Peter Robinson cricket
Many of those who bewail the lack of interest in South African provincial cricket conveniently overlook the obvious fact that the domestic game had its heyday during the days of isolation. And who’d want to go back there?
At the same time, though, there are legitimate questions that need to be asked about the viability of South Africa fielding 11 teams in its domestic competitions and employing nearly 190 so-called first-class players. You don’t have to be particularly wide awake to know the present system isn’t sustainable in the long term.
Still, in the gap between the Sri Lankan tour and South Africa’s departure for the West Indies, February is devoted to the domestic game. There’s a round of SuperSport Series Super 8 matches this weekend, but of greater general interest, I suspect, will be the Standard Bank Cup semifinals that start next week.
Both ties are to be played on a home-and-away basis with a third leg available if necessary. On Wednesday Northerns Titans take on Border, with the second semifinal between KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Province taking place the following week.
I fancy the winner of the competition will come from the second tie. After an ordinary time during the late 1990s, Eastern Province cricket has revived again. They’re producing good young players witness Mfuneko Ngam and Garnett Kruger among a decent crop but their time might not quite have arrived yet.
Natal should have Shaun Pollock and Jonty Rhodes available as well as one to keep an eye on for the future, Goolam Bodi, a dasher with the bat and a left-arm wrist spinner who might be a dark horse for the West Indies tour.
If Pollock and Rhodes produce Natal might be able to turn a disastrous first-class season into a one-day final, probably against Northerns who, after years of searching for the right formula, now seem to have the mix right. Then again, the flash and dash of one-day cricket could just as well throw up an EP-Border final and that would be no bad thing for South African cricket.
Peter Robinson is the editor of CricInfo South Africa