Proteas Destroy England in Leeds

I will not be discussing the Tri Nations, The Sharks and Formula 1, but then if I did not I would have very little to write about. The Proteas kicked Pommie butt big time today.

I predicted a win on the double but I can live with 10 wickets. Yes our bowlers had to go out there and get 20 wickets to win the test and that is what they did on a not so easy deck, but on the first day conditions where in their favour. Our batsmen are the ones who need to be praised. They showed just how important it is to spend time at the wicket and grind out big scores.

Prince with his test best of 149 and AB with a very good 174 put the SA side in such a commanding lead that the English had no chance of getting back in the game unless it rained for the rest of the test match. The interesting fact about the match and this series is that Dale Steyn has got Michael Vaughan’s number so much so when he got to play Ntini he threw his wicket away.

Ntini is not shaping and will be lucky to start ahead of Andre Nel at Edgbaston on the 30th. Harris will need to stay because it is his home county ground where he took plenty of wickets playing years of county cricket. Our top order has all scored tons on tour, except for Kallis who has failed in both tests. He did however show his worth as an all rounder taking vital wickets today.

The problem now is as with all SA cricket teams, we win one game and we think we have won the war. Head down, feet on the ground and bury them properly.

The Boks got a good beating from a pathetic Australian team, with a little help from Bryce Lawrence, and there goes my blood pressure. On five occasions the Bok lineout jumper was pulled down, held and even tackled in the air, only one penalty and not even in the Australian half.

Look he missed plenty of infringements on the ground but we did not play like the Wallabies did and missed the opportunity. Please can somebody explain to me why we made changes that where not forced to our team? What did Percy do wrong, for him to be replaced by Jantjies and why drop Big Joe, he did nothing wrong last week.

Anyway, “The Puppet Master” has released nine Boks back into the provincial set up and nobody will be happier than John Plumtree and Alister Ceotzee. Western Problems lost to a 14-man Valke, in Brakpan and they did play poor rugby.

However after watching the Valke last week play against the Sharks they impressed with their brand of running rugby. Province lost that game plan and the backline started to remind me of the Springbok backs before Eddie Jones helped them out last year before the World Cup. Mmmm what was the problem, oh yes the backline coach was useless, shame well at least that is a Province Problem and not a Sharks one.

Now onto my Sharks, well it seemed they left their teeth back in Durban. I was so relieved when the lights went out for three hours on Saturday. It saved me from looking at the joke called a rugby match.

Mark Lawrence is spending more time worrying about his looks than reffing a game. Again some decisions that left the commentators and myself wondering what was that for. No it was not even for a call against the Sharks. Mind you Freddie and Heno were two guys that deprived two villages of there very own idiots by giving away the first try.

With Ruan, Odwa, Ryan and Beast back this should add some stabilizing to the Sharks team. Bring it on Lions and you will go down next week. In Wellington the Bulls took down Boland 26-10 and the Lions beat Griquas 36-32 in Kimberly. The log is now interesting with the Bulls in first and yes the Lions in second. Boland is brining up the rear.

Hockenheim proved a very happy hunting ground for Hamilton. He was the quickest, the most aggressive and the best driver of the day. Ferrari was off the pace and Renault ended up with their first podium of the season. It will now be onto Hungary for the most unexciting race of the season. After that it will be back to fast overtaking friendly circuits.

In the Motor GP the Doctor is back with a superb victory in Laguna USA. One of only two circuits that he has not won a Motor GP. Casey Stoner was second over 13 seconds behind Rossi and Chris Vermeulen on a Suzuki coming in third. The next race will be at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic on the third of August.

The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale proved to be a mare of a course. With a winning total of three over par for Padraig Harrington, who became the first European to defend his title at the open in over 100 years.

Greg Norman was the talk of the tournament leading the Championship going into the final round. It would have been great if the 53 year old Great White was able to hold on to become the oldest major winner.

It was strange not to see the big boys doing well and keeping in contention but then again it made for a very interesting Open, one of the better I have followed in the past few years.

Onto next week, the All Blacks take on the Wallabies at the Telstra Dome for what I think will be another Black victory.

In the words of some commentator many years back, remember the race is never won on the first lap, however a good start does make the race a hell of a lot easier.

Enjoy and look after yourselves.

ONETIME