Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jimmy Cook Curse

PIRATES OF THE CARIBEAN AND THE JIMMY COOK CURSE

Hindsight is twenty-twenty. And twenty-twenty cricket is the way the future of the sport.

The recent 20/20 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies has been neatly packaged, fresh, exciting... and sour for all South African cricket lovers. Here are some quick notes from the recent World Cup:

• Australia are beginning to find their legs in the 20/20 format of the game. The performance of the Aussies in this World Cup has shown once again that it is better to have a man fear you than have a man respect. At least that is what the “real” Frank Lucas of American Gangster fame said. The Aussies take the simple approach of hitting the opposing team with a straight right in the nose early in the game thereby putting the fear of God in the opposition. The kicking the man while he is down part that comes thereafter is pure Aussie attitude of take no prisoners... except if they are immigrating from the British Empire to a god-forsaken island.

• The West Indies is in the Caribbean. The Caribbean was the place frequented by Pirates in the good old days. The English navy made it a point to flush out all pirates and did a splendid job at ending the era of the pirates. (The English obviously forgot those pirates in Somalia) Now with the 20/20 World Cup in the West Indies, it seemed ironic that it is the English side who have become the real pirates of the cricketing world. Very good pirates I might add. Black Beard would have so proud. The English have plundered the South African shores to the tune of three top order batsmen (Lumb, Kieswetter, Pietersen), and as if that wasn’t enough, the English even had the audacity to steal from the Irish (Morgan). The luck that this English side has had at the recent World Cup shows that the English may even have robbed the Irish of their renowned, but never seen, Irish luck.

• South Africa is the joke of the cricketing world. The Jimmy Cook Curse is alive. If there aren’t wholesale changes to the South African side (and despite all the talk, there won’t be) then I’ll eat this article (munch munch... tastes good, I didn’t even choke.)

What is the Jimmy Cook Curse you may be asking? Well, as a (semi-retired) South African cricketing supporter, it was the one way I could explain the misfortunes of the (formerly) beloved Proteas. Forget 2003 and the whole Duckworth-Lewis rain debacle that saw South Africa draw Sri Lanka and exit the World Cup at the group stage. Erase from your memories that scene in 1999 of Donald and Klusener shaking hands in the middle of the pitch while the Aussies celebrated a draw and the elimination of South Africa in the semi-final. Plead amnesia when someone talks about the fact that the Proteas rested Fanie de Villiers and Allan Donald during a knockout match vs Brian Lara’s West Indies at the 1996 World Cup. Remain silent as you see that famous sign of 22 runs off 1 ball as Brian McMillan and Dave Richardson saw in the semi-final of the 1992 World Cup. You want to know the real reason why South Africa never succeed in the big match? Look no further than Jimmy Cook and the curse.

In 1992, Jimmy Cook was approaching 40 years. He’d had a great provincial and county cricket career, but due to ban on South Africa competing in international sports, he had never had the chance to represent his country at international level. So cruel and unfair, poor Jimmy. (Cry me a river, Mr. Sono, and South African soccer suffered the worst during the isolation period, that’s a fact... poor Jomo)

When South Africa were readmitted into the cricketing world, many of the “greats” – Clive Rice, Jimmy Cook and Peter Kirsten were old and bald, but despite their age, they were selected to represent South Africa in the Indian tour of 1992. Now, let’s make this clear, these guys were old, very old, but they still wanted to play. They knew that they were pass their prime, but to hell with that, they wanted to represent their country. Noble? Maybe... True? No....

Jimmy Cook and Clive Rice probably couldn’t have cared less about representing South Africa. What these old players wanted was a chance to show the world that they could have been great international players had South Africa not been banned. They had been denied a chance to have glorious international careers simply because the world though Apartheid was wrong. Shame. So here comes the Indians with players like Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Srinath etc. and the South African old boys see a chance to show the world that South Africa have an overflowing amount of cricket talent. Am I accusing Cook and Rice of being anti-South Africa? No, they probably loved South Africa. What should be said is that they were no less selfish and arrogant than the present day Proteas. They believed themselves to be great players and bigger than the team... and that stain has carried over to the present day Proteas.

Example 1: A.B. de Villiers comes out and says I don’t want to play wicketkeeper. Imagine any player in any international cricketing country coming out and saying that I don’t want to play a certain position. So much for being grateful just for being selected and contributing to the team effort.

Example 2: The shock that the South African players feel when they lose Pakistan in a game where they were required to score 7.5 runs per over. Who is Pakistan? (Uhm.. the 2009 champions of 20/20 cricket) We’re better and should have coasted to victory.

Example 3: When the 20/20 format first began, South Africa used it as way of introducing young players to the pressures of international cricket. Young players were picked in these games and the regular (old) players had a well earned rest. Then 20/20 cricket began to be the big money spinner in the cricketing world. So the regular players wanted back in and the younger players were booted out. Besides J. P. Duminy, A.B. de Villiers and Dale Steyn. What other young talent was representing South Africa at the 20/20 World Cup? Take a look at the other international sides... Where is the new and fresh players? Could it have something to do with players liking the 20/20 money... hmmm. (Ricky Ponting and Tendulkar have said that they will give younger guys a chance to represent their countries in 20/20 games. Would Mark Boucher do this? Kallis? Smith?)

The South African public ate it all up. How can a team of Indians with strange names like Sachin, Kapil, Javagal and Anil think that they can come to South Africa and beat the great Jimmy Cook and our (old) boys. It was our time to show the world that South Africa are not just good, we are the best. The public ate all the media talk of how great the South African players were... As South Africans we began to believe our team to be the best (And we still have this problem). Then the first test against India started at Durban.

Kapil Dev (what a funny name) ran in to bowl the first ball to Jimmy Cook at Durban. The first ball to be bowled in the first test since South Africa’s readmission. Kapil Dev (really who is he? Does he really think he has a chance against the great Jimmy?)

Jimmy Cook is out. 0 runs 1 ball faced. The curse begins.