Where sunshine and space help shape cricketers
In the Daily Telegraph , Scyld Berry looks at the Gelvandale ground where for several generations, boys such as Alviro Petersen – the son of a taxi-driver – have grown up playing cricket, football and rugby matches in bare feet, whatever the
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
In the Daily Telegraph, Scyld Berry looks at the Gelvandale ground where for several generations, boys such as Alviro Petersen – the son of a taxi-driver – have grown up playing cricket, football and rugby matches in bare feet, whatever the season, on the basis of street against street.
There are two other essential ingredients in producing young cricketers in less than affluent surroundings, besides sunshine and space. One is taped tennis balls. Just as in Pakistan and some West Indian islands, Gelvandale's kids use them for their street matches. Taped tennis balls develop young reflexes by skidding fast off the tarmac – a true surface, and that is the fourth essential.
Rob Houwing, writing on the Sports24 website, suggests South Africa take the tough decision of leaving Mark Boucher out to play the extra batsman - Herschelle Gibbs - with AB de Villiers keeping wicket. A defeat, Houwing says, would be arguably South Africa's "worst ODI series setback in modern times."
In a nutshell, it simply does not give South Africa, sans Mr Kallis, enough specialist batting depth. Strike one or two very early blows, opponents must think under these circumstances, and you can expose an underbelly fairly quickly: so it proved in the Friendly City.
Perhaps you can get away with Boucher at six against certain nations, but I feel the only course of appropriate action for Friday is for AB de Villiers to take the gloves and facilitate the inclusion of Herschelle Gibbs (he instantly becomes the worthy replacement for De Villiers as world-class outfielder, as well) for greater batting assurance and firepower.
Jamie Alter is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo