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johnnyrocket - MyTwoCents
Daily sports briefs | Make Quinton de Kock the new Proteas skipper, Wimbledon cancelled, English Premier League greed - and more!
MAKE QUINNY CAPTAIN ALREADY!
Surprised to see the news yesterday that the CSA were unable to confirm who the Proteas' Test captain will be going forward. Apparently Graeme Smith is "pleased" with Quinton de Kock, but has yet to decide who their permanent appointment will be. I understand there is no rush, yet at the same time it's not as if there are many meaningful Test matches coming up that will help them make a decision either. Maybe they are worried about burdening QDK with too much responsibility? Are there any other candidates? The state of the SA Test team is so dire right now that there are probably only three players who could consider themselves certainties to be picked - QDK, Rassie van der Dussen and Kagiso Rabada. Rabada has literally ruled himself out with all his disciplinary problems so maybe the selectors are considering Rassie for the job.
MYTWOCENTS VERDICT: QDK can be a bit of marble mouth when it comes to post match interviews but he is improving. Rassie looks very level-headed but still relatively new to the team to be considered captain already surely?
GRASS ISN'T ALWAYS GREENER
Tennis fans took a hit with the announcement that Wimbledon 2020 has been cancelled ... not postponed but CANCELLED! Understandable given the nasty weather conditions that prevail throughout England pretty much all the time. If they battle to dodge the rain in their best season, it would be impossible during their rainy season ... which is pretty much all year round! Big blow for the likes of FedEx, Rafa, Djokovic and Serena. Plenty of implications re: the race for the most Grand Slam titles ever. Serena is agonisingly one short of Margaret Court's 24.
MYTWOCENTS VERDICT: This could be the end for Federer and Serena ... sad that their epic careers could be curtailed by Covid-19.
OPEN CLOSED?
With Wimbledon already cancelled, the next major British event in the firing line is The Open at Royal St George's. Even though you can play golf in the rain ... you can bet your last bog roll that this one will be cancelled too. While Tiger's back gets some extra rest, this cancellation would come at a bad time for golf's hottest player right now ... Rory McIlroy. Rory was expected to have a big go at the majors this year with his putting and short game dialled back in.
MYTWOCENTS VERDICT: At least someone will be happy ... Shane Lowry remains Open champ for another year!
PREMIER LEAGUE GREED
Notorious penny pincher Spurs chairperson Daniel Levy, has reportedly cut non-playing staff wages while continuing to pay the massive salaries of his underperforming stars. WAIT?? REALLY??!!! The average player at Tottenham earns R1.5m PER WEEK yet Levy sees it fit to cut those struggling to make it happen on the ground. How about the players make a tiny sacrifice to help out those in need? After all, without the backroom and ground staff, games wouldn't take place. On a positive note ... Bournemouth manager, Eddie Howe, has stepped up to the plate becoming the first Premier League figure to take a pay cut.
MYTWOCENTS VERDICT: Time to do the right thing NOW players! If you each donated 1% of your weekly wages, no staff would need to take a pay cut. Other sports stars like F1 drivers are doing it so get with the programme!
MINI CHAMPIONS LEAGUE?
UEFA has suspended the Champions League, Europa League and Euro 2020 playoff qualifiers indefinitely. The Champions League has yet to complete its second-leg round of 16 fixtures but already there is talk doing the rounds of a mini Champions League with the quarters played over one leg at a neutral venue and the semis and final being played over two weekends in Istanbul.
MYTWOCENTS VERDICT: All speculation of course but there is some hope that the organisers can get this done in some shape or form.
