Sport24 chief writer Rob Houwing (File)

Rob Houwing

I was chuffed that Inside Edge (Tuesday night, SuperSport 2 and CSN) chose to have Paul Adams as their studio guest this week, considering his regrettable but not unexpected first-class retirement a few days earlier.

“Gogga”, at the relatively young spinner’s age of 31, had finally had enough of his lengthy cold shoulder at both Proteas and franchise level and no doubt weighed up the tepid prospect of another campaign in the second-tier SAA Provincial Amateur competition and thought: “Ag, what’s the point?”

Instead, he will play on for pure enjoyment - probably also as captain - for his long-time club St Augustine’s.

“If you’re skipper you can bat at four!” suggested fellow-guest Robin Jackman helpfully. And the moment he said that, my own first, up-close memory of the “frog in a blender” came vividly to mind.

I’d flown back from my then base in Hong Kong - a cricket mini-Mecca for just two or three days in every 365, alas, when they stage the rowdy Sixes – primarily to see a healthy chunk of the decisive final Test in the 1995/96 South Africa v England series. (Of course one pops in and visits one’s folks as well …)

The unusually rain-dogged series was level 0-0 after four Tests and for whatever reason I couldn’t attend day one, when England were routed for 153, with Allan Donald getting five scalps and talk-of-the-planet Gogga - 18 years old and playing only his second Test - weighing in with two.

On the second day, South Africa had worryingly failed to genuinely wrest the initiative when Adams took to the crease at No 11 – they were 171/9 for a flimsy lead of 18.

But what happened next was the stuff of near-legend: in tandem with seasoned Dave Richardson, Gogga audaciously nudged, steered, poked, pulled or sometimes just plain “bliksemed” England’s increasingly ill-humoured bowlers for 29 runs in a priceless stand of 73 with the wicketkeeper which irreversibly tilted the pendulum the Proteas’ way.

“Well, could YOU pick him?” inquired my mostly Sri Lankan and English expat colleagues on the sports desk of the South China Morning Post when I got back to the Far East a few days later. “No chance,” I replied, “but I do know now he can bat a bit.”

During the Inside Edge tribute, even experienced coach and ex-England player Jackman revealed that he’d never quite been able to fathom Gogga’s action: “Sort of an unorthodox, wrist-spinning finger-spinner all in one,” he ventured.

Adams reminded host Pommie Mbangwa that it wasn’t until he saw himself bowl on television that he realised he didn’t deliver with his head up. “It took me a couple of years to self-analyse,” he confessed, “as there was absolutely nobody I could even model myself on.”

Some snippets of Adams’ many quirky moments on the park were shown, including the domestic occasion where he appeared to have bowled the Dolphins’ Lance Klusener off a pad: the ball trickled onto the stumps and both bails were momentarily airborne before settling back into the sockets, to Gogga’s equal mirth and disbelief.

It was somehow an apt sort of incident involving a one-of-a-kind cricketer. Go well, Goges …
 
Rob’s awesome foursome:

1. India v Australia, 1st cricket Test
Bangalore, Thursday to Monday, 06:00, SS6 

As I write, Australia have made a compelling start to the series at the crease: Ricky Ponting, who is supposed to be capable only of holding out a begging bowl for runs in India, has a century! But the four-Test series is barely out of the blocks and the entire cricketing world will be watching closely as these often-tetchy heavyweight foes shadow-box, jab and occasionally trade really meaty leather with each other. There’s no lack of South African interest in how the Aussies shape, considering our own red-letter task of the summer.

2. Sharks v Lions & Bulls v Cheetahs, Absa Currie Cup rugby semi-finals
Durban and Pretoria, Saturday, 14:30 and 17:00, SS1 and M-Net

A corker of a double-header … I hardly need to tell you that. Note the slightly early kick-off for the first one, allowing for the possibility of any extra-time needs. Personally, I find it hard to imagine the bang-in-form Sharks requiring it, and the Loftus game could be a closer call. It’s Matthew Pearce as sober lead and the excitable Warren Brosnihan handling English commentary at game one, and Chris Moller and Gary Boshoff the Afrikaans. On the highveld, Hugh Bladen and Kobus Wiese perform English needs, and John van Rensburg and increasingly less jaundiced former Bull Joost van der Westhuizen the “option B”.

3. Equatorial Guinea v South Africa, African Nations Cup soccer
Malabo, Saturday, 17:00, to be confirmed

I should point out that it has been a struggle to get an SABC answer on coverage (or not) of this one, even if nine times out of 10 you can expect SABC 1 to come to the Bafana party. The qualifier is of course, sadly academic to ailing South Africa in terms of the Afcon tournament, but with the little matter of World Cup 2010 looming, it remains an important squad yardstick and long-road-to-resurrection opportunity. I tried the SABC online sport listings for Saturday and a “not available” curiously came up, while the helpful Auckland Park news-desk person who got back to me apologised for still not being sure himself. The uncertainty remained as this column went up …

4. Japanese F1 Grand Prix
Fuji, Sunday, 06:30, SS2 and MaXimo

Fifteen down and just three to go now. It’s an early wake-up, I’m afraid, for this Asian GP but as we’re in the bend before the final championship straight it ought to be worth the effort. Leading driver Lewis Hamilton (84 points to Felipe Massa’s 77) won at the Fuji Speedway last year and if he manages the chequered flag again, he’s got one hand on the title, hasn’t he? I imagine all teams are going to be especially careful with their fuel hoses this week …