Aislabie
Test Cricket is Best Cricket
KFC to sponsor third regional Championship
Following on from the success of the Nagico Americas Championship and Allianz European Championship, KFC have joined forces with CSA, CA and NZC to organise the tournament for the southern hemisphere. The SANZAC (South Africa New Zealand and Australia Cricket) organisation is an new umbrella board much like the Asian Cricket Council. Again, this is a big step towards the new-look 2015 Cricket World Cup.
South Africa to host
The venue for the inaugural SANZAC Championship has been confirmed as South Africa. Chris Nenzani confirms that CSA are "excited to be hosting such a ground-breaking event" and "cannot wait to see how the new order of international cricket shapes up.
Clear top six emerges in warm-ups
In the course of ten warm-up fixtures against South African provincial sides, we may have been given a sneak peak at which six teams we can expect to make it into next year's World Cup. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Zimbabwe all came out on top as expected. Namibia and Papua New Guinea also started as they mean to go on, but Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Vanuatu were disappointing.
Namibia, PNG make important strides
The best thing about the group stage is that matches which are lacking in quality will always be full of significance. In Group B, Kenya's carelessness against PNG resulted in a miserable collapse - indeed, they batted so badly that only veteran Steve Tikolo found the boundary on a flat track. Meanwhile in Group C, Namibia overcame a brief scare to chase Uganda's 236. As expected, Australia and South Africa won their matches in the group of death.
Simmons slams SANZAC Championship
Republic of Ireland coach Phil Simmons has criticised the "Super Group" structure of the SANZAC Championship. Read the full article here.
Uganda crash out after shock defeat
In the game which most people expect to be a dress rehearsal of the final, Australia went away top of the table with the bragging rights of beating the hosts. Steve Smith continued to grow in stature with an excellent all-round effort. Elsewhere, New Zealand saw off a plucky Zimbabwean side. In Group B, PNG qualified without stress for the quarter finals, but Group C saw a major upset. Vanuatu, least fancied of anyone, upset the apple cart by defeating Uganda at Paarl. They are now just one win away from facing a Test nation.
Van Schoor takes off the gloves as Namibia edge through
Ironically, the biggest game of the day was the one featuring the smallest nation. Vanuatu, fresh off the back of a win over Uganda, went out with all guns blazing - Andrew Mansale hitting three huge sixes. However, the Namibian skipper and 'keeper also turned partnership-breaker; Ray van Schoor handed over the gloves to Xander Pitchers to dismiss Mansale with some off-spin. He was one of ten bowlers used, but the man-of-the-match was undoubtedly Sarel Burger. Vanuatu can hold their heads up high.
Group Stage finishes with thrilling games
Aside from the Namibia-Vanuatu game, the final round of group games was an impressive affair of upsets and thrillers. In the ultimate dead rubber, Australia lost out to Zimbabwe in a game that will give the African nation fresh hope ahead of the World Cup. Meanwhile, New Zealand overturned South Africa with an accomplished performance to go straight to the semis. Finally, Kenya put in a top-class bowling create a heart-stopping finish against Tanzania.
ICC reveals "comprehensive plan"
After Phil Simmons' well-publicised criticism of the SANZAC Super Group, the ICC has released its response. Read the full article here.
South Africa, Zimbabwe complete "big four" semis
In the SANZAC Championship Quarter Finals, pundits everywhere expected the most one-sided games of the competition. At Newlands, this turned out to be the case as the Zimbabweans overhauled the PNG target with 18 overs to spare, but Namibia put up a much better fight at the Wanderers ground. With the hosts at 132 for one chasing only 208, the game was dead and buried, but Snyman and Williams turned destroyers with the ball to take it right down to the wire before Robin Peterson became a hero.
One-sided semis set up Antipodean final
Going into the tournament, it would have been a brave man who described South Africa as anything less than second-favourites, but they were comprehensively slain at Newlands by a destructive Guptill hundred. Earlier in the day, David Warner and the Australians overhauled the Zimbabweans even more easily. This brace of eight-wicket wins sets up an Australia-New Zealand final, the winner of which will shoot straight into the top four in the world.
Rankings "a joke" - Domingo
South African coach Russell Domingo has slammed the World Rankings as being "a joke" and "not fit for purpose" after his side's SANZAC performance left them ranked below Kenya, Namibia, PNG, and - hilariously - Vanuatu. The ICC warned earlier that this might happen due to the small sample size at present, but has promised that it will level itself out.
Following on from the success of the Nagico Americas Championship and Allianz European Championship, KFC have joined forces with CSA, CA and NZC to organise the tournament for the southern hemisphere. The SANZAC (South Africa New Zealand and Australia Cricket) organisation is an new umbrella board much like the Asian Cricket Council. Again, this is a big step towards the new-look 2015 Cricket World Cup.
South Africa to host
The venue for the inaugural SANZAC Championship has been confirmed as South Africa. Chris Nenzani confirms that CSA are "excited to be hosting such a ground-breaking event" and "cannot wait to see how the new order of international cricket shapes up.
Clear top six emerges in warm-ups
In the course of ten warm-up fixtures against South African provincial sides, we may have been given a sneak peak at which six teams we can expect to make it into next year's World Cup. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Zimbabwe all came out on top as expected. Namibia and Papua New Guinea also started as they mean to go on, but Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Vanuatu were disappointing.
Namibia, PNG make important strides
The best thing about the group stage is that matches which are lacking in quality will always be full of significance. In Group B, Kenya's carelessness against PNG resulted in a miserable collapse - indeed, they batted so badly that only veteran Steve Tikolo found the boundary on a flat track. Meanwhile in Group C, Namibia overcame a brief scare to chase Uganda's 236. As expected, Australia and South Africa won their matches in the group of death.
Simmons slams SANZAC Championship
Republic of Ireland coach Phil Simmons has criticised the "Super Group" structure of the SANZAC Championship. Read the full article here.
Uganda crash out after shock defeat
In the game which most people expect to be a dress rehearsal of the final, Australia went away top of the table with the bragging rights of beating the hosts. Steve Smith continued to grow in stature with an excellent all-round effort. Elsewhere, New Zealand saw off a plucky Zimbabwean side. In Group B, PNG qualified without stress for the quarter finals, but Group C saw a major upset. Vanuatu, least fancied of anyone, upset the apple cart by defeating Uganda at Paarl. They are now just one win away from facing a Test nation.
Van Schoor takes off the gloves as Namibia edge through
Ironically, the biggest game of the day was the one featuring the smallest nation. Vanuatu, fresh off the back of a win over Uganda, went out with all guns blazing - Andrew Mansale hitting three huge sixes. However, the Namibian skipper and 'keeper also turned partnership-breaker; Ray van Schoor handed over the gloves to Xander Pitchers to dismiss Mansale with some off-spin. He was one of ten bowlers used, but the man-of-the-match was undoubtedly Sarel Burger. Vanuatu can hold their heads up high.
Group Stage finishes with thrilling games
Aside from the Namibia-Vanuatu game, the final round of group games was an impressive affair of upsets and thrillers. In the ultimate dead rubber, Australia lost out to Zimbabwe in a game that will give the African nation fresh hope ahead of the World Cup. Meanwhile, New Zealand overturned South Africa with an accomplished performance to go straight to the semis. Finally, Kenya put in a top-class bowling create a heart-stopping finish against Tanzania.
ICC reveals "comprehensive plan"
After Phil Simmons' well-publicised criticism of the SANZAC Super Group, the ICC has released its response. Read the full article here.
South Africa, Zimbabwe complete "big four" semis
In the SANZAC Championship Quarter Finals, pundits everywhere expected the most one-sided games of the competition. At Newlands, this turned out to be the case as the Zimbabweans overhauled the PNG target with 18 overs to spare, but Namibia put up a much better fight at the Wanderers ground. With the hosts at 132 for one chasing only 208, the game was dead and buried, but Snyman and Williams turned destroyers with the ball to take it right down to the wire before Robin Peterson became a hero.
One-sided semis set up Antipodean final
Going into the tournament, it would have been a brave man who described South Africa as anything less than second-favourites, but they were comprehensively slain at Newlands by a destructive Guptill hundred. Earlier in the day, David Warner and the Australians overhauled the Zimbabweans even more easily. This brace of eight-wicket wins sets up an Australia-New Zealand final, the winner of which will shoot straight into the top four in the world.
Rankings "a joke" - Domingo
South African coach Russell Domingo has slammed the World Rankings as being "a joke" and "not fit for purpose" after his side's SANZAC performance left them ranked below Kenya, Namibia, PNG, and - hilariously - Vanuatu. The ICC warned earlier that this might happen due to the small sample size at present, but has promised that it will level itself out.
Last edited:
Michael Clarke
