From the Pitch to the Gridiron: A Week in Review

South Africa is officially the best One Day Cricket Team in the World.

The Proteas thumped the Baggy Greens 4-1 in the ODI series.

The team has done well in 2008, winning a test series in England and then securing their first ever test series win in Australia.

2009 could not have started on a better note for the Proteas as being crowned No.1 in the world is fantastic. All the Proteas have to now is dispatch the Australians in the home test series and they will then hold the test title as well.  

Credit must go to Mickey Arthur who has been a very quiet, very well-respected coach, guiding and educating his players in the art of cricket, the art of being tough and the art of being a sportsman. In this, only a fool would deny him his credit.  

Have a look at what Gary Kirsten has done for Indian cricket and now with Graham Ford taking over England and one will see just how much the South African influence will have on World Cricket. The captains, Graeme Smith and Johan Botha have led by example. Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis bowled well, Hash, AD and JP Duminy showed that as the young guns coming through, they have the BMT and for the Australian public to give standing ovations when South Africa went to collect their trophies, you know you have done well.

Liverpool did it again on the soccer field and beat Chelsea 2-0 to end their run on the English Premier League. This still puts Liverpool with a shot for the title, however Manchester United looked certain to take the title. Again, they only won 1-0 against Everton at home. Arsenal and Aston Villa both drew their games and The Gunners look certain not to make Champions League next season.

Tottenham lost away to Bolton 3-2 but with the signing of Robbie Keane they will bolster the strike force for Harry Redknapp. The Gunner have also signed Andrei Arshavin for 12 million pounds in a deal that will see him with The Arsenal until the end of 2012. It is about time -- since Henry left the North London team, they have been weak up front. Only time will tell how he will fair.

Bafana-Bafana won their fifth game in a row when they beat Zambia 1-0 last week. This is the longest winning streak in their history. Super Sport are still on top with 34 points, followed by Ajax Cape Town with 31 and the Pirates with 30. The Chiefs also have 30 points but are behind on goal difference.

In the Australian Open, Raphael Nadal won his sixth Grand Slam title denying Roger Federer his chance of becoming the leading men’s player of all time. If Federer had won, it would have been his 14th title, but alas it was not to be. Serena Williams became the leading ladies money earner of all-time in tennis when she dispatched of Safina 6-0- 6-3 on Saturday night. The title has also put her back as the No. 1 ranked ladies player.

South African Rugby is in a bit of a pickle, Canterbury South Africa have gone belly up. This means that the Springbok will need to be looked after by Canterbury International, but clubs and schools that are looking for new jerseys will need to look at other brands.

Frans Steyn has been linked to a move to France, somewhere in the region of R4,5 million per year. The Sharks don’t have that kind of money and I don’t think that SARU do either. This is a frightening amount of money in South African terms.

In sadder news, if you are a Kiwi supporter and more so a rugby purist, Dan Cater has a torn his Achilles and is likely to be out of action for six months.

The NFL Super Bowl has just concluded with the Pittsburgh Steelers beating the Arizona Cardinals, 27-23. I only got to watch the fourth quarter and as somebody who does not know much about the game, it was very exciting. Arizona came from behind to erase a 20-7 deficit, scoring twice in the last 15 minutes to take the lead.

With 35 seconds left, the Steelers got a touchdown to earn their NFL-record sixth Super Bowl title.

Next week, I will have the run down of the Super 14, predictions and wishes and also update on the Varsity Cup that started tonight.