park. Senwes is an agricultural business focused on grain producers, and inside the press box is a picture showing tractors, fertiliser, and maize - hardly things you'd expect at an international cricket ground.
These are not criticisms, but simply serve to highlight that Potchefstroom is no bustling metropolis. For an Australian comparison, it's more Geelong than it is Melbourne. That makes it all the more remarkable that the city, with a population of 125,000, has developed such a strong sporting pedigree.
Effectively, it's a dual-World Cup winning city. In 2003, Australia's cricketers based themselves there in the lead-up to the second of their three consecutive titles. And last year, Spain set up camp in Potchefstroom, from where they launched their triumphant FIFA campaign.
Full postTensions of a doting dad
As a Test opener, Geoff Marsh stood squarely in the sights of fast-bowling terrors such as Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Patrick Patterson, Wasim Akram and Imran Khan
Daniel Brettig
25-Feb-2013
As a Test opener, Geoff Marsh stood squarely in the sights of fast-bowling terrors such as Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Patrick Patterson, Wasim Akram and Imran Khan. Yet their bullets were nothing next to those sweated by Marsh as he watched his son Shaun fight his way to a Test century on debut for Australia against Sri Lanka in Pallekele.
Shaun Marsh was composure itself for the 420 minutes and 315 balls he spent crafting 141, but Geoff Marsh endured every moment with all the anxiety of a doting dad. Sitting in the enclosure at the pavilion end for the players' families, Marsh senior's every grimace, clap, interview and, when the debut century arrived, fist pump, was captured by cameras - fatherhood as a spectator sport.
"Sitting here watching is bloody nerve-wracking, but that's got to be the highlight of my life, watching Shaun get a hundred on Test debut," Geoff Marsh said. "I'm more nervous when he's in his 90s [than when I was], a lot more nervous."
Full postA night out in Bulawayo
There are batsmen who cannot be moved and then there's Misbah-ul-Haq. There are swing bowlers and then there's Waqar Younis. There are small towns and then there's Bulawayo
Firdose Moonda
25-Feb-2013
There are batsmen who cannot be moved and then there's Misbah-ul-Haq. There are swing bowlers and then there's Waqar Younis. There are small towns and then there's Bulawayo.
Yes, it is that extreme. Bulawayo, as far as towns go, is tiny. Residents here think of Harare as the city that never sleeps - and most of Zimbabwe's capital is lights out by 10pm. In Bulawayo, people prefer to get to bed by 9pm. If I return to the guesthouse I am staying at any later, the front door is locked and the owner's mobile has been switched off. Getting in requires an elaborate process of banging on the front door, ringing the bell incessantly, and asking the cab driver to hoot the house down.
But, that was from Monday to Thursday, essentially school nights, so even though it's a little early, it can be excused. Friday would surely be different. It had to be, because one of our party was celebrating his birthday and was determined to find a good time. We were told that there are 36 restaurants in Bulawayo and the one the birthday boy picked for his festive meal was an old favourite. Nandos.
Full postGavin Ewing comes home
Gavin Ewing got married on May 26 in the Queens Sports Club's Presidential Suite in typical Zimbabwean uniform - not traditional wedding wear
Firdose Moonda
25-Feb-2013
Gavin Ewing got married on May 26 in the Queens Sports Club's Presidential Suite in typical Zimbabwean uniform - not traditional wedding wear. He wore pin-striped white shorts, a plain white shirt and flip-flops, while his bride, Agata, chose a summery, knee-length dress - perfect for riding on the Harley-Davidson the couple zoomed off on later. Unconventional, yes, but there was a good reason for it.
"There's nothing like home," Ewing told ESPNCricinfo, and he would know. After walking away from Zimbabwe as a rebel in 2005, he spent three years playing everywhere from Auckland to Dhaka, but nothing was as good as being home.
Ewing is one of the lesser known members of Zimbabwe's player walkout, having played only ten international matches, but he played no lesser role in the saga and is honest about his reasons for becoming involved in the protest. "Politically, there were a lot of arguments about selection and it seemed like the right thing to do at the time," he said.
Full postSouth Africa to Zimbabwe, by road
Reports during last year's Christmas holidays revealed 19,000 people and 1000 trucks and buses were travelling across the Beitbridge border every day
Firdose Moonda
25-Feb-2013
Reports during last year's Christmas holidays revealed 19,000 people and 1000 trucks and buses were travelling across the Beitbridge border every day. It isn't that busy at other times of year but the South Africa-Zimbabwe route is still one of the most-travelled and least-desirable roads to journey on, and after experiencing it for myself, I know why.
I opted to go by bus, instead of air, because the bus ticket to Bulawayo from Johannesburg is more than 10 times cheaper than a return flight, even though Bulawayo is closer to South Africa than Harare. For just R370 (US$52) one-way, a seat on a fairly luxurious and well reputed bus, the Greyhound, can be bought. The chairs are roomy, the air-conditioning works, they play a range of cheesy, z-grade comedies featuring the likes of Eddie Murphy and they stop several times along the way, sometimes for too long.
During the day, the bus winds through the Northern Provinces of South Africa, the part of the country that reminds city-dwellers like me how beautiful the land really is. Johannesburg, like any other world city, is not the real Africa, but the farmlands, baobab trees and vast horizon of that road is. The only sign of human inhabitation is in Polokwane, formerly known as Pietersburg. The quaint town is home to the Peter Mokaba Stadium, which hosted four football World Cup matches in 2010 and can be seen from the road.
Full postHanging with Dr Comfort and the Lurid Revelations
It was around eight in the evening. Trent Bridge was vacant and silent on Wednesday. Suddenly the Long Room at the Pavilion end erupted with loud, blaring music
Nagraj Gollapudi
25-Feb-2013
It was around eight in the evening. It had been an overcast day and the sky was dark grey. Trent Bridge was vacant and silent on Wednesday. Suddenly the Long Room at the Pavilion end erupted with loud, blaring music - drums, bass guitar and a group of three men dishing out Snow Patrol's "You're all I have".
It was a bizarre scene: a rock band comprising grown-up men, rehearsing in the inner sanctum of one of most cherished Test cricket venues. But then when you have a name like Graeme Swann associated with the band, you've got to expect something outside the box. In fact, the name of the band Swann is part of and used to play frequently with before he earned an ECB contract three years ago is called 'Dr. Comfort and the Lurid Revelations'.
Andy Afford, former left-arm spinner at Nottinghamshire and a stalwart with 468 first-class wickets, was the man responsible for such a "playful" name. "I don't think you can be men of our age and have a serious name so it had to be a bit funny," Afford says. Dr Alex Comfort was a sex therapist in the 1970s and went on to write a book about his conversations with his clients. One day Afford was passing a book shop and read Comfort's name and immediately decided to put a band together. "The good thing about the name is on all the posters where other bands are playing too, they put our name first because we have the longest," Afford says.
Full postThe life of an Indian fan
There are fans and there are fans. Everywhere the Indian cricket team goes, they are followed by the full range of fans - from Heckler to Hero-Worshipper
Sharda Ugra and Nagraj Gollapudi
25-Feb-2013
There are fans and there are fans. Everywhere the Indian cricket team goes, they are followed by the full range of fans - from Heckler to Hero-Worshipper.
It takes a cricketer of great equanimity to understand this and at the other end, a fan of a patience, greater than the contemporary attention-span, to stay loyal to the team in what must be India's worst performance in a decade.
Cricket in England is watched with often a respectful silence that helps umpires hear snicks and cricketers hear jokes cracked at their expense. Just after losing the second Test, particularly, one 'fan' in Northampton took it upon himself to pursue Praveen Kumar around the field and call names. Stewards moved the man away from the stand where Praveen was fielding and he strolled around the largely open ground and found his way back to wherever the fielder was to be seen on the boundary line. The man then returned after the game, as the players were leaving the ground and getting into the team bus. He leapt up to hammer on Praveen's window and continued shouting abuse at the cricketer. At one stage Praveen decided to confront the man, and had just got off the bus before he was hauled back inside by the team's security guard and Suresh Raina. According to one member of the touring party Praveen, "did not get to within 15 feet of the guy." There were other versions of this story whirring around the internet, yet no photograph of the incident could be found.
Full postPartying, the Zimbabwean way
The local word for party is dhindhindi. If you actually say it out loud, it has a similar sound to music, in particular, the opening beats to Ice, ice, baby. Get it?
Firdose Moonda
25-Feb-2013
The local word for party is dhindhindi. Funny word, you might think, but it actually has a very good reason for becoming part of Zimbabwean vocabulary. If you actually say it out loud, it has a similar sound to music, in particular, the opening beats to Ice, ice, baby. Get it?
No? Well, neither did I until the dhindhindi that was held last night to celebrate the team's victory over Bangladesh. A function room in the Rainbow Towers' hotel (previously the Sheraton) was booked for the bash and I expected a somewhat snooty affair, with martini glasses clinking and finger food.
The food was certainly meant to be eaten with fingers, but it was not the same as the kind you will get in the Sandton Towers. There was no delicate salmon or parma ham, the type of that is found at parties hosted by many cricket boards, particularly the ones I am most often at, in South Africa.
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