NOVEMBER 14: Jonathan Lawack was at the door right on time at 9 a.m. He was to drive us through the Addo Elephant Park, South Africa's third biggest wildlife sanctuary. The largest is of course the Kruger National Park, which Margot Lobach, a Dutch-speaking tourist, a wildlife freak and working for a monkey species-related project in Pietersberg in the Northern Cape, said was the 'size of Holland'.
Having been a school teacher for many years, Jonathan turned out to be an excellent communicator.
It was a 72-mile drive to Addo Elephant Park, but Jonathan, one of the affected blacks during the apartheid times, put the occupants of the Combi - a 16-seater minibus also called Zola Budd (who was alleged to have tripped American distance runner Mary Decker Slaney at the '84 Los Angeles Olympics) - through a refresher course on South African history. First, he told us how a high ranking British officer - asked to divert his sea journey from India to England to oversee British settlers in the Eastern Cape - was responsible for giving Port Elizabeth, the seaside city, its name. The British officer's wife's name was Elizabeth and she had died in Meerut. So that's how we get the Indian connection to the name, 'Port Elizabeth'.
Then, Jonathan talked about the Sunday River Valley, the famous Outspan Oranges of this region and the red roses which are exhibited at the Chelsea flower show and finally how the Addo Elephant Park was developed. It became a national park in 1931 and has three of Africa's five big elephants, antelopes, rhinos and buffaloes. Jonathan could not get rid of the habit of conducting a revision while returning. A school teacher is always a school teacher!
November 15: One tends to keep repeating about Graeme Pollock, one of South Africa's greatest batsmen, whom some Commonwealth countries whose national game is cricket did not get to see. The Indians practised before the second Test at a school where Pollock spent his early years and learnt his first lessons in cricket, batting in particular.
The institution - Grey School - was established in 1856. It has five grounds for cricket, a rugby field and other sports facilities. The one on the right, as one enters the school, has been named the 'Graeme Pollock Field'. A bench made in stone is in place, the width of which is the size of Pollock's shoulders and the length, his height. And, of course, inscribed on the bench are the details of Pollock's achievements.
The Indians were surprised to see such facilities for sports in a school. "What else can one ask for? Parents can blindly admit their children in such schools," said India's captain, Sourav Ganguly.
This was also a day when the Indians shortlisted two batsmen, one of whom would go out with Shiv Sundar Das. Ganguly declared himself as a candidate and added Deep Dasgupta's name to the two-man list. The same night Ganguly was prevailed upon not to open the innings at the team meeting. Dasgupta was given the task.
November 16: Rumours flew fast and thick about Ganguly borrowing Match Referee Mike Denness' pen, scratching out the name of Ashish Nehra and including Anil Kumble in the XI. Obviously, Ganguly wanted to take the field with three seamers, which was the reason why he did not have Kumble in the XI before the change was made before the toss. The leg spinner was not anywhere at his best in the first Test, bowling 50 overs in the first innings for three wickets.
Ganguly was disappointed and was seriously considering the option of going into the second Test with Harbhajan Singh as the only spinner. The situation will be completely different at home when India plays England immediately after the completion of the tour here, but in a country where he had done reasonably well in 1992, Kumble's showing with the ball came in for sharp criticism from experts.
November 17: South Africa's team manager Ghulam Raja has been around for more than five years. He is popular, especially among Indians. After a belated exchange of Diwali greetings, he tells us in jest: "I am free after the 2003 World Cup. I want to be the Indian team's permanent manager." His Indian counterpart, M. K. Bhargava, came up with a matching response: "You are free to apply. I am only a temporary manager. My job will be over after this tour."
It's Ghulam, in the absence of the United Cricket Board (UCB) Communications Manager, Ms. Brownwyn Wilkinson, who helped the Indian press by arranging for interviews with the South African players. Ghulam never says "No" to the scribes.
November 18: The topic for discussion, apart from Herschelle Gibbs' brilliant century, was Shaun Pollock's ways of appealing and getting decisions from umpire Ian Howell in his favour. Some of the Indian journalists who were here covering the tour in 1996-97 recalled how England's ICC Panel Umpire Peter Willey allowed Pollock to sledge and overlooked the aggressive gestures he made at Indian batsmen.
Pollock appears to have not changed since. He became the captain, following Hansie Cronje's expulsion because of his links with the betting syndicates, and has done very well as a bowler and captain, taking wickets and winning series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka at home and against the West Indies and Zimbabwe, away.
The South African captain almost terrorised Howell to give a decision against Shiv Sundar Das, though, television replays showed the ball had hit the pad off a thick inside-edge. Then he won a decision against Venkatsai Laxman; this time the batsman appeared to be plumb in front, but Pollock got the decision only after he continued to appeal for a length of time. This did not go down well with even the partisans.
November 19: Nobody even bothered to ask who the Match Referee was for the Castle Lager/ MTN Test series. The Indians have been behaving like perfect guests, but all of a sudden, Mike Denness, born in Scotland, and who was the England captain who stepped down because he was not scoring runs against Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, portrayed the Indians as a bunch of gangsters trying to spoil the Gentleman's Game! He docked six players - Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Shiv Sundar Das and Deep Dasgupta.
The news of his decision to punish the Indians was like hot curry on Monday night. It was the worst day for the Indian cricketers in South Africa in nearly 60 days. The Cape Band had played happy tunes for Ganguly's boys to enjoy, a few hours before Denness told the Indian team about his list of punishments.
November 20: Gerald Majola was perplexed. He had beside him Match Referee, Mike Denness, sitting like a statue. It was not Denness' fault that he did not speak a word about his decisions in the form of fines, suspended sentences and bans. The ICC rules are specific. It says Match Referees are not supposed to comment upon their decisions. Majola who is the CEO of the United Cricket Board (UCB), announced the decisions taken by Denness. Normally statements are issued by Match Referees through the home board. Hence the Press Conference should not have been called. Ravi Shastri of ESPN & Star Sports asked Majola: "If he (Denness) cannot speak, why is he here? We know how he looks like."
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