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I have been watching the Boxing Day test between England and South Africa which has hung in the balance for a good 3 days. There isn't much between the teams, but England crumbled on two occasions whilst batting. The wicket offered enough movement for all the bowlers as the cracks started to appear on the pitch the longer the game progressed.
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Had no idea we had this bowler up until this match. He was the quickest bowler between both teams. The bowling attack actually looks decent now having discarded bowlers who shouldn't have been there.
England have been hit with a flu virus which has made the game doubly tough for them. Then again South Africa have piece mealed their team together after the shake up in the South African cricket hierarchy. The team had 5 losses on the bounce before this match due to some questionable selections where everyone in the know knew they were not the right players.
I just don't understand how and why people allow things like this to happen as each sport should be run by people who are part of that particular sport. South Africa has always had to do things differently to the rest of the world which has put them on the backfoot. In the past especially the first 10 years after the 1994 elections the sporting teams had to have key players to cover players who shouldn't have really been there.
In the last 10 years the local provincial teams had been diluted as many key players left to play elsewhere around the world. The rugby and cricket team were lucky that some of the key players were players of color releasing the pressure. Rugby and cricket teams will never reach the government targets regarding numbers as that is unachievable and not realistic.
I think it is wrong when governments who have no clue about sport interfere thinking that replacing 4 or 5 players with their choices wont make a difference. This is what has been happening for 10 years now and finally it looks as though things are going back to normal. The individual sports need to stand up and fight for what is right today so they aren't governed by people with no clue.
The sponsors that had been lost last month are back on board showing that they are key to the sports survival. Sponsors have more of a say than they think as they have to align their name with that particular sport which is in the public eye.