I spent yesterday watching the rather nail-biting match between south Africa and England. Both teams played really well, and the total of 323 runs which south Africa were chasing was a huge score. Even though south Africa came up 22 runs short, it was a very good effort.

Of everyone though, I was most impressed with Graeme Smith’s performance. He got 141 runs and stayed in the match for almost the entire innings.

I did lose a little bit of respect for the English side though. Towards the end of Graeme Smith’s innings, he started cramping badly. From what I saw on TV, it looked like it was painful for him to walk, let alone run.

When Smith asked for a runner, to run for him (which he was fully entitled to do), the English captain, Andrew Strauss, refused to allow it, saying that runners should not be allowed for cramping.

Understandably, Smith, and the rest of the team were not particularly happy about this, as there is a fair bit of historical precedent where runners were allowed for this very reason.

It looks to me as though Strauss was wanting to make sure that South Africa was in the least favourable position to win the game, although, by that stage the chances of us winning was remote whether Smith got a runner or not, so seriously, would it really have been so terrible for Struass to allow the runner? I certainly don’t think so, and it left a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth. It came across as rather unsportsmanlike, which cricket is normally known for its high levels of sportsmanship.

And to the Proteas, I know we lost, but I am proud of you guys anyway.

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