Cricket South Africa’s director of cricket, Graeme Smith, has every right to defend himself against potentially defamatory accusations of a racial nature. But with new testimony from the SJN leaked regularly, he is under immense pressure and needs to act with emotional intelligence, writes RYAN VREDE.
The Proteas have slumped to seventh in the Test rankings and their prospects in the other formats aren’t encouraging. Their rehabilitation will require a long-term approach that should include four key features in the structure of South African cricket, writes RYAN VREDE.
A power play rooted in legal might has derailed a noble and necessary process in the Social Justice and Nation Building hearings. Now testimony is leaking, and compounding racial tension in South African, laments RYAN VREDE.
Simon Harmer and Kyle Abbott would improve the Proteas’ chances of winning Test matches. The last time I checked, that was reason enough for any player to be in the selection mix, argues RYAN VREDE.
If your objective is winning a major trophy, you have to pick the best available players. And if the Proteas want to win the T20 World Cup, they have to pick ‘freelancers’, writes RYAN VREDE.
The Indian Premier League organisers will forever be remembered for putting profits ahead of people, while the players who stayed and played while thousands died and hundreds of thousands were infected daily will be judged by history, writes RYAN VREDE.
As the humanitarian crisis in India deepens, so does the desperation of the organisers and franchise owners to plaster over their moral bankruptcy. This while the spineless ICC says nothing, writes RYAN VREDE.
People should always matter more than products. The product that is the Indian Premier League needs to be scrapped as India wrestles with a health crisis that shows no signs of abating, writes RYAN VREDE.
After looking on the verge of purging itself from the toxic members’ council, the interim board and government conceded to a resolution that will ‘save’ cricket in the short term but kill it eventually, writes RYAN VREDE.
Sports minister Nathi Mthethwa gave cricket the hard reset it needed, but that drastic step will mean nothing if the corrective action isn’t carefully considered, writes RYAN VREDE.
AB de Villiers will turn the Proteas from T20 World Cup place fillers to title contenders. His inclusion in the squad is critical, despite what unsophisticated rationale rooted in ‘patriotism’ will tell you, writes RYAN VREDE.
Let the purge of the power drunk at Cricket South Africa begin. The game deserves better, even at the expense of an international ban, writes RYAN VREDE.
Picking a generational talent like Kyle Verreynne whenever he is available is a no-brainer, even if it means he bats out of position. Mark Boucher is failing in the most obvious selection of them all and it’s sickening that he defends it, writes RYAN VREDE.
After a barren period for the Proteas spinners in T20Is, they have taken more than half the team’s wickets in matches in 2021. This is a piece of the World Cup puzzle that could be critical to their performance at the tournament, writes RYAN VREDE.
Great coaches are able to find solutions to their team’s most difficult challenges in relatively short periods of time. Mark Boucher’s capacity to do so is now in question, writes RYAN VREDE.
