Greg Strydom - A Blast from the Past

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ZIMDOGGY
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Re: Greg Strydom - A Blast from the Past

Post by ZIMDOGGY »

Its the ONLY way to compete for the next ten years, until the kids development stuff can get rebooted again.
Cricinfo profile of the 'James Bond' of cricket:

FULL NAME: Angus James Mackay
BORN: 13 June 1967, Harare
KNOWN AS: Gus Mackay

'The' Gus Mackay.

Hero.
Sportsman.
Artist.
Player.

**
Q. VUSI SIBANDA, WHERE DO YOU HOP?

A. UNDA DA ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE*

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encore
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Re: Greg Strydom - A Blast from the Past

Post by encore »

I remember many soccer teams in Africa hunting for overseas based players for instant success.

1. Senegal did it and had a top FIFA WC in 2002 I think or was it 2006. Today they are ranked in the Top 20.
2. Algeria did it, and they qualified for their first FIFA World Cup in 2010 and the one after that.

But one thing sticks out, Algerian Clubs have only won the African Champions League once in the last 30 years, and I don't think any Senegal Club has ever won it. So, artificial or synthetic progress will make relevant only occasionally in major tournaments - once every few years, but 24-7-365, you'll amount to nothing in comparison to Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia, DRC, Morocco etc who will always be in the mix.

To put things into perspective, just imagine New Zealand Rugby does away with their contract format and players are free to play wherever they want and still be eligible for the All Blacks. NZ will still do well in international rugby, but unlike South Africa, they will not be able to compete in Super Rugby week in week out. Chances are that South Africa would easily win it every year.

Of course cricket is different in the sense that there are no club competitions of note. But that would make things awkward. Looking at Namibia and Ireland - who rely on South Africa and England cricket systems for their top cricketers, you would then be at the mercy of other countries. Which exposes you to things like Brexit, or in the case of Pakistan, non-selection for the IPL unless you're a Imran Tahir.

A lot of people like to talk about Indians and Pakistanis dominating most Associates. That's true, but if one really looks at the quality of players - real top quality, you'll often find that it is South African Europeans who make up true quality in those countries (which is the same in rugby), and soon it will be West Indies.

10-20 years from now we may very well watch a USA vs WI made up entirely of West Indian players, and SA vs Namibia/Germany made up of South Africans vs South African Europeans.

I'm almost certain that Australia, New Zealand and England cricket will be as "foreign" in their make up as Canada and Hong Kong in that time.

Since Spain was overtaken in football, two teams have stood out - Germany first, then now France. Both countries have dominated football or soccer lately, but if you ask me, Germany didn't win the FIFA World Cup in 2014, and France didn't win the 2018 edition. To a lesser extent one could argue Portugal too in 2016 Euros and now the European Nations Cup this year, but for the incredible one-man wrecking show at international level that is Cristiano that probably only Maradona can match in history (forget Messi, Pele who had help and Puskas - maybe I'm too harsh on him).

It's the way of the world, but if you ask me, I'm happier watching the -ovs, -ics and -sons of Bulgaria, Croatia and Iceland against each other any day! As opposed to Macron consoling Merkel because Sissoko saved Boateng's penalty in the final, or Mackenzie refusing to shake Lorenzo hand because Venter embarrassed Vissagie with a wicked side-step to eliminate them.

A situation where in essence African and Aborigine athletes hold every medal or record of a FIFA World Cup, FIBA World Cup, Olympic track, Rugby World Cup, Boxing in everything but name and flag is hardly exciting, fair or genuine.

I wonder if they would have called it Tiki Taka or Catenaccio if it was Ivanov, Xi, Bakayoko and Khalil playing it, or just the "Fusion".

New Zimbabwe Coach Peter Kirsten names his XI to face Nigeria in the T20 CWC opener: :D
Ruan Strydom (Cayman Islands)
Brian Watambwa (Belgium)
Hugh Olonga (England)
Elton Matambanadzo (USA)
Matthew Waller (Zimbabwe)
Takunda Taibu (capt & wk, Sri Lanka)
Jake Traicos (Egypt)
Michael Burl (Afghanistan)
Arthur Campbell (Pakistan)
Takunda Panyangara (Australia)
Robert Burl (Zimbabwe)
12th man Njabulo Mbangwa (South Africa)
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zimbos_05
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Re: Greg Strydom - A Blast from the Past

Post by zimbos_05 »

encore wrote:
Sun Sep 01, 2019 2:34 pm

I'm almost certain that Australia cricket will be as "foreign" in their make up as Canada and Hong Kong in that time.

Not that you make much sense, but clearly you're not familiar with Aus cricket.

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encore
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Re: Greg Strydom - A Blast from the Past

Post by encore »

zimbos_05 wrote:
Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:19 am
encore wrote:
Sun Sep 01, 2019 2:34 pm

I'm almost certain that Australia cricket will be as "foreign" in their make up as Canada and Hong Kong in that time.

Not that you make much sense, but clearly you're not familiar with Aus cricket.
The number one summer sport in Australia is cricket.

There is nothing wrong with England being cpatained by Nasser and having Test/ODI/T20 sides flooded by the likes of Strauss, Prior, Dernbach, Lumb, Roy etc. Why? Because cricket is not THE sport there.

But when there's talk of Khawaja being captain, on the back Fawad Ahmed, Labuschagne, Neser, Cartwright etc debuts, I've got news for you.

Symo was an Englishman...and he wasn't exactly treated right. Fasten your seatbelts.
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zimbos_05
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Re: Greg Strydom - A Blast from the Past

Post by zimbos_05 »

encore wrote:
Tue Sep 03, 2019 10:33 pm

The number one summer sport in Australia is cricket.

There is nothing wrong with England being cpatained by Nasser and having Test/ODI/T20 sides flooded by the likes of Strauss, Prior, Dernbach, Lumb, Roy etc. Why? Because cricket is not THE sport there.

But when there's talk of Khawaja being captain, on the back Fawad Ahmed, Labuschagne, Neser, Cartwright etc debuts, I've got news for you.

Symo was an Englishman...and he wasn't exactly treated right. Fasten your seatbelts.
Unless you meant otherwise, but my understanding of what you wrote was that you would not be surprised to see Australia become dominated by people from the sub continent like Hong Kong and Canada.

That is clearly wrong. Khawaja has been slated from the first day he was selected. He has just been dropped despite others performing much worse than him. This in itself invalidates that point about being like Hong Kong and Canada.

Regards to people from overseas playing, well, it's Australia. Bound to happen in a country that is made up of 30% of its population born overseas.

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encore
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Re: Greg Strydom - A Blast from the Past

Post by encore »

zimbos_05 wrote:
Wed Sep 04, 2019 1:23 am
encore wrote:
Tue Sep 03, 2019 10:33 pm

The number one summer sport in Australia is cricket.

There is nothing wrong with England being cpatained by Nasser and having Test/ODI/T20 sides flooded by the likes of Strauss, Prior, Dernbach, Lumb, Roy etc. Why? Because cricket is not THE sport there.

But when there's talk of Khawaja being captain, on the back Fawad Ahmed, Labuschagne, Neser, Cartwright etc debuts, I've got news for you.

Symo was an Englishman...and he wasn't exactly treated right. Fasten your seatbelts.
Unless you meant otherwise, but my understanding of what you wrote was that you would not be surprised to see Australia become dominated by people from the sub continent like Hong Kong and Canada.

That is clearly wrong. Khawaja has been slated from the first day he was selected. He has just been dropped despite others performing much worse than him. This in itself invalidates that point about being like Hong Kong and Canada.

Regards to people from overseas playing, well, it's Australia. Bound to happen in a country that is made up of 30% of its population born overseas.
I am not certain if you understand, or don't understand. But what I'm completely certain of is that there is no evidence of you disagreeing with any of what I said.
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zimbos_05
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Re: Greg Strydom - A Blast from the Past

Post by zimbos_05 »

encore wrote:
Wed Sep 04, 2019 11:27 am
I am not certain if you understand, or don't understand. But what I'm completely certain of is that there is no evidence of you disagreeing with any of what I said.
[/quote]

You stated Australia will be as foreign in their make up as Hong Kong and Canada.

Now it seems like you are backtracking. I think it's probably you who is not clear. It would help if you spoke straight English instead of in circles.

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