Powerade Chosen Column 6 - Makhaya Ntini

I’m hoping we get it tactically right against the Sri Lankans when the Test series starts next week. Thinking back, it’s just not good enough that we managed to draw a Test series with an Australian team that was well below their best.

This is a new Sri Lankan team, and some of their stars are no longer there, while our team looks settled and experienced. That’s an advantage for us, but the biggest advantage is that we will be playing at home, and the conditions should favour us.

I have been asked what it is that makes South African pitches favourable to our type of bowling. I believe it’s all about the wickets and how they are prepared, but it goes beyond that. We have, over the years, been able to produce the sort of bowlers who can thrive on those wickets and that has led to an attitude in the team which makes us hard to beat in those conditions.

The type of clay we have available for our pitches makes it possible for a wicket to last pretty well for at least four days of a Test match. So, if it has been prepared properly the quick bowlers are going to get good pace and bounce off the pitch and if they bowl the right line and length they will get the ball to deviate off the seam and to move around.

When that happens, no batsman, even when he has been in for a while and has a handy total on the board, can be completely confident. There’s always the chance of an unplayable ball that’s going to get him. That’s what I loved most about the game and bowling on South African wickets.

Across in Sri Lanka the wickets tend to crumble and crack earlier in the match. They are softer and the ball comes off slower and doesn’t bounce as much. So the conditions favour the spinners and their teams are selected accordingly. Over here we can go for an all seam attack, and that’s what we should do. Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel have the ability, and mindset, to get the most out of our pitches and we now have the perfect backup bowler in Vernon Philander.

He may not be as quick as the two openers, and have as much variation, but he bowls a consistent line and length which frustrates the batsmen and keeps them under pressure. That creates chances for the others. It’s the edge we have going in to the series, let’s hope we stick to that plan and use our chances.

The Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Week begins in Cape Town next week and it’s going to be a great experience for the players involved. I played in two weeks – in 1994 and 1995, and I remember them as a happy time, when we could play cricket every day for a week, with very little else to think about. For most of the players it’s an opportunity to meet like minded players from other provinces and make friends that they will come across again, on the cricket fields or in life.

For the few who are good enough to go on to play at higher levels, this is their chance to show what they are made of. There are going to be people there who are on the lookout for talent, and the top players need to show they can perform at a level above their school teams. I made the SA Colts team in 1994 and the SA Schools team in 1995, and that led to me being picked for the Under-19 National Team. Those were my first steps towards playing for South Africa.

The value of the Coca-Cola Week is that it allows young players to get themselves noticed. It’s more difficult in other countries where you have to join the senior ranks after school and hope you do well enough to stand out among players who are older and more experienced than you are.

Go out and enjoy it.

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Press Release for the 2011 Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Cricket Week

The Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Cricket Week, which takes place from 14-21 December in Cape Town, is without a doubt a major stepping stone for teenagers who want to play professional cricket and ultimately represent the national cricket team, the Proteas.

The 2010 Player of the Tournament, Quinton de Kock, has already made his franchise debut for the Highveld Lions. De Kock scored 83 runs in his first match against the Nashua Titans in the 1-Day Cup on the 2^nd November 2011.

Even players who represent other countries like Kevin Pietersen, Craig Kieswetter (both England) and Grant Elliot (New Zealand) took their first step to professional cricket at the Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Cricket Week.

This year's 69th edition of the tournament will also likely unearth future international stars. The Mother City last hosted the Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Cricket Week in 2002. It was during this tournament that current Proteas players, AB de Villiers and Vernon Philander played. Both were selected to represent the South African Schools' side at the conclusion of that year's tournament. Philander recently made his test debut in the series against Australia and was also named the Man of the Series.

Pace bowler, Lizaad Williams of Boland, is one of the 2010 players who will be in action again this year. In addition there will be players who were part of the South African Under-19 Touring Party which clashed with England in a limited overs series earlier this year. These players include Regardt Verster (Northerns), Diego Rosier (Griqualand West), Prenelan Subrayen (KwaZulu-Natal), Shaylen Pillay (Gauteng), Calvin Savage (KwaZulu-Natal Inland) and two seam bowlers, Corné Dry (Free State) and Rabian Engelbrecht (Boland).

Corné Dry, who will captain Free State, will be competing in his third Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Cricket Week. 

Coca-Cola has been sponsoring the U-19 age group since 1978.  “We are proud of our history with the tournament,” said Coca-Cola South Africa’s Senior Communications Manager Anthony Garstang.  “Coca-Cola has been instrumental in helping South African cricket become one of the most revered cricket playing nations in the world, but no team can be successful at the elite level if there is not a strong grass roots structure to identify players.”

Garstang explains further:  “One of the key reasons for our continued support of the game at grass roots is to promote the importance of maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle among the youth.  This forms a big part of our Live for a Difference sustainability strategy.”

Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Cricket Week - Mpumalanga Team List

With the Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Cricket Week just around the corner we are finalizing the last little logistic problems that seem to creep up at the last moment. As part of the LOC we need to make sure that the event is as enjoyable and as successful as we can make it so the kids that are involved can take home a great memory and if they do manage to go onto bigger things and represent their country we hope that they will remember this week as the start of their careers.

Below is the list of the players that have travelled from the hot but extremely beautiful province of Mpumalanga.

Surname	Name	School
Arendse	Roger	Evander
Bergh	Neels	Delmas
De Jager	Hein	Nelspruit
Joubert	Wehan	Hertzog
Liebenberg	AJ	Nelspruit
Lombaard	Danie	Nelspruit
Masha	Noah	Bergvlam
Nkosi	Nhlanhla	Lowveld
Nyakane	Cyril	Lowveld
Oosthuizen	Wiaan	Nelspruit
Poyana	Mbasa	Emba
Schraader	Blake	Nelspruit
Zwane	Sizwe	Witbank Tech

Powerade Chosen Column 5 - Makhaya Ntini

The two Tests against Australia showed that five day cricket can be very exciting and I hope this proved to the nation that the shorter forms of the game are not the only one’s worth watching.

It’s just a pity that there were only two Tests and I have to ask why we only played the Aussies, who are the team that we really want to play and the one that attracts big crowds to the stadiums, and now we have the Sri Lankans for three Tests and five ODIs.

I remember when I was in the national side we would be given a piece of paper at the beginning of the year telling us who we would be playing and when. It seemed like the ICC made those decisions and we were definitely never consulted. There never seemed to be much logic in the tour schedules and the only thing that was certain was that when we went to England we would play five Tests and about 10 ODIs and spend three months away from home.

The way it worked out, it would have been great to have had another Test against the Australians to get a series winner.

And, for me, Test cricket is what it is all about. I played over 100 Tests and I can remember just about all of them. I can’t say the same about the ODIs I played.

The same goes for the wickets I have taken. I can remember my first Test wicket – Sri Lanka’s Aravinda da Silva, caught Boucher, and my 300^th – Mohammed Sami of Pakistan, also caught Boucher - and all of the milestone wickets in between.  But I don’t remember my 50^th, 100^th and 150^th ODI wickets.

I always felt, as a bowler, that I needed the time and overs that I got to bowl in Test matches to be at my best. In a 50 over game you only have 10 overs, and it is less in a T20 game. If you don’t find your rhythm early on, or if the batsmen get off to a flying start off you, you are gone. There’s no chance to recover and you probably won’t perform when you come back later on either.

In a Test match, however, you have the time to recover if you have a poor start. The captain takes you off and you can think about what you did wrong and about what you have to do to fix it up when you are brought back.

In my case, I believe one of my strengths was my fitness and my willingness to always work hard to be at my best physically. So a long Test match suited me, and I could bowl plenty of overs, even in hot conditions, and that helped build my record. I never had that advantage in the shorter games, especially in night games. So the Tests were always more special for me.

Well, we have three Tests up front against the Sri Lankans now and I think it’s going to be exciting. It’s time to put the disappointment of the Australian tour behind us. Playing against sub-continent opposition is always special. They may not have the technical skills of the Australians, but they make up for that in passion and dedication.

And this is a Sri Lankan team that we don’t know much about. Murilutheran and Malinga are gone, and with them the special bowling attack that the Sri Lankans have developed in recent seasons.

Some of their senior batsmen have also retired, although Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Dilshan will be here. They, along with bowler Dilhara Fenando, are just about the only players left since I last played against them.

South Africa, on the other hand, has all its senior players available and I think that if we don’t beat this Sri Lankan team we will have to take a hard look at ourselves.

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