Captain Cook Friday, January 29, 2010

I SUPPOSE we have to be thankful that we still have some players left in the national cricket side. Coach, selectors – vamoso! Has there ever been a putsch such as this anywhere in world cricket? And putsch it has to be because when the coach walks off with a R4.5 million golden handshake after an ostensible resignation, there must have been some hard bargaining and arm-twisting behind the scenes.

Here's one sure bet: Mickey Arthur will say nothing, because that's almost certainly part of the deal. But here's another sure bet: Whatever lies behind this night of the long knives will eventually come out, however tight Arthur's lips remain zipped. You can't just fire the coach and selectors and expect life to carry on as normal. The details will dribble.

The extraordinary thing is that the team has done pretty well under Arthur. We beat the Aussies at home for the first time ever. We had our dips since, but the performance against England was more than creditable. Those two drawn Tests were down to the wire. We do need another natural spinner but the lack of such players in South Africa is a national malaise, reaching down to schools level, hardly the fault of the national coach.

Where does this leave South African cricket? Up sewage creek in a barbed-wire canoe, surely. Nobody is indispensable, not Mickey Arthur or anyone else. But the brutality of the move – Oh, I beg your pardon, of course, he voluntarily resigned - coupled with the scything down of Mike Procter and his fellow-selectors does nothing for morale. It is still not clear who played Rasputin in this palace intrigue, but it will surely emerge.

Meanwhile, we have to tour India. It will be astonishing if the fellows are able to put together anything like what they did against England. But we live in hope.

And we do not repine. Whatever the ructions of the world of cricket, rugby is with us again. Tonight we see what Plummers has put together against the Stormers (aka Western Province) in the strangely named Neo Africa Tri Series, a pre-season warm-up for the Super-14. We didn't do too well against the Western Force (another strange name – they're based in Perth where they don't even play rugby) but it was very much a scratch-together side that took the field. Tonight should be more like the real thing. It will be interesting to see how flyhalf Steve Meyer performs off the bench after his spell with Perpignan. European club rugby invariably sharpens the lads considerably.

We're almost out of this interregnum of sports and seasons where nothing much seems to be happening apart from assassinations in South African cricket. Next weekend the Six Nations kicks off, running into the Heineken Cup, the Guinness Premiership and the Super-14. The rollercoaster ride begins.

Tonight we make believe with the Stormers warm-up match. But it should be fun and it could be a good pointer to the Super-14 and the Currie Cup. It's better than dwelling on the Machiavellian world of South African cricket.