Cricket World Cup: S Africa collapse sends NZ through
"New Zealand joined India and Pakistan in the World Cup semi-finals as South Africa collapsed when in command of a straightforward chase in Mirpur.
New Zealand batted cautiously, making 221-8 with Jesse Ryder (83) key. South Africa were excellent in the field and their varied bowling attack kept the Black Caps pinned down.
When they then reached 108-2 after 24 overs the Proteas seemed to be cruising to victory, but they subsided horribly to be all out for 172.
With Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers batting so calmly just before the mid-point of the South Africa chase and having stayed ahead of an undemanding required run rate, New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori must have sensed the worst.
But the game changed dramatically when Kallis, on 47, attacked a gentle long-hop from Tim Southee and unerringly picked out Jacob Oram at deep midwicket.
Seven wickets remained and there was absolutely no reason for South Africa to panic - but they did just that, bringing to mind similarly ignominious exits in the 1999 and 2003 World Cups.
JP Duminy's questionable stomach for a pressurised situation was called into doubt again as he missed a cut shot against Nathan McCullum and was clean bowled.
 |  Whenever they lose in the World Cup, everyone always focuses on South Africa's inadequacies. They say you should only take the field when you're 100% fit, but that's not true when you're captain - Daniel Vettori was a mountain for New Zealand today Test match Special's Neil Manthorp |
The real frustration for South Africa was that De Villiers, the team's leading scorer in the tournament, had played quite beautifully in making 35 from 40 balls, but with him out New Zealand went from plucky outsiders to warm favourites.
They relished the situation and were ultimately excellent value for their win. Oram bowled Johan Botha, who tentatively played down the wrong line, before having Robin Peterson caught behind.
Suddenly New Zealand bowlers were queuing up to take wickets, and McCullum grabbed the next one when Dale Steyn skewed a catch to point.
For a while, Du Plessis gave South Africa renewed hope, but on 36 he drilled Oram (4-39) to extra cover, leaving World Cup debutant Luke Woodcock to claim the final wicket when Morne Morkel drove a catch to long-on.
Overlooked as serious contenders before the tournament, New Zealand progress to a semi-final in Colombo against either England or Sri Lanka next week. Andrew Strauss's team play in the final quarter-final on Friday in Colombo.
But South Africa, who finished top of Group B despite a defeat in similar circumstances to England in Chennai, are left with the familiar feeling of "what if?"
And, painful though such an observation will doubtless be, it would be hard to suggest that this particular South African defeat was not a self-inflicted one.
Smith, whose ODI captaincy now comes to an end, conceded afterwards: "It's difficult to explain how I feel now - it's been a very disappointing evening. They kept the pressure on us and we lost wickets.
At the toss, both Vettori and Smith wanted to bat first, and it was New Zealand, after Smith had called incorrectly, who claimed that honour.
But with only 16 on the board, they were already two men down, Brendon McCullum chipping a catch back to bowler Robin Peterson before Martin Guptill skied a drive off Steyn to mid-off.
Ryder and Ross Taylor, clearly mindful of coach John Wright's instructions to ensure New Zealand must be only three wickets down at the 35-over mark, were watchful as they laid the foundation of the innings.
They put on 114, using up 27 overs. Ryder produced his fair share of boundaries but struggled to knock singles about; Taylor had the opposite problem.
All the while, Smith showed some very shrewd captaincy, persisting with attacking fields and frequently rotating his seven-man bowling attack.
Signs that the shackles might finally be broken came when Taylor slog-swept Peterson for six in the 32nd over. But an attempted repeat in the next over, bowled by Imran Tahir, resulted in an easy catch for Kallis at deep midwicket.
New Zealand now wanted a series of quick-fire cameo efforts and for Ryder to hit overdrive but neither happened. Morkel had Scott Styris bottom-edging onto his stumps before Ryder, running out of steam on 83, chipped Tahir tamely into the deep.
Morkel bowled two more batsmen with yorkers, leaving Kane Williamson (38 not out from 41 balls) to do the bulk of the lower-order hitting.
The resultant total looked thin, even after New Zealand had been boosted by a fortunate early wicket when Hashim Amla was caught at slip off wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum's boot.
 The two captains share a word as Friday's match comes to an end |
Kallis and Smith (28) put on 61 together, before Kallis and De Villiers continued to keep their team in decent shape. Even bearing in mind South Africa's past history of "choking" in such scenarios a New Zealand comeback looked unlikely, let alone a win by a big margin that keeps their World Cup dream alive.
Vettori, playing with a knee injury that severely limited his movements on the field, said: "We wanted 250 and just got a little bit ahead of ourselves and a bit aggressive for a short while.
"But the guys said it was tricky and it was almost an old school one-day game on a low, slow one - that's the sort of game we like to play and we've got the sort of bowlers who can really work well on that kind of wicket.""
No room for Raiders on cheat sheet
"Being around 32 NFL coaches, you know some of them are always looking for an angle, anything to give their team an advantage in this age of parity. It’s the competitive nature of the business. So when the owners locked out the players, we knew that some coaches would break the no-contact rules. And sure enough five teams have already been fined because they were talking football strategy with their players.
“I’m not going to do anything to get our franchise in trouble,” said John Fox, first-year head coach of the Denver Broncos this week during the NFL meetings in New Orleans. “We’re all in the same boat and most of us wouldn’t be doing anything with the players this month anyway.”
Said another coach: “But there’s always the five-percent definition. The general thinking is that five percent of people tend to break or bend the rules out of a hundred.”
The last time there was a work stoppage, back in 1987, the “best cheaters” in the bunch might have been Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. Not only was he coaching the Redskins, a strong union team, but he was also inspecting his scab players, maybe the NFL’s best group put together by his able GM Bobby Beathard and actually cutting it down to a respectable unit before those replacement games were played. The Redskins had the money to maintain two quality teams and a major reason why Washington won the Super Bowl that season was the fact that their replacement players went 3-0 in the regular-season while rivals like the Giants struggled.
Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that he doesn’t envision the league signing replacement players this year.
Based on their rough and tumble, black-hole reputation, you would think the Raiders would be merry tricksters. But that isn’t owner Al Davis’s style. He’s a purist when it comes to rules and regulations even though decades ago his rivals forever accused him on filming their practices. Jets coach Walt Michaels became irritated during the 1982 playoffs when he accused Davis and the Raiders of listening in to his halftime talk and coaching instructions. The Raiders weren’t guilty and Michaels, whose team did win the game, ended up being fired.
Any Raider will tell you that Davis believes it is black mark on the entire league whenever a franchise gets caught cheating like the Patriots and Bill Belichick have in recent years. One of the worst things the Raiders did in the last 30 years was hiding a Plan B player overnight in a hotel so another team couldn’t find him to sign him.
“If I’m not there coaching and helping the players, I don’t see any benefits in talking to them over a cell phone about what they should be working on or practicing,” said Raiders coach Hue Jackson. “It just doesn’t make any sense to me to risk anything right now. I don’t see any advantage in it at all.”
There was talk in the coaching ranks in New Orleans this week about some coaches purchasing disposable cell phones, ones that the league office couldn’t trace, in order to keep in communication with their quarterbacks and other players who could be practicing in groups.
It sounded rather extreme.
“I’ve heard the same rumors,” Jackson said of the disposable phones.
“I can’t imagine a head coach really doing something like that,” the Chargers’ Norv Turner said.
“What I find really ridiculous about that is if my coach was thinking that way – using disposable cell phones – why on earth would he be telling anybody about it?,” said a NFC general manager. “If you’re going to break the rules, wouldn’t it be smart to keep it to yourself instead of telling someone how you are going to do it? If it was my coach, I would fire him for simply being stupid.”
Some coaches, like new Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, simply can’t refrain from helping their players when they are adjusting to a new system.
Of course, a concern among the teams is that some of the players – there have been several arrests since the lockout – will take advantage of the fact that they will face no discipline from Goodell during the lockout for criminal behavior. There is also the chance that some may party more than usual because there is no league-dictated drug testing during the lockout, either.
It’s understandable that some organizations are concerned about a few players using illegal drugs right now because with no testing, there’s no real fear of being caught. There is no doubt that some of these players are better off being in a locker-room setting and being judged by their peers and coaches on a daily basis. Whenever there is a new collective bargaining agreement, the owners will insist on even a stronger testing program, both for illegal and performance-enhancing drugs.
Turner said he wasn’t worried about his players and he also said that he really didn’t believe the Chargers had much of advantage over other teams because his players tend to remain in San Diego, plus he has a veteran quarterback in Philip Rivers.
“They can be out there running around, and Philip can be throwing, but it’s not going to be like a real practice or anything,” Turner said. “One of the best things I’ve heard is that we plan to reduce the OTA days in the future. I agree that the players need more of a break from the grind of offseason work.”
Now, don’t include Mike McCarthy, the Super Bowl winner, among the coaches wanting to see his Green Bay players less in the offseason. He’s already unhappy that he is missing valuable time with his young quarterbacks, Matt Flynn and Graham Harrell. And McCarthy really doesn’t want this lockout to last past the April draft.
The Packers have had so much success in signing undrafted rookie free-agents that McCarthy believes it could impact his future roster. Defensive stars like cornerbacks Tramon Williams and Sam Shields weren’t drafted.
“I’m the kind of coach that likes to install his offense, everything we are going to do, during our mini-camps and OTAs,” McCarthy said. “I want the players to know that once they leave in June that I won’t be adding plays during training camp. That way when they return for camp, the rookies know what is expected of them and everyone has a fair shot at winning a job.”
Obviously, McCarthy wants this lockout to end yesterday.
On a lighter note, I wonder if Cowboys coach Jason Garrett will be fined for attending his quarterback’s wedding – Stephen McGee’s not Tony Romo’s – after the lockout began?"
Said another coach: “But there’s always the five-percent definition. The general thinking is that five percent of people tend to break or bend the rules out of a hundred.”
The last time there was a work stoppage, back in 1987, the “best cheaters” in the bunch might have been Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. Not only was he coaching the Redskins, a strong union team, but he was also inspecting his scab players, maybe the NFL’s best group put together by his able GM Bobby Beathard and actually cutting it down to a respectable unit before those replacement games were played. The Redskins had the money to maintain two quality teams and a major reason why Washington won the Super Bowl that season was the fact that their replacement players went 3-0 in the regular-season while rivals like the Giants struggled.
Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that he doesn’t envision the league signing replacement players this year.
Any Raider will tell you that Davis believes it is black mark on the entire league whenever a franchise gets caught cheating like the Patriots and Bill Belichick have in recent years. One of the worst things the Raiders did in the last 30 years was hiding a Plan B player overnight in a hotel so another team couldn’t find him to sign him.
“If I’m not there coaching and helping the players, I don’t see any benefits in talking to them over a cell phone about what they should be working on or practicing,” said Raiders coach Hue Jackson. “It just doesn’t make any sense to me to risk anything right now. I don’t see any advantage in it at all.”
There was talk in the coaching ranks in New Orleans this week about some coaches purchasing disposable cell phones, ones that the league office couldn’t trace, in order to keep in communication with their quarterbacks and other players who could be practicing in groups.
It sounded rather extreme.
“I’ve heard the same rumors,” Jackson said of the disposable phones.
“What I find really ridiculous about that is if my coach was thinking that way – using disposable cell phones – why on earth would he be telling anybody about it?,” said a NFC general manager. “If you’re going to break the rules, wouldn’t it be smart to keep it to yourself instead of telling someone how you are going to do it? If it was my coach, I would fire him for simply being stupid.”
Some coaches, like new Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, simply can’t refrain from helping their players when they are adjusting to a new system.
Of course, a concern among the teams is that some of the players – there have been several arrests since the lockout – will take advantage of the fact that they will face no discipline from Goodell during the lockout for criminal behavior. There is also the chance that some may party more than usual because there is no league-dictated drug testing during the lockout, either.
It’s understandable that some organizations are concerned about a few players using illegal drugs right now because with no testing, there’s no real fear of being caught. There is no doubt that some of these players are better off being in a locker-room setting and being judged by their peers and coaches on a daily basis. Whenever there is a new collective bargaining agreement, the owners will insist on even a stronger testing program, both for illegal and performance-enhancing drugs.
Turner said he wasn’t worried about his players and he also said that he really didn’t believe the Chargers had much of advantage over other teams because his players tend to remain in San Diego, plus he has a veteran quarterback in Philip Rivers.
Now, don’t include Mike McCarthy, the Super Bowl winner, among the coaches wanting to see his Green Bay players less in the offseason. He’s already unhappy that he is missing valuable time with his young quarterbacks, Matt Flynn and Graham Harrell. And McCarthy really doesn’t want this lockout to last past the April draft.
The Packers have had so much success in signing undrafted rookie free-agents that McCarthy believes it could impact his future roster. Defensive stars like cornerbacks Tramon Williams and Sam Shields weren’t drafted.
“I’m the kind of coach that likes to install his offense, everything we are going to do, during our mini-camps and OTAs,” McCarthy said. “I want the players to know that once they leave in June that I won’t be adding plays during training camp. That way when they return for camp, the rookies know what is expected of them and everyone has a fair shot at winning a job.”
Obviously, McCarthy wants this lockout to end yesterday.
On a lighter note, I wonder if Cowboys coach Jason Garrett will be fined for attending his quarterback’s wedding – Stephen McGee’s not Tony Romo’s – after the lockout began?"
