SA won't win the Cricket World Cup

South Africa will not win the ODI World Cup with Wayne Parnell batting at number 8 in their line-up. I am watching this game against India at the Wanderers and it reminds me a bit of the T20 game they played recently - what should have been walk-in suddenly gets complicated if you lose your top 6.

Don't get me wrong. There is no question that Parnell is a talented cricketer and a fabulous prospect for the future but for the sake of balance in the side we cannot have him coming in when there is a high pressure situation. I appreciate that with Jacques Kallis not around the side is a little unbalanced but without a specialist allrounder coming in down the order and with Van Wyk and De Villiers sharing the keeping duties we are lacking depth.

Without being nasty, David Miller also needs to start showing some brains as well - you need a number 6 who is going to take you home not somebody who is going to blast a couple of balls and then get himself out with 50 runs still to be gotten. In two of the last three games he has smashed a six and then promptly picked out a fielder in the deep.

For those interested in taking a punt on the World Cup, here are the odds as they stand (supplied by Voltbet.com):

India - 7/2
Australia - 4/1
South Africa - 11/2
England - 5/1
Sri Lanka - 5/1
Pakistan - 8/1
New Zealand - 16/1
West Indies - 25/1
Bangladesh - 40/1
Zimbabwe - 200/1
Ireland - 250/1
Netherlands - 350/1
Canada - 350/1

Want to open a sports betting account and get in on the action? Click HERE and open an account with Sportingbet now.

Kudo's to the little master

Sachin Tendulkar has been around for such a long time in professional cricket that sometimes people forget how good he really is.

We've seen so many generations of "the next big thing" and yet 20 years after he made his test debut, Sachin is able to blast 200 in a One Day International against one of the premier ODI lineups in South Africa.

15 November 1989, Tendulkar went out to bat against Pakistan in Karachi and in a display of sheer bloody-mindedness he stands up after being hit in the face by a Waqar Younis quick delivery. He was eventually out for 57.

24 February 2010 Tendulkar went out to bat against some of the worlds best fast bowlers and he proceeded to smash 200 not out.

It really is phenomenal stuff. Thanks for the awesome memories and contribution to the game Sachin!

Freddie Flintoff

As an aside - what do you guys make of Andrew Flintoffs career decision to become a hired mercenary and basically become a full-time free-lancer?

Freddie has never been the fittest guy around and injuries have weighed on him - suddenly he is running around the globe trying to fit in as many ODI and T20 games as possible. Wonder how many other quality international players are going to follow this kind of career path?

It could definately change the way world cricket is played and fit in with the scenario I presented a while back about franchise cricket overtaking international fixtures in terms of importance for both players and fans.

4th ODI...

It looks like an amazing atmosphere at St George's Park today - listen to that band and the singing in the background - that's what live sport is about!

For those who don't know, I'm a born and bred Johannesburg boy and unlike most of my countrymen I'm not the biggest fan of Cape Town (Even though I support their domestic rugby and cricket sides) or even Durban....

... But Port Elizabeth - where St Georges is situated - is one of those towns which has grown on me in the last few years. I even spent my last Christmas there - it's a seriously underrated area and the pictures they were showing at the cricket brought back fond memories.

If you are in SA for the IPL then I would recommend Port Elizabeth as a place to base yourself if you are looking for something different.

Anyway some good cricket going on here... Good performances from Gibbs and Devilliers with the bat and now Steyn, VD Merwe and Botha with the ball... Check back here after the result, I want to discuss the benefit of the injection of a couple of spinners into the SA setup.

Too much cricket?

Well the third ODI between South Africa and Australia is being described as a "Cliffhanger" of a finish in the local media today....

It is great that we've won, but I get the sense that the sides are now just going through the motions. The South Africans are experimenting and giving runs to guys like Parnell and Van Der Merwe which I think is great but maybe 5 ODI's on top of 3 T20's games is just too much cricket.

Like I said on The Baggy Green - Johnson, Ponting, Mike Hussey, Clarke and Haddin have all played an absolute stack of cricket in the last few months and I wonder if maybe they didn't deserve a bit of a break to recharge their batteries.

For us we've been able to call on Parnell, Van Der Merwe, Botha, Gibbs and Albie Morkel who are all relatively fresh which seems to be coming through in our approach to this ODI series.

Everybody can start taking a look toward the T20 world cup after the IPL.

Sigh....

A bit of a hiding at Kingsmead last night but I'll be honest - I effectively switched off after I saw that we would be batting second under lights in Durban.

Useful performance from the Aussies though.

I see Ian over at The Baggy Green had some choice comments about the quality of the commentary provided by our local guys. I know it's something I've blogged on as well - South Africans are a mile behind in terms of the quality of our TV producing and commentary accompanying our cricket.

It's something we are going to need to have to work on going forward especially with the IPL coming to SA....

Botha vs. Smith

Well the first full ODI's are here and the tour is headed into the last leg of what has been an awesome summer of cricket.

Lots of runs, wickets, bumps, bruises and of course beers have been for the taking in what will long be remembered as a real clash of the titans.

With the tour winding down, it was interesting to read Ponting's criticism of the decision for Johan Botha to stand down now that Graeme Smith is back. Normally I'm all for the assigned captain to carry through the captaincy duties but Botha's captaincy in Oz and here for the T20 games makes that decision tricky.

His grasp of rotating bowlers in the ODI format is top-notch and you can see he is always thinking about batters and their field positions... and importantly it hasn't dulled his ability to perform with his own bowling.

Maybe a bit of a snub for him? Can you believe that Botha hasn't got an IPL contract?! Geez he's probably the best T20 bowler around at the moment...

Player rankings

To be honest, I don't really look at the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings much some trivia flashed up during a game recently and it made me go and have a look.

It's interesting to see some of the names there. For instance Daniel Vettori - you know the guy is a helluva good bowler but did you realise he was the number 1 ODI bowler in the world? I sure as hell didn't...

In fact two of the Top three ODI bowlers are New Zealanders... Interesting stat!

Anyway I thought I'd post the Top 10 of each here (and in the next post) for some consideration / debate.

Country and ranking points after their names....

One Day Internationals

Top batters:
1. M.S. Dhoni (India - 809)
2. M. Hussey (Australia - 798)
3. Y. Singh (India - 790)
4. C. Gayle (West Indies - 783)
5. S. Chanderpaul (West Indies - 769)
6. G. Smith (South Africa - 741)
7. K. Pietersen (South Africa B aka. England - 730)
8. M. Yousuf (Pakistan - 716
9. AB de Villiers (South Africa - 715)
10. R. Ponting (Australia - 705)

Top bowlers:
1. D. Vettori (New Zealand - 727)
2. KMDN Kulasekara (Sri Lanka - 724)
3. K Mills (New Zealand - 719)
4. N. Bracken (Australia - 700)
5. M. Muralidaran - or however you're spelling it this week - (Sri Lanka - 696)
6. Shakib Al Hassan (Pakistan - 687)
7. S. Broad (South Africa B - 673)
8. M Mortaza (Pakistan - 671)
9. A Flintoff (South Africa B - 662)
10. M Johnson (Australia - 660)

Australia 0 ...

New Zealand Black Caps 2... Nothing more needs to be said... ;-)