Okay, so the ICC Champions Trophy starts on Thursday with South Africa vs India as the opening match.
I, as a Saffa, am both very excited, and extremely nervous about this tournament. This could just be the tournament to assist our boys in not choking, since it's the only ICC tournament that we have won in the past.
Some great performances in the IPL and in the Pakistan series has given our squad a lot of variety, and the warm-up game vs Holland last week Thursday was also a good time to shrug off some rust. JP Duminy, who hasn't played any cricket since that freak incident during the tour Down Under, smashed 150* against the Dutch in his first game back. We played the game with 3 spinners, with all 3 of the spinners taking wickets.
I am most excited about the 2 newish guys who will make an appearance. Farhaan Behardien and David Miller, both good batsmen and amazing fielders. Miller, who recently made headlines during the IPL after smashing a century off 38 balls, is an explosive batsmen with immense power that can hit the ball a mile. Behardien on the other hand is a bit like Duminy and Amla, wristy, smart and innovative. During the last domestic season, he was one of the top run scorers in the tournament, even though he played 3-5 games less than the other guys due to his Proteas commitment. And he can bowl spin too.
As for our bowlers, well nothing new to report there. Tsotsobe, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Ryan Mclaren and Rory Kleinveldt will do the pace bowling, while spinner Robin Peterson will be our frontline spin option, with Behardien, Faf Du Plessis and Aaron Phangiso will also assist in that Department.
the rest of the team are pretty much the same old guys. With one exclusion, Jacques Kallis. He will not feature for the Proteas in this tournament, as he wants to limit his playing time to extend his career as long as possible.
