'The culture of South Africa cricket is one of conservatism'

Reader: kimiboy

I think the Mumbai pitch was an exact example of how a pitch should be if the boundaries are small. It was assisting bowlers and at the same time people with a good technique and temperament got runs under their belt. Not saying the bowling was bad though, it was good by both the sides in the Mumbai vs Gujrat match. Who'd think 142 would be a challenging score on a ground with some boundaries even 55 meters. But still, the pitch was assisting fast bowlers and spinners a containing line and length and shouldn't forget to mention the carry too. I wonder if it's something to do with the Mumbai and Bengaluru climate or conditions. It remains interesting to see what's going to be served up. Hope it's something like we saw in the India vs SriLanka match, the only one we lost.

Reader: thebatsmansHoldingthebowlersWilley

Pienaar is talking about the culture. The culture of South Africa cricket is one of conservatism. The game has changed very quickly in a short space of time. The Australia side of the 90's and early 2000's always attacked. England's best sides of recent times have had success when they have attacked. They attacked Australia in the 2005 Ashes and it worked. ODI and Test cricket have changed due to the influence of T20 cricket, now when the game is on the line, the best teams attack rather than defend. Just the fact that the South Africa players are refusing to play a Day/Night test in Australia - it sends out the wrong signals. South Africa have consistently been a good side, but when it comes to the crunch times in World Cups they have lacked the killer instinct

Reader: cricinfouser

West Indian cricket thrived in the 1970s till mid-1990s mainly due to county cricket. Most West Indian cricketers of that time literally had England as their second or first home. Some players started playing for county cricket even before getting into test cricket and some could never get into that mighty team. Of late I do not hear of any West Indian playing to that level in English county cricket. It truly gave an international exposure to players that honed their skills and became better. English grounds were like the home grounds for the West Indians. This was a major factor, in addition to decline in economy, interest in other sports, political issues etc.

Reader: cricketingstargazer

All one can say is "well played Trotty". Many players struggle to keep their motivation after their England place has gone and the end of career beckons, but not Jonathon Trott. Middlesex must surely regret playing 5 seamers when an attacking spinner (Ravi Patel, not Ollie Rayner) might just have cut short the Warwickshire fightback. You would think that this match has to end in a draw but a couple of early wickets today would set nerves jangling. And, while we're at it: Sam Robson... 266 runs for once out in the match; that is one big statement of intent for the season.

Reader: Coverdrive88

I agree fully on the right of the batsman to decide. The Board should provide a full description of the risks and its recommendation, and then get the batsman to waive any claim against them if things go wrong and provide evidence of having appropriate insurance.

More importantly, the number of hits on helmets is far greater than there used to be hits on heads - often several per innings now vs maybe zero, one, two in a five Test series. That tells me that the techniques are not as good now and that they probably feel "safe" wearing a helmet and therefore feel tempted to play an aggressive shot when not playing would be smarter. That could create an even riskier situation than not wearing a helmet, because helmets only reduce the risk, not eliminate it and playing a shot when you might otherwise have ducked could lead to a much worse injury.

What is the next step when someone gets hit in the heart? Ned Kelly armour? We could ban batting.

Reader: Behind_the_bowlers_arm

There is an excellent book called Mystery Spinner by the great Gideon Haigh about Jack Iversen. Basically he was a late developer (not playing club cricket til he was 31!) and like many of that era his priority became making a living with his family business in the days where there wasn't the money in the game that we now see. Many players with families couldn't dedicate themselves to the game and needed to earn a proper living.

Reader: kerneelsmerkII

Fantastic, thank you Vaneisa. I often think that it is these seemingly 'smaller stories' that facilitates the change of tide in the real world. It may not be Rosa Parks / Steve Biko in its prominence, but for those involved - especially those chauvinistic administrators and players - it was the combination of instances which brought about a change of mindset. Well done to you Vaneisa, I suspect the current female West Indies team have you to thank for much of the opportunities which eventually led to their recent success.