Cramp in the Camp

South Africa's top batsmen have been suffering from severe cramps lately. Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers have all been affected at crucial stages of the World Cup tournament. I found it rather strange that the Proteas have been affected so badly when no other team has even shown a glimpse of discomfort. Dehydration and heat exhaustion are the obvious underlying causes but all the teams are playing in exactly the same conditions. Furthermore, we live in a country that experiences extreme warm weather conditions similar to that of the West Indies - I'd understand if the English players were all pulling up with cramps, but that's not the case.

Sportswriter Stuart Hess claims that the South Africans are not as fit as they would like everyone to believe, I tend to agree with him. Surprisingly though the team's physio, Shane Jabaar, has slammed those claims. I say 'surprisingly' because one would expect the fitness coach, Adrian le Roux, to be answerable to these claims. Shane says that each case is unique and cites the following reasons:

Graeme - He hardly had time to eat before he went out to bat against South Africa. Bullshit! That sounds like a school boy excuse - not something you would expect from the Proteas' captain. I hosted a braai at my place on the 24th of March and 10 of us managed to prepare and scoff at least 3 boeries each during the innings break. We also managed to wash it all down with a few Windhoeks before the 2nd inning started.

Jacques - Suffered from an infection a few days before the Sri Lanka match. Here Shane is once again playing the role of another colleague, that of team doctor Mohammed Moosajee. Please elaborate? Was he still suffering? Should one not play any sport after you've recovered from an infection?

AB - He had not had a long innings before in the tournament and thus his body was struggling to adapt at the end of the innings. This one makes absolutely no sense. Is there not an expectation to bat as long you can? Once again, this situation is not unique - what about the other players in the tournament?

Shame Shane, while I understand that it's the physio's job to repair the damage - you shouldn't have to answer to other people's inefficiencies.