I like a coach that says it like it is.
And Proteas bowling coach Charl Langeveldt did just that last week.
Langes spoke ahead of last Friday’s embarrassing 107-run first T20I defeat to Australia and said domestic cricket is not as competitive as it used to be.
He added that, because of that, players aren’t ready for the pressure of international cricket when they get to that level.
It’s true.
Long-time readers of this column will know that I have been concerned about the state of our domestic cricket for a while now.
But our struggles have now filtered down to age-group level too.
Earlier this month, the U19 Cricket World Cup took place here in our beloved country.
A tournament we last won in 2014 when Aiden Markram and Kagiso Rabada starred, South Africa were expected to at least be competitive.
After all, we were the hosts.
We couldn’t make it count mense and finished EIGHTH overall, with Bangladesh winning the tournament.
Is this an indication of a really bad group, or just that our cricket is really going backwards on all fronts?
As a lifelong fan, I am concerned...
Are the laaities not playing cricket any more or are we just losing too much talent? And why?