Wicketkeeper and batsman, De Villiers, 27, takes over the reins from Graeme Smith, who had previously stated he would step down as captain of the ODI side immediately after the World Cup. Smith remains captain of the Test team.

via AB new One Day captain: Sport: Cricket: Proteas.

Majola made the announcement at a press conference held by CSA at the Sandton Conference Centre in Johannesburg on Monday.

Kirsten’s first assignment will be against Australia, starting on October 13.

Russel Domingo – formerly coach of the local Warriors franchise – has been named as Kirsten’s assistant.

Former Proteas fast bowler Allan Donald has also been named as bowling coach.

via Gary Kirsten named Proteas coach: Sport: Cricket: Proteas.

Russell Domingo will be Kirsten’s assistant and Allan Donald will take over as the new bowling coach.

These shock announcements are set to be announced when the Executive Council of Cricket South Africa (CSA) start with a “house-cleaning exercise” on Monday. Sounds good to me. I have no problem with the coaching staff, in fact I think it’s a good step in the right direction. Sports24 is reporting that although the CSA Board must still approve the appointments, they have learned from reliable sources that Kirsten will succeed Corrie van Zyl after South Africa’s disastrous World Cup campaign.

Kirsten, a former Proteas opening batsman, led India to glory in the World Cup a couple of months ago.

Smith will apparently resign on Sunday as Test captain. He has in recent times also resigned as one-day and Twenty20 captain.

It is being speculated that AB de Villiers will be the new captain

via Kirsten in, Smith to resign: Sport: Cricket: Proteas.

This just in from 2Oceansvibe, the new SABC, my favourite website.

I wrote quite a bit about Graeme Smith and his ability to score off the field.

Well a a sharp-eyed 2oceansviber sent in a screenshot of a tweet posted by Graeme Smith’s irish fiance, Morgan Deane, which celebrates his prowess in bed.

Smith popped the question to Deane in early April.

As 2oceansvibe puts it:

We’re glad to have it confirmed by someone in the know that Graeme is not only a great opener, but a great finisher, too.

via It’s Official – Graeme Smith Is A Stallion In The Sack | 2oceansvibe.com.

India’s Cricket World Cup-winning coach  remains one of the candidates for the Proteas’ role, as the shortlist gets even shorter with each passing day.

The latest possible candidate to have dropped out is Andy Flower, who on Tuesday signed a new contract to stay on as England coach, while last week Duncan Fletcher was unveiled as Kirsten’s successor in charge of India.

That leaves Kirsten, Cape Cobras coach Richard Pybus, Highveld Lions coach Dave Nosworthy and current assistant Proteas coach Vincent Barnes as the last men standing.

If I was the Proteas brains trust I would be bending over backwards to make sure he gets the job. Here’s hoping.

via Proteas shortlist gets shorter: Sport: Cricket: Proteas.

Morgan Deane was born in Cork, Ireland, 1 May 1985. In 2006 she tried to prove that she has The X-factor but failed to make it through to the final 12. Everyone pull a sad face all at once please!

She is a vocalist with Industry, an Irish band that was formed in 2009, and now she is engaged to Graeme Smith, oh yes, Graeme Smith is finaly scoring.

yikes!

Hmmmm…

Here’s a pic of the happy couple… Graeme Smith and Morgan Deane.

Nice one Graeme. Oh well, this is the same guy who said The Proteas can bounce back from this latest loss… When exactly Biff, it’s a knock out competition? We don’t care about playing well between World Cups.

Read more here.

News24 reports:

Accusations of “choking” from fans added to the pressure which caused the Proteas to lose their composure in their shock World Cup quarter-final defeat by New Zealand, coach Corrie van Zyl said as a dejected team arrived back home on Sunday.

That’s right Corrie, except for one thing, you guys choked and then we mentioned the fact that you’re chokers.

You can read more here.

It was the Austrialia versus Kenya Match in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and I was having drinks with my better half down at Doodles Beachfront, our local bar…

I was staring at the screen as one does when I noticed this pearler…

Jussus Bru! Your Ouma is a keeper!

They may not have won the game, but Kenya’s Ouma is a Keeper!

Anyway all this joyousness got me thinking back to my days as a wee lad when I used to work at Newlands in a ‘security capacity’. Basically what that means is… I was recently out of school and would do anything for money. I had plenty fun during the first test series between India and South Africa post SA’s isolation.

They were running a Castle Lager (almost said LARGER there by mistake, he is my mate, it’s not hard to confuse him with booze, check here) ‘best sign’ promo, with the winner winning a case of beer.

This was my attempt.

Can DONALD MANOJ to bowl DEV a KAPIL MORE in the ANIL?

I was referencing Allan Donald, Kapil Dev, Manoj Prahbhakar, Kiran More and Anil Kumble, who were all playing in the match.

I didnt win, sense of humour failure clearly.

Lucky for me theres plenty of action on the box and I didnt have to look far until I came across this…

Well Spank me with a Wicket

That’s my future ex wife right there.

Marvel Comics Convention

…and these are her mates, quite possibly the reason for our future failed marriage. So I had a looksee around to see if I could find any other talent out there. I found this hottie. She is the Cheerleader of Joy.

Pick me pick ME!!

No No Pick HER!!!

So if the Deccans ain’t charging or the Royals aint challenging from Bangalore, you will not be dissapointed thanks to the the wonderful organisers of the DFL IPL.

I have been a bit slow getting into the Indian Premier League, mainly due to work commitments and being out of the loop due to so many public holidays. I got a chance to watch some games this week finally and I must say ‘my team’, or at least the one team I have chosen to support have done really well.

I chose to support the Deccan Chargers for two reasons. Herschelle Gibbs and Adam Gilchrist. Im a big fan of cricket and I appreciate the bowling apsect tremendously, but batting for me has always been the highlight, and these two guys create firewaorks shows when theyre on song.

This Monday, the Deccan Chargers skipper, the 37  year old Adam Gilchrist, blazed 44 off 19 balls with five boundaries and three sixes.

Gibbs remained unbeaten on 69 with six fours and two sixes to continue his and his side’s impressive run this year. To put this into perspective, The Chargers had finished at the bottom of the table in last year’s inaugural tournament.

Chennai’s innings revolved around two whirlwind knocks from left-handed veterans Matthew Hayden of Australia and Jacob Oram of New Zealand, but it was not enough to come close to the Gibbs and Gilchrist show.

Full Scorecard:

Result Deccan Chargers won by 6 wickets (with 3 balls remaining)

	Chennai Super Kings innings (20 overs maximum)			R	B	4s	6s	SR
		PA Patel	c Gilchrist b Edwards	0	2	0	0	0.00
		ML Hayden	c Sharma b Ojha	49	35	8	0	140.00
		SK Raina	c & b Sharma	25	19	1	2	131.57
		MS Dhoni	c Shoaib b Ojha	22	22	1	1	100.00
		JDP Oram	not out	41	29	4	2	141.37
		JA Morkel	c Singh b Venugopal Rao	13	7	1	1	185.71
		S Badrinath	c & b Singh	8	9	1	0	88.88
		MS Gony	not out	0	0	0	0	-
		Extras	(w 4, nb 3)	7
		Total	(6 wickets; 20 overs)	165	(8.25 runs per over)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	FH Edwards	4	0	21	1	5.25
	RP Singh	3	0	32	1	10.66	(3nb, 2w)
	DR Smith	1	0	17	0	17.00
	Y Venugopal Rao	4	0	35	1	8.75	(1w)
	RG Sharma	3	0	18	1	6.00
	PP Ojha	2	0	11	2	5.50
	SM Shoaib	3	0	31	0	10.33	(1w)

	Deccan Chargers innings (target: 166 runs from 20 overs)			R	B	4s	6s	SR
		AC Gilchrist	c Muralitharan b Raina	44	19	5	3	231.57
		HH Gibbs	not out	69	56	6	2	123.21
		VVS Laxman	c Oram b Raina	4	5	0	0	80.00
		RG Sharma	c Dhoni b Balaji	18	19	0	1	94.73
		DR Smith	lbw b Muralitharan	12	5	1	1	240.00
		AA Bilakhia	not out	12	14	1	0	85.71
		Extras	(lb 2, w 3, nb 5)	10
		Total	(4 wickets; 19.3 overs)	169	(8.66 runs per over)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	L Balaji	3.3	0	41	1	11.71	(1w)
	MS Gony	1	0	20	0	20.00	(1w)
	JA Morkel	3	0	29	0	9.66	(1nb)
	M Muralitharan	4	0	17	1	4.25	(1w)
	SK Raina	4	0	18	2	4.50
	Joginder Sharma	1	0	14	0	14.00
	JDP Oram	3	0	28	0	9.33