England Cricket posted a couple of reels on Instagram recently showcasing two of their most totemic white-ball dashers going through the paces in a net session. Ben Stokes picked the bones out of a length ball, his rapier-like willow brandishing down at fever pitch to send the cherry far and yonder into mid-wicket's oblivion. Kaboom!
The next visual treat was an on-driving master-class from Jonny Bairstow. The feet aligned in perfect symphony, the head frame rock-solid, those pliant wrists torturing a half-volley clean as a whistle to scorch the grass on fire. A stroke of genius you'd watch on loop. Such displays of pure hostility act as a soothing balm in today's day and age. Why? For, they remove chaos and instil order. The sense that everything is right with the world. Mankind yearns for that feeling. But more so, Cricket South Africa. Because there is precious little right with theirs at the moment.
Keeping the novel coronavirus at bay is prime on agenda but Cricket South Africa still have bigger fishes to fry. Perennial tensions over racial injustice exploded in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement gathering steam, which happened after George Floyd was choked to death by police in Minneapolis on May 25. Two days later CSA fired chief executive Thabang Moroe on charges of serious misconduct. All hell broke loose henceforth. The entire board resigned, the members' council - that regards itself as CSA's highest authority - was compelled into acknowledging an interim board proposed by the government, and the dark clouds of state monopoly and suspension by the ICC loom large over the rainbow nation's immediate cricketing future.
The green shoots, if any, for the perplexed layman of South Africa had to bloom in the resurgence of cricketing action. The 3TC and first-class affairs tickled the taste buds but the England series was a desperately needed cuisine to satisfy the eight-month-long craving for international flavour. The World Cup champions remain on course to play three matches in each of the coloured-clothing formats at Newlands and in Paarl rolling from November 27. Given the prevailing political turmoil makes peace with itself, at least for the time being.
Enough of administrative cribbing, let's now get down to the brass tacks. Joe Root has not sported the blazing red for England since May 2019 and even his polished stint for Yorkshire in the T20 Blast towards the fag end of the home summer met with a blind eye from the selection panel. The three lions' crown jewel has been yet again overlooked for the slam-bang version of their Protea assignment. Joe Denly's back injury saw him miss the boat while Tom Banton has been chosen only as a reserve for this tour. An absolute logic-defier since he holds a contract with Brisbane Heat in the forthcoming Big Bash League. Go kick your heels, young boy.
Reece Topley cracked the nod at the expense of David Willey, who's fallen prey to a spinal twitch after bearing the brunt of Covid-19. South Africa has been a happy hunting ground for Topley, who snared 10 wickets in five ODIs during the 2016 trip to the isle. Saqib Mahmood, an expected cushion to England's fast-bowling depot, was released to ply his trade for Hobart Hurricanes at BBL. The one-day squad is jam-packed to full strength but Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and Sam Curran leaving before the T20Is will rob the silver screen off a tad bit of its glamour quotient.
Their batting arsenal is glistening with swashbucklers locked and loaded to cudgel feeble oppositions to the knacker's yard. Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Bairstow, Eoin Morgan, Stokes, Sam Billings. Last but not the least, Dawid Malan. Ah, you'll be spoilt for choices. That Malan's slot in the eleven hangs in jeopardy despite an otherworldly average of 48.71 and a strike rate of 146.66 in T20Is is an emphatic testimonial to England's potency with the bat.
The hosts have handed out pink slips to Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir and Jannemann Malan despite being available and in fine fettle from a fitness point of view. The right-hander's exclusion left many with a puckered brow considering he crackled an unbeaten century to drive South Africa home in a tense run-chase against Australia. Christmas arrived early for Glenton Stuurman who received his maiden national call-up, a no-brainer for the 35 wickets under his belt with just 10 franchise games to his name. Talking about seamers, Junior Dala has put behind the ordeals of rehabilitation and will fit the missing piece to South Africa's bowling jigsaw alongside Kagiso Rabada, who'll embrace the green jersey after a forced breather in the ODI series against Australia and the aborted rubbers versus India, both in March, with a groin niggle.
Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Rabada and Anrich Nortje hogged the limelight in the IPL, finishing among the top 10 run-scorers or wicket-takers at the tournament - and make for super exciting packages. Rabada has re-channelised the beast within himself following the World Cup fiasco and Nortje unleashed missiles clocking 155 and 156 kilometres an hour last month, the fastest deliveries in IPL history.
Head coach Mark Boucher expressed that the team would fly its flag at half-mast and may wear black armbands in line with President Cyril Ramaphosa's edict to stand in solidarity with victims of the pandemic, systemic racial oppression and gender-based violence, which is widespread in the country. Cricket returns to the controversial cauldron of South Africa, amid chaos but with a cause.
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