ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

The Man Himself said:
http://penguinbooks.co.za/extracts/making-champions-how-south-africas-sporting-heroes-are-made

This link also has his own comments on his tennis talent and liking during early years. Of course, he can't be actually representing multiple sports at national levels on regular basis. That would be impossible, not because of lack of talent but the efforts needed on any one sport. All those info do clearly point though that he was very good at many sports and could have been decent elsewhere too had he decided to focus there. Even if he was good enough to be squad player at national level while young, in sports which became secondary, it is still quite an achievement. I don't think that can be said of many sports players. Especially when a guy has talent not just at 2-3 sports but multiple sports.
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Yeah, absolutely. He's one of the best "sporting" talents, thats for sure.

The school system here kind of preps you well though. When you go to a "former model C" school (a tier below government but not 100% private), or private school (they recruit the best talents through sports/academic bursaries etc.) - it is compulsory to participate in at least "1 winter" and "1 summer" sport. Soccer/football is generally a "poor" man's game here in SA, as our national sports are rugby and cricket.

So any 2 of rugby, hockey (winter), cricket and tennis (summer) are generally most popular at these levels. And scouting are most prominent at the better schools as they participate at the highest levels/best tournaments in the country.

So there'd have been multiple sportsmen (and women) in SA who's probably been "good" enough to get, at least provincial colors (the tier below representing your country) in more than sport, if not multiple.

So yeah, it doesn't take anything away from AB's world class talents, but i thought i'd give you a quick bit of "history".
 
Sultan said:
I feel the opposite.

I feel Misbah is just too negative to bring out the natural talents the nation has always produced. Pakistan has always regarded cricket as an art and played cricket with a free spirit. The fun part is you never knew which team turned up on the day.

These days it's becoming just too predictable and boring, mirroring the captain.
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Partially agreed-but look at our team post 2006 onwards when we had arguably the best number 3, 4 and 5 batsman in the world (Younis Khan, Inzi, and Mo'hd Yousuf). These three have never been adequately replaced, they were our test and ODI lynchpins. Instead, we play players living off one or two 'big' innings hoping they can perform consistently, when in reality, it's just a one off innings. Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Afridi (not including his bowling), Shehzad, Nazir, Razzaq-although these guys are exciting big hitters, they have never been able to do it consistently, but they're always included in the setup. Disappointment after disappointment. Compare this to Gayle who always performs when the pressures on in a tournament etc.

Our Mr Consistency is Misbah and this is why we need players like him in the team, he's a calm head and he's a thinker. It's better than giving your wicket away cheaply going for a 6 all the time. But this is not to say we don't need players that don't play big and play expansive either. I think the older and tried and tested players need to be moved on if they're not performing. We need to reintegrate Ajmal, Gul and J Khan back into the team as these guys are world class (especially the first two) and see if Mo'hd Amir is back to his old levels. The good thing about the Pakistan team is our bowlers are second to none so we can always compete in that respect (apart from this tournament). We also need to stop this mentality of all and sundry having an opinion on the team. I'm talking about Miandad, Akhtar, Akram-these guys need to be ignored (unless they're part of the coaching setup).

Anyway, I'm off on some long winded rant (again) so I'll stop it there, but if they end up losing their next game you'll probably get the rest of it!
 
VP said:
Ok fine, as inane as this argument is, let's go through each claim then:

  • He was shortlisted for South Africa's junior national hockey team - what does shortlist even mean? Everyone is on the shortlist if you play a sport at a decent level
  • He made it to the shortlist of South Africa's junior national football team - ditto.
  • He was captain of South Africa's junior national rugby team - Probably the most ridiculous claim; rugby is South Africa's biggest sport, yet I can't find anything on him captaining the side. I'm sure the Saffers on here would be able to confirm.
  • He holds six South African school swimming records - possible
  • He holds the record in the 100m dash in South Africa's junior athletics - extremely dubious and now this is beginning to look like a Chuck Norris profile
  • He was a member of South Africa's Junior Davis Cup team - nothing on ITF or any tennis player database
  • He was South Africa's U-19 national badminton champion - can't be bothered with this anymore
  • Has a golf handicap of scratch or zero, which means he is a player whose average score for a round of golf is par or better - probably the only truthful claim
We managed to get a Kaka to United story on to Skysports so it's really not that hard to fabricate stuff on the internet.
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This is the hardest one to believe I think, SA have some great swimmers, How any of them, including multiple World and Olympic gold medalists haven't been able to beat these I find impossible to believe.
 
Day 17: Ireland vs South Africa
J Mooney's current bowling stats: 5-2-9-1.

Is he on the same path as Holder was against SA?
 
Naveed : "People are taking about double centuries for individual players and in Pakistan we are praying for our openers to reach the double figures atleast...."
 
fishfingers15 said:
Naveed : "People are taking about double centuries for individual players and in Pakistan we are praying for our openers to reach the double figures atleast...."
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To be completely honest a double century for any player is more likely than Fat Guy getting to double figures.
 
Freak show has started again. I felt really happy a couple of overs ago that I had chosen Faf as captain but at this rate AB is going to outscore him by a large margin.
 
Ouch, this is destruction at the moment for Irish. This might just be what knocks them out.
 
two 400+ totals during this tournament from South Africa, i predicted a New Zealand world cup win before the start but i'm having doubts.
 
Sky's WC channel is so fecking boring. Pretty much every 'classic' game is from the 1992 WC & they're showing about 7 replays from the latest game.

Would be better if they had some non-WC match highlights or showed their Masterclass series instead.
 
ha_rooney said:
Sky's WC channel is so fecking boring. Pretty much every 'classic' game is from the 1992 WC & they're showing about 7 replays from the latest game.

Would be better if they had some non-WC match highlights or showed their Masterclass series instead.
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Yeah, it's pretty dull. Masterclass series would've been great. Also they could have done The Verdict every day, not only on those days England play.
 
Day 18: Pakistan vs UAE | Australia vs Afghanistan
Pakistan vs Pakistan light tonight. Early news is that Fat Guy retains his place. It boils my head. :mad:
 
UAE bowling first. Reckon we'll be 3 down for 20 runs.
 
Excellent contribution from Jamshed. By my reckoning, he'll reach double figures by the final game of the group stages. Good job fat cnut.
 
Awful stuff so far. 14 runs off 6 overs against the UAE! The RR graphic for the first 10 overs of an innings is dismal viewing.

A bit of swing, but no aggression from the batsman at all. feck knows what they'll be doing when Steyn and co face them.
 
Shehzad not only looks like Kohli, his mannerisms and the way he talks also seem to be modeled on him :lol:
 
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