When Graeme Smith was 13, South Africa lost six straight one-day games in Pakistan. Nine years later he is one limited-overs loss away from equalling the longest losing streak in South African history, and his boyhood questions remain largely unanswered.
There is still a lot of potential in Jabu Pule, but it appears fame and money will be his downfall. The mercurial young midfielder went walkabout before Kaizer Chiefs’ important Absa Cup clash against Sundowns last weekend and the club has suspended him without pay.
Talk about your highs and lows! The Cats and the Sharks plumb the depths against the Brumbies and Waratahs, the Stormers lose the first half hour 22-0 against the Highlanders and win the next 50 minutes 46-3, then the Bulls steamroller the Hurricanes at Loftus. Just another giddy weekend in the Super 12.
Swart- en rooigevaar tactics have taken a new twist with the red and black posters strung up by the Democratic Whatever on lamp-posts throughout Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats. ”The NNP is with the ANC” is the DW’s message specifically for residents of one of the largest coloured communities in the Western Cape
Kimi Raikkonen appears a little underdressed when he is not wearing his new McLaren MP4-19. In mufti he is about as exciting as a drizzle-damp Woking afternoon. Quiet and shy, he looks down while he mumbles his answers, monosyllabically, to questions about the approaching formula-one season.
Having constantly dismissed comparisons with Zimbabwe, Namibia’s government last week lent credence to current perceptions when it announced plans to expropriate white-owned farms on the same day President Robert Mugabe’s propaganda chief arrived in the country.
Ten years ago, United States Marine Staff Sergeant Mark Hardin arrived in Haiti as part of a US force to restore Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power. Earlier this week, after the US had forced Aristide to leave, Hardin was back. ”It looks like nothing’s changed,” he said.
France’s Interior Ministry confirmed last week that the police and security services were on full alert after a series of threats by an unknown group to blow up railway tracks countrywide unless it was paid a multimillion-pound ransom. To prove its threats were serious the group directed police on February 21 to a time bomb under a railway line.
Arjen Robben admitted he had been reluctant at first to consider a move to Chelsea before he agreed to a £13,5-million transfer from PSV Einghoven to Stamford Bridge. The deal will go through at the end of the season and complete a remarkable rise for the Holland left-winger.
It’s a big, big week in Europe coming up. Especially for Manchester United and Chelsea. Arsenal? Most people reckon they’ve got the Premiership sewn up already, but down Highbury way there is an awful lot riding on this week’s Champions League last-16, second-leg games too.