How you can help promote SA Cricket

By Khalid Mohidin

Hey, guys! Welcome to Cricket Fanatics Magazine, the first and only fan-driven Cricket publication in South Africa.

This is a very special announcement that I believe will change the way cricket is supported in South Africa.

I started this venture on 1 July 2019 with a vision to get fans from all walks of life engaged with the game and give them access to the personalities in South African Cricket.

We want to tell the untold stories of South African cricket and we want fans to be heard.

Since we started, we covered the Mzansi Super League, Women’s Super League, Proteas Men and Women International Test, ODI and T20I series, as well as school and club cricket, with the aim of providing entertaining, engaging and educational content.

But haven't stopped there.

We started a Monthly Magazine where we provide multi-media content, including exclusive features, opinion pieces and analysis.

This works hand-in-hand with our YouTube channel where we produce unique cricket shows that allow fans to call in and have their say. 

We have the Daily Show, which reveals all the major talking points in South African cricket, the Sunday Podcast Show where we sit back, relax and engage with the live chat, answering all the questions fans have about us and the game.

We have Off-Side Maidens, the first ever All-Women’s Cricket Show on YouTube, which helps empower women in cricket and gives them a place to share their own views on not only women’s cricket but all cricket.

We have a Legends show, where we interview all legends in cricket.

To produce all of this, we’ve invested a lot of money, time and effort to bring this to you for free.

But to keep this going we need your help.

So we have opened a Patreon account.

In the past, the super-rich supported the work of artists as patrons of the art.

Today, we are fortunate that technology has enabled anyone to become a patron of creative work, even if they are not billionaires.

We have therefore launched a campaign for you as a Cricket Fan to become a patron and support us as an independent, bootstrapped publisher.

As a Patron, you also get your voice heard as a Fan.

Plus: You have the opportunity to become more engaged with the content we produce.

Every month we produce at least:

• 60 Website Articles
• 20 Daily Video Shows
• 4 Weekly Podcasts
• Match Previews
• Match Reviews
• Video Interviews
• And more…

So please join our Patreon today initiative today. Even a tiny amount can make a big difference.

Kagiso Rabada: The Gladiator

By C.S Chiwanza

Normally, Kagiso Rabada's first delivery is a proper Test cricket delivery. A hard-length ball targeting the top of off-stump.

Rabada does not believe in bowling looseners. Looseners and warm-up deliveries are taken care of before the match. The moment he crosses the boundary ropes, he is switched on to the game.

He is a gladiator fighting for his future. As the leader of the attack, he sets the tone of the bowling attack, it is up to him to put the team on the front foot.

Years of international and IPL cricket means that Rabada knows where to bowl and where not to bowl to batters. For those he has not faced, there is always video footage. Rabada is a technician; he studies the opposition.

So, when he stands at the top of his mark, he knows there is no time to get familiar with the batter. And just like that, he goes from zero to 145km/h in one ball. It’s like a car crash from nowhere, happening before you know it.

Looseners are wasted energy.

When he was 11, Rabada was introduced to cricket by his friends and the only thing he wanted to do from that point was to bowl fast. The drive to bowl as fast as he can has not left him. Of course, he has an array of slower ball deliveries – slower deliveries have become a necessity in white-ball cricket.

“Part of spin bowling is to make the batsman think something is happening when it isn’t,” Shane Warne told Len Hutton in 2010.

Pace bowlers are a different type of trickster, part of their thing is to make the batter think nothing is happening when it is. Slower deliveries are disguised to look like fast deliveries. That is how one successfully traps a batter.

Rabada loves it when he fools a batter with a well-executed slower ball. He loves it more when he does it with a fast delivery.

Even though he does not bowl looseners, Rabada does a bit of prospecting with the new ball. A bowling spell builds and builds in Test cricket, allowing the bowler to work the pitch and the batter out.

In ODI cricket, you have a few balls to play with – up to five overs.
T20 spells are short. A lot of them are two overs long. Sometimes three if your captain feels that you are doing something special and can reduce the opposition's campaign to rubble. Sometimes you get only one over in a spell. There is not a lot of time. You need to hit the ground running. A batter has just 0.4 seconds to react to a delivery. It's not much time. Rabada tries to always make use of that slight advantage.

In the first over, the batter is still trying to get a good measure of the pitch. But, if you bowl anything loose, the batter will paste you for six. Whoever gets the first blow in carries momentum and an advantage in the over. A six off the first ball puts the bowler under pressure. A hard-length delivery keeps the batters honest.

The white ball does not swing a lot; it swings for a brief period. Three or four overs, maybe five. Early on, Rabada bowls one or two balls on that Test match length, just to check if there is any swing on offer.
Kagiso Rabada's process is not complicated. He does his best to not complicate it. Rabada keeps it simple. He is only 27 but is now a master craftsman at what he does. Eight years of playing cricket at the highest levels will do that to you if you are a student of the game.

“I give myself an opportunity to get better whether it is at training or in a match,” says Rabada.

This is a mindset that he has always had. He has learned from everyone, teammates and opposition. He has learned from Dale Steyn and also from Jimmy Anderson. Learned from Morne Morkel and Stuart Broad. Rabada has learned from everyone he has come across.

Over the years, Rabada has gone from relying on basic techniques, because that is all he knew when he was starting out, to experimenting with a variety of deliveries and skills as he grew in confidence. Now he has come full circle, he understands himself and the game better. Rabada now understands what works and what doesn’t. He relies on what works.

When he bowls, it’s as if he has Michael Holding’s voice in his head telling him, “Run up and let it go, make it go where you want it to go, like you’re just putting it there...”

Ball two is often on the same line as the first. Good length. A good length delivery does not give the batter enough time to adjust to any movement on offer. In other formats, batters don’t attack those deliveries a lot. But, where bowlers are attackers in Test cricket, they are defenders in T20 cricket. The roles are reversed.

Early in the innings, attacking a good length delivery increases the chances of edging or missing the ball.

“Upfront, if you are looking for wickets, you try to look for swing. Test match lines are your best bet to get something,” says Rabada.

It happens a lot of times that that delivery might go for four; the batter plays a shot and edges it through the slip cordon. It could have been a lucky edge, and it could also be by design. There is no way to know. But these things happen a lot in cricket, a good delivery runs to the boundary or gets hit for a six.

“It is what it is,” says Rabada. “Those things happen a lot. It is easy to get discouraged when those things happen. But, it shouldn’t dishearten you. You keep at it. You stick to your plan."

Whenever that happens, on the long walk back to his mark, Rabada salutes the batter. He does it in his head. On the surface, he wears an inscrutable mask. If he smiles, it is a smile that is part of the gameplay, one that tells the batter that they are doing as you want them to do. As if they have walked into a trap of your making.

 Sometimes he gives batters a menacing blank stare.

There is no point in showing the batter that they have managed to get one shot in. Rabada is a gladiator. Gladiators do not applaud their opposition during a duel. Doing so helps the opposition grow in confidence. A confident foe is a dangerous foe.

Sometimes it happens that after bowling a good delivery, a jaffa that leaves the batter rattled, Rabada commits an error and misses his length by a few inches and gets punished for it. When that happens, Rabada gets angry with himself.

“I hold myself to a higher standard, so I get frustrated with myself when something like that happens,” says Rabada.

Sometimes it is not just one delivery that goes wrong. Sometimes it is two, three, or four deliveries. Each time that it happens, Rabada gets angry with himself and tries to make corrections in his mind on his way back to his mark. It works most of the time and he is able to bounce back. In rare moments he does not. When it does not work, he feels discouraged.

“When I am a little down KG always reminds me: ‘You’re an IPL winner, twice, and you’ve won Man of the Match awards. So why are you sitting here denouncing yourself?’” Lungi Ngidi shared.

When he feels discouraged, Rabada follows his advice to Lungi Ngidi.

He transports himself to his ODI debut. The first three deliveries of his second over were dot balls, and he made history with the last three deliveries of that over.

Kagiso Rabada pitched it up the fourth delivery on the middle and off. Tamim Iqbal thought the ball would hold its line. It didn't. Rabada bowled him out for a 13-ball duck. He angled the fifth delivery at Litton Das’ pads. Litton flicked it straight to Farhaan Behardien at mid wicket for an easy catch.

Rabada’s last delivery was quicker and angled at Mahmudullah's pads. The delivery was not as full as the one that dismissed Litton Das; it was on a good length. Mahmudullah tried to work it to leg, but he missed it and was trapped lbw. In his second over in ODIs, Kagiso Rabada had a hattrick.

With his hat trick against, Rabada became the second player in the history of cricket to take a hattrick on debut in an ODI match. Taijul Islam was the first bowler to do it just a year earlier.

“When I am feeling a little down, I think about those moments,” says Rabada. “I think about bowling the last over at a school game and winning the match. I think about the Cubs game where Jayden Broodryk and myself put together a 53-run partnership to win the match for Gauteng. I think about the Under-19 World Cup and the role I played to help the team win the title. Those moments remind me that I can do anything if I set my mind to it.”

Balls number three, four, five and six depend on what the pitch is doing and how the bowler is reacting. Rabada comes into the over with a plan, but it is not set in stone. He is adaptable.

Something that Charl Langeveldt, one of the coaches who has had a huge impact on his career emphasizes.

On the field, Rabada also lives out Langerveld ‘triple Cs’: communication, clarity and commitment.

‘Building cohesion’ paramount for Proteas batters 

By Marc Jacobson

Renowned coach Eric Simons has suggested that the Proteas side needs to achieve equilibrium from within their batting unit if they are to attain improved results, and better yet, to enjoy glory at the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in Australia.

South Africa has a high expectations for the Proteas, and despite them having won the majority of their T20Is this season, the team had recently suffered a 2-1 series defeat to India, having only won the third and final ‘dead rubber’.

As a result, the side has come under much scrutiny from pundits and fans alike, especially regarding their batting standards and that of skipper Temba Bavuma, who’d scored measly scores of 0, 0 and 3 in the Indian series.

Simons, who was appointed as the assistant coach of the Joburg Super Kings ahead of the inaugural SA20 early next year, however believes that the Proteas still have much to offer with the bat, particularly with the “all-rounders we have at our disposal”.

But focusing on some of SA’s pitfalls, Simons added that there needs to be solidarity from within a T20 line-up, which the Proteas have lacked at times.

“People tend to undervalue the importance of cohesion in T20 cricket. That means guys have been playing together for a while and understanding their roles,” Simons told Cricket Fanatics Magazine.

He, therefore, hints that consistency in selection is paramount ahead of a major tournament such as the World Cup.

“If your top-7 can bat together for the last 10 matches leading up to the World Cup, then you have a far better chance of being successful than if you’re chopping and changing.

“Building cohesion and defining roles from your batting line-up is important,” he said, touching on SA’s recent struggles between openers Bavuma and Quinton de Kock, who’ve both failed to really get going, especially the former.

“How they bat together is important,” he said, explaining that De Kock has
battled a little bit with regards to his strike rates “compared to the way he [usually] plays”.

“But I always say in T20 cricket that you mustn’t look at individual strike rates, you must look at the partnership strike rates. For example, if the opening partnership is going at 150.00 with one going at 200.00 and the other at 100.00 then that’s fine.

“[As long as] they play their roles and support each other. It’s important for Temba and Quinton to understand their roles and how they are going to do it. Defining those roles is very important.”

De Kock has begun to find some decent form after his setback in the first T20I against India, having scored 69* and 68 in the following two, which is something the 29-year-old needed to achieve to “find his mojo again”.

“Quinton is a world-beater and he’s one of the best in the world with the job that he does. If I was involved with him I’d say ‘go out there a score a bad fifty’, [because] in that process you’ll find your rhythm. It’s more a case of sticking true to who you are,” Simons added.

The former Proteas coach added that the players need to understand the conditions that Australia will pose at the world showpiece is also vital with regards to how they aim to score runs. This is something the South African batsmen need to manage.

He said the best way to prepare for the World Cup is by “deciding early on who your players are and then making them right”.

“We should know what our lineup is going into the first match, because we’ve played together enough. To me, it’s more about deciding this is the way and style we’re going to play, this is the six or seven that complement one another and within that we’re flexible and then coaching it into the players.”

Simons acknowledged that the Proteas are “a really good side on paper” and that they “need key men performing” to stand a better chance at the World Cup.

David Miller’s recent exploits of smashing 106 (47) in the second T20I against India and Rilee Rossouw’s scintillating knock of 100 (48) in the third match holds true to those sentiments.

South Africa are set to kick-start their T20 World Cup campaign against a to-be-determined qualifier on October 24. Besides the two qualifiers, the Proteas are grouped with Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

T20 World Cup Preview

By C.S Chiwanza

The official T20 World Cup warm-up games have kicked off in Australia - a sure sign that the much-anticipated global showpiece is upon us.

Writers are prepping their preview articles. Tournament previews are a scam. Sportswriters pretend to have crystal balls which help them peer into the future and predict potential tournament winners, the teams with an outside chance to win and might do it, and the dark horses - the underdog that has the potential to cause huge upsets.

It’s a stroke of genius. The less bold writers who want in on the action aggregate the views of two or three big names, and ‘form an opinion.’ Social media vultures simply copy and paste.

We write previews because there is not much that one can write under the title, ‘anything can happen.’ That’s not what readers want. If you say anything can happen enough times and you lose credibility. Readers want insight. Others want confirmation of their biases. That’s why you are here, either for insight or confirmation bias. Sadly, I provide no insight. I don’t know the future, I have no crystal ball.

So, what is the point of this preview? Nothing, because it is not a preview. But you have come too far to turn back.

ICC events are fun. A bunch of nations congregate to compete, how could that not be fun? They are way better than bilateral series, which have lost their lustre. That's why everyone loses money when they host a bilateral series. Unless, of course, they are hosting India, then suddenly you have around a billion people watching. The Ashes does well. The golden age of international cricket is gone.

A new era is here. The T20 era. 19 years after its invention, the 'purists' are banging their heads against the wall and still insist on calling T20 cricket 'hit and giggle.' But, they forget that cricket is constantly evolving. Overs used to be four balls long, then they took eight deliveries to complete. The six-delivery over only became universal in 1980.

The one thing that hasn't changed is the length of the pitch. It was measured using Edmund Gunter's chain in 1677, it is still measured by Gunter's chain. 66 feet, 22 yards or 20.12 metres

Cricket is closely mimicking football - international tournaments are the only reason nations play against each other. These days, bilaterals only serve as preparation for ICC events. The only thing that would make ICC events better is having more nations take part, like football.

Anyway, going into ICC events, I like to have a heel. A team that I actively root against. Not just any team, but a good team to root against. There is no point in rooting against a team which gets knocked out in the group stages.

There was a time when Australia was the best team to hate. Rooting against Australia was easy. Back then, Australia was absolutely the best team in all of cricket to hate. Do you know why? They embraced it. They enjoyed it. They thrived on it. They played the heel as well as Ric Flair - if you watched WWF you get this reference.

They ruthlessly sledged the opposition. They were masters at the craft. The craziest bit is that they appointed themselves as arbiters who determined where the line that should not be crossed was. They never found themselves on the wrong side of that line. You cannot beat that level of arrogance.

As recently as 2015, for instance, the Australian team declined England captain Alastair Cook’s invitation for a drink in the Cardiff dressing room after the first Test of an Ashes battle. They were proper pricks. It was not just the players, it was everyone involved with Australian cricket.

There was something magnificent about those Australian teams, something that made them a great team to love to hate. Then Australia decided that they no longer wanted to be the heel in international cricket. After 2018, the sandpaper incident, hating Australia was no longer fun.

Yes, Australia are the hosts and the defending champions, and they have Mitch Marsh, they have Glenn Maxwell, “The Big Show” and they have Tim David, the even bigger show. That's a lot of fireworks. They also have a great bowling attack. But, they do not wear the heel tag well. It doesn't suit them anymore. Glenn Maxwell is a good guy, Tim David keeps his head down and is polite with everyone and Mitch Marsh is the player who Australians did not like very much. How can you hate that?

The second problem with finding a heel is this: Things have changed. There was a simplicity to things back in the day. There were teams you liked and teams that you did not like. Things were black and white. Not anymore. The lines are blurred now.

Franchise cricket has commodified cricketers. They now run themselves like mini-corporations with their own support systems of coaches, trainers and psychologists, as Jon Hotten put it.

The West Indies pair of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine have been spending more time at the Kolkata Knight Riders training facility in India than they do in the West Indies.

We no longer watch ICC events to merely support our home teams. We now also watch to enjoy the skill of our favourite players from the various leagues. A Royal Challengers Bangalore fan will watch Sri Lanka play Namibia because Wanindu Hasaranga is playing. Namibia also has David Wiese - Lahore Qalandars, Northern Superchargers and so on.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Aiden Markram play together at Sunrisers Hyderabad. They train together. They have tactical conversations. At the World Cup Bhuvi bowls at Markram. I want to see who comes out on top. They are adversaries and they are teammates elsewhere. It's a tantalizing match-up. David Miller versus Rashid Khan. Rashid Khan versus Hardik Pandya. They just won a trophy together…

For a while, it looked like my quest for a heel was going nowhere fast. Then England came to my rescue. They did a weird thing.

Deepti Sharma ran out Charlie Dean and the England teams, men and women, went bonkers. They didn't have to, but they did. Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad, James Anderson and everyone with a voice invoked the spirit of the game in outrage. Somehow, they managed to make Dean look like a victim, unfairly dismissed by legal means. It doesn’t make sense.

It appears the English have a different definition of what the spirit of cricket is. Everyone else considers the spirit of cricket to be rooted in abiding by the rules of the game, respecting the opposition and umpires, and competing hard but fairly. As far as the English are concerned, the spirit of cricket is a moral question, and they get to decide what is moral and what is not. Australia from the noughties, is it you in disguise?

Jos Buttler went as far as drawing a line in the turf and declared that if one of his bowlers ran out a non-striker ala Deepti, he would decline the wicket. They circled the wagons and formed a laager. The tantrum by the English was unnecessary. It smacked of entitlement. It had the maturity of a teen who feels they are unfairly treated when they are grounded for repeatedly breaking the rules.

But, it was helpful. England provided me with the perfect heel. They are also good. Almost every previewer worth their salt has them penned down as one of the favourites to win the World Cup, which is good.

My favourite response to England’s reaction was from Ellyse Perry. Perry is not a big fan of the dismissal, but she urged those comfortable with it, “If you’re going to do it, do it to England."

If you still want that preview here it is: It should be a fun tournament. Most of these teams have a shot at winning the whole thing. According to CricViz, no team has more than a 16% chance of winning the tournament. No overwhelming odds. Anything can happen.

Proteas to Sizzle at the T20 World Cup in OZ

By Alasdair Fraser

The eighth edition of the Men’s T20 World Cup promises to be one of the Proteas’ best yet, as hosts Australia showcase the shorter format in a cricket-loving country. 

Forgive the nostalgia but any Cricket World Cup in Australia stirs rich memories of the 1992 World Cup from a South African perspective. The Proteas have a decent record Down Under, making the semi-finals in both the 1992 and 2015 editions.

However, this T20 gig is a completely different beast – one that conjures up some interesting results and completely underwrites any of the contending teams’ previous form going into the business end of the tournament.

Defending champions Australia must be overwhelming favourites, with bitter rivals England hot on their heels. The Proteas, India and Pakistan will feature strongly too with the Pakistanis having a penchant for delivering the goods in Australia and will be looking to add to their 2009 T20 crown.

Much has been said about South Africa’s chances after an unsuccessful tour of India, but those results should be held in isolation – given the sub-continent conditions for which India and their neighbours are renowned for.

Following the Proteas 2-2 shared series with India in June the men in green and gold were immediately hard at work against England in their own backyard. They triumphed 2-1 against a powerful outfit that were dominant in the first T20 international of that series.

The Proteas came back strongly to clinch the series and showed several formidable touches that went a long way in solidifying the South African challenge as one to take seriously in conditions like Australia’s.

A quick glance at South Africa’s group shows a strong sub-continent feel – the complete opposite to the 2021 edition with historical rivals Australia and England featuring strongly in the Proteas’ group.

But 2022 is a different beast and hopefully a vintage that does not bring any form of controversy, which was brilliantly handled by Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma. Much has been said about his ability as a batsman in the T20 format, but the diminutive strokeplayer surely deserves a strong reprieve from South African supporters – given his capacity to rally his troops when the chips are down.

It may be a blessing in disguise that Bavuma’s charges have flown under the radar. They have a settled squad with genuine matchwinners on all fronts in both the batting and bowling departments.

Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Rilee Roussouw, David Miller, Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaassen have all been in superb form, scoring fluidly with healthy strike rates.

The headache for the selectors, though, will be to find the right combinations and formula for their top six to fire. The real headache comes in how to get the right bowling lineup that will bring its all-rounders into play.

Marco Jansen’s late inclusion at the expense of the Dwaine Pretorius adds an extra dimension to the left-handed bowling option that already sees Wayne Parnell as the incumbent.

Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada are a given in Aussie conditions, which will unsettle the likes of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan – teams that all susceptible to raw pace and bounce. Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj will likely swap roles, with the latter providing a much stronger batting option that will see him cracking the nod most of the time.

The positive signs are there when you analyse the makeup of the Proteas’ starting lineup. Not one of the players in this T20 World Cup squad is there as a tourist and it’s indicative of the strong unity that permeates this squad. Everyone has a role to play, and they know exactly what they bring to the table in terms of skills and what their individual roles entail.

This bodes well for the Proteas’ chances in Australia; beat India and tournament favourites Pakistan and a spot in the semi-finals is well within reach. Anything else that follows will be a major bonus and something long worth celebrating.

Q&A: Wiaan Mulder

By Jessica & Janine October

You made your first-class debut for the Highveld Lions at a young age. Tell us how your career in cricket began.

My career started as an 8 year old boy where my dad built nets at home, and we started hitting balls and bowling.

How do you feel about the Proteas’ chances going into the World Cup tournament? What do you think they can expect in Australia?

I think their chances are pretty good! We have a very well balanced team and I think the conditions fit our team very well! Australia traditionally has pace and bounce and that is exactly where our strengths from a bowling and batting perspective lies.

What is your most memorable highlight of your career?
Playing against England at the oval was amazing and a dream come true for me.

As an all-rounder, how do you handle pressure from both bat and ball?

It’s pretty difficult but I always try and stay focused on what the team needs and shift the focus away from me. As an All- rounder you are always in the game, so you have to stay in the moment and embrace the pressures and a key for me is to always focus on the team first.

How have you developed your T20 game?

I have worked really hard on bowling yorkers and have spent time developing a slower ball. From a batting side I have worked hard on power hitting and limiting dot balls. T20 cricket in my opinion is about limiting damage as a bowler and being as destructive as possible for as long as possible.

During your stint with the Leicestershire County Cricket Club, what have you learnt?

I loved every second of my time at Leicestershire and I learnt a lot about myself. Cricket-wise I worked really hard on my front foot game. I learnt how important a team environment is to people succeeding. Mentally I worked really hard on staying in the moment and focusing on the ball and what is required of me

Whose wicket do you dream of taking?
My dream wicket is Steve Smith or Joe Root

How do you deal with dry spells?
They are tough but in life things go up and down so staying focused on processes and not outcomes is what helps limit the duration of dry patches even though they are inevitable.

Do you have a nickname that you go by?
My nickname is Wessie and that came from Hardus Viljoen. I’m from the West rand in Gauteng so that’s how it came about.

What is your favourite ground to play on?
Wanderers and Lords

Who is your fantasy opening batting pair?
Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer

Who is your role model as a cricketer?
As a cricketer I have always loved Shane Watson. Purely because of his journey and how humble he stayed during his career

You were selected to play for the Durban Supergiants for the SA20 League. What are you most excited about in this tournament? How do you feel about being selected?

I am so grateful and honoured to have been selected for the DSG and honestly can’t wait to be involved with such a special brand. I love playing T20 cricket and having the chance to learn from Lance Klusener and the players at DSG is what I am most excited about!