JACK MILNER
Coach Shakes Mashaba kept everyone guessing who will take the captain’s armband in Monday’s opening game of the Africa Cup of Nations against Algeria; although it won’t be Furman, pundits still see him as the longer-term choice.
Mashaba gave him the job in the warm-up game against Cameroon and may be trying out some other worthy candidates, or merely temporarily relieving Furman of the job. As a seasoned coach, Mashaba realises that for stability’s sake a permanent captain has to be at the helm.
Mashaba has also said he is looking more for “an off-the-field kind of guy” to lead his team.
“The duty of the captain is to toss and to tell the players which side of the field they will be playing from. He will not be discussing with the referee nor question the officials’ decisions. We look for qualities that will be handy off the field,” the SA coach said late last year.
An example of Dean’s off-the-field qualities could be seen just after the cricket test series against the West Indies when he immediately tweeted his congratulations to Hashim Amla and the team, saying they had set the bar and it was up to Bafana Bafana to rise to the occasion.
He has also set up a good relationship with some of South Africa’s top sporting heroes, including swimmer Chad le Clos. Overall he seems to endeavour to keep good relations between all the sports, something Hansie Cronje was very good at.
For the record, Dean also revealed that he voted for Cristiano Ronaldo to win the 2014 Ballon d’Or. Barcelona star and World Cup runner-up with Argentina, Lionel Messi, was his second choice with German star Philipp Lahm being his third choice.
If it means much, Dean was right on the money as Ronaldo picked up his second straight – and third overall – Ballon d’Or award during the award’s ceremony in Zurich on Monday evening.
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Maron coaches Afghani fielders ahead of World Cup
A “nice Jewish South African boy” appointed as one of the coaches of the Afghanistan cricket team, sounds most unlikely, but that is exactly what has happened.
Ryan Maron, who played cricket for Western Province in the late 1990s, was appointed fielding coach for the Afghan national team last November.
Ryan, who is a level 3 coach, set up the Cricket School of Excellence in the Western Cape some 14 years back and has had great success with local youngsters. He has also coached in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Denmark.
He joined the team in Dubai where they are currently contesting a triangular series against Scotland and Ireland. They started the series well be beating Scotland but then lost to Ireland in their second match.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) said Ryan is also expected to accompany the Afghan team during a tour of the West Indies.
In addition to Ryan, the ACB also appointed Andy Pick, a former English cricketer who has previously served as cricket coach for the Canadian cricket team, as their bowling coach.
All these “upgrades” have been introduced with the Cricket World Cup in mind. For the first time Afghanistan will play in this four-yearly event which will take place in Australia in February and March. They play Bangladesh in their first match on February 18 in Canb
