Ken Borland

While South Africans can rightly feel proud of Oscar Pistorius for redefining what is possible for the disabled, Usain St Leo Bolt is undoubtedly the athlete who has pushed the boundaries of human ability to new levels.

Although the Jamaican did not set any new world records in 2012, his achievement in defending both the 100 and 200m titles at the Olympic Games was unprecedented and he added consecutive gold medals in the 4x100m just for good measure.

As a wonderful graphic comparison of all the 100m Olympic medallists in the New York Times [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ILMpeDKHDU] pointed out, Bolt is so far ahead of all the other great sprinters that he would have beaten the legendary Carl Lewis by 10 feet if they had run together in London this year.

In an event where the margins are so small, Bolt not only dominates, he destroys his opposition. The only time he has been beaten in a major race in recent years came after a false start in the 2011 World Championships 100m. Bolt owns the three fastest times ever in the 100m and is also the world record-holder in the 200m.

And in London this year he was visibly slowing down at the finish, but still clocked 9.63 seconds, second only to the 9.58 he ran at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, when he also took time to celebrate before reaching the finishing line.

There is no doubt the 26-year-old is one of sport’s greatest entertainers, someone people want to see perform, much like Pele, Muhammad Ali or Michael Jordan. Not only are his athletic exploits extraordinary to behold, the crowds also eat up his showboating and clowning around before and after races.

Before Bolt, the 100m used to be a deadly-serious affair, full of macho posturing and muscle-clenching, but the 6ft5, wonderfully proportioned Jamaican pulled the mickey out of that and then went on to leave his competitors as also-rans.

It is clear that Bolt combines freakish physical attributes (the perfect combination of height, stride length, twitch fibre speed, power and pace) with mental strength and efficient training. Having said in Tokyo earlier this year that he was keen to try the 400m and long jump at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Bolt backtracked last month and said he felt he could still get faster in the sprint events with different training methods.

What a scary thought for his rivals! Perhaps their only hope is to allow them to have Alsatians chasing them from behind because it seems only a superhuman effort is going to beat Bolt, the Super Human.

South Africa limited-overs captain AB de Villiers on Wednesday expressed his support for a new-look T20 side to be chosen for the series against New Zealand later this month.

The Proteas squad for the three T20 internationals between December 21 and 26 will be announced in Cape Town on Thursday and De Villiers expects fresh faces after South Africa’s disappointing ICC World T20 exit before the semi-final stage.

“You’ve got to keep the T20 team fresh and exciting and it’s a great vehicle to get youngsters through into international cricket. We want to try fresh faces and there will definitely be a few new names because there are youngsters who have really performed at domestic level and we need to give them a chance,” De Villiers said at the Wanderers on Wednesday, where he attended the announcement of KFC as the title sponsors for both the New Zealand and Pakistan T20 series.

“These new players will bring different talents and skills, which is exciting.”

The general trend in international cricket has been for countries to use T20 specialists rather than relying on their Test players and De Villiers said it was clear South Africa would have to go further down that route.

“The Test players have played a big part in the T20 side, but that might change in future and you’ll probably see a team with a whole different look,” De Villiers said.

De Villiers, fresh off his thrilling hundred in the series-clinching Perth Test victory over Australia, returned to limited-overs action over the weekend with a century for the Titans, albeit in a losing cause against the Cape Cobras in their Momentum One-Day Cup eliminator.

“That was one of my better hundreds because it was against a really good attack. You can tell the standard of domestic cricket is very good from that match and I like to play domestic cricket when it’s like international cricket,” De Villiers said.

New Zealand have suffered two major blows with the loss of injured spinner Dan Vettori and the unavailability of former captain Ross Taylor, and De Villiers conceded South Africa should beat the Black Caps if they play to their full potential.

“New Zealand are always a dangerous side, they beat us in the World Cup and they’re really tough to beat when they get things right. But we know we’re the favourites and if we play good cricket, then we should win. We have a mental advantage over them because we beat them over there at the beginning of the year.

“They have had a lot of changes to their Test side, which is still trying to find its feet, but they’re definitely more dangerous in T20. They’re a very busy team, very good in the field,” De Villiers said.

But even if fresh faces such as Aaron Phangiso, Hardus Viljoen, Chris Morris, Roelof van der Merwe, Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Andrew Birch are included, South Africa’s T20 strategies are not going to undergo any dramatic change.

“We may have new players, but we’ll use the same strategy and follow the same game-plan,” De Villiers said.

Which means De Villiers will definitely retain the wicketkeeper’s gloves.

“Yes I’m glad I’m a wicketkeeper now, after 50 overs in the field against the Cobras I’m a bit stiff!” he joked.

Probable squad – Faf du Plessis, Richard Levi, AB de Villiers, Farhaan Behardien, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Justin Ontong, Robin Peterson, Roelof van der Merwe, Chris Morris, Hardus Viljoen, Aaron Phangiso, Dale Steyn or Morne Morkel, Andrew Birch, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

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One-day internationals between South Africa and New Zealand always seem to have added spice, mostly because on the odd occasion the Black Caps have managed to win, they have often been the key games that have hurt the Proteas the most.

Of the 55 ODIs the two countries have played against each other, South Africa have won 33 and New Zealand 18, with four no results.

World Cup matches have been particularly happy occasions for the Kiwis, starting back in 1992 when they played an ODI against South Africa for the first time, at Eden Park in Auckland.

Kepler Wessels’ team, fresh out of isolation, were pummelled by seven wickets with 15-and-a-half overs to spare as New Zealand brought a fresh approach to limited-overs cricket.

South Africa did win their 1996 World Cup meeting in Faisalabad, thanks to their superb fielding and a fiery half-century from Hansie Cronje, and swept to victory at Edgbaston in 1999 after a brilliant all-round display by Jacques Kallis.

But since then, the Black Caps have notched three successive World Cup wins, with the trouble starting in Johannesburg in 2003 when Stephen Fleming’s great 134* powered New Zealand to victory and overshadowed Herschelle Gibbs’s wonderful 143, leaving the hosts on the brink of elimination and giving the visitors their first ODI win in South Africa.

New Zealand also took the spoils on the tropical island of Grenada, just off South America, in the 2007 World Cup, winning by five wickets to clinch a semi-final berth.

The 2011 World Cup defeat in Dhaka was perhaps the saddest of the lot because South Africa were riding high, their form steadily growing as they reached the quarterfinals, before Jacob Oram brutally chopped them down on a deteriorating pitch.

It felt like the apocalypse but, to their credit, South Africa rebounded by whitewashing the Kiwis 3-0 in New Zealand less than a year later in their most recent ODI meeting.

Despite all the World Cup pain they have inflicted, it is clear New Zealand will be up against it in the three ODIs between January 19 and 25. They have limped their way to just two victories in 18 previous matches against South Africa here, but perhaps it will suit the tourists that the games will be played in the smaller venues of Paarl, Kimberley and Potchefstroom.

With Ross Taylor, his captaincy having been called into question, on sabbatical, New Zealand will rely heavily on new skipper Brendon McCullum to lead the batting, while there will also be a heavy load on the shoulders of 34-year-old all-rounder Oram.

The attack is also missing key experience with spinner Dan Vettori out injured, but there is potential aplenty in young seamers Tim Southee and Trent Boult, while veteran Kyle Mills usually enjoys conditions in South Africa.

The ODI series kicks off on Saturday a.m., January 19 in Paarl and South Africa will no doubt be eager to repay one of their arch-enemies for all that World Cup misery.

But it is clear the Proteas ODI squad is still a work in progress, with coach Gary Kirsten having an eye firmly on the next World Cup final at the end of March 2015, probably in either Sydney or Melbourne.

At the moment, there are places open in the team, with perhaps a third of the squad still not settled, but there is no reason to fear that. Kirsten and the selectors should have an amnesty from criticism as they sift through the potential talent and they will no doubt have plans to introduce some new faces in this series.

And, with Paarl, Kimberley and Potchefstroom renowned for being three of the driest places in the country, rain is unlikely to interfere with those plans!

Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, the venues for the two Tests against New Zealand this summer, are the two South African cities most like Auckland so the tourists should feel right at home.

And, while the Kiwis have generally had an awkward time in South Africa, losing 14 of the 21 Tests they have played here, two of their three triumphs have come at the two coastal cities.

And, just to make Brendon McCullum’s visitors feel even more at home, they will land in South Africa 50 years after they won Tests in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth – their first ever overseas – to share the 1962 series 2-2.

South Africa’s team is a totally different beast these days, however. They are the number one ranked team in Test cricket and the record-breaking exploits of Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander are the greatest in the country’s history.

Back in 1962, South Africa were a team in transition. Captain Jackie McGlew, swashbuckling batsman Roy McLean, wicketkeeper Johnnie Waite and fast bowlers Peter Heine and Neil Adcock were all at the end of their careers, while Eddie Barlow, Peter Pollock, Colin Bland and Tiger Lance were all playing in their first series and would go on to form part of the team that dominated world cricket at the end of the decade.

Having beaten their hosts by 72 runs in the second Test in Cape Town and by 40 runs in Port Elizabeth, New Zealand promptly won their first Test back in South Africa after isolation, winning by 137 runs at the Wanderers in 1994, but since then the Proteas have had a perfect record at home against the Black Caps.

In fact, since losing by nine wickets in Auckland in 2004, South Africa have been totally dominant in Tests against New Zealand.

Ken Rutherford, who captained New Zealand to that 1994 triumph at the Wanderers, is now living in Johannesburg and he believes his countryman are definitely the underdogs.

“On paper, New Zealand are clearly up against it. It will be a huge challenge against the world’s number one team. South Africa have half-a-dozen world-class players, while the current New Zealand team maybe just lacks a bit of star quality.

“South Africa have individuals who can take the game away from you. But New Zealand haven’t played good Test cricket for a while because they haven’t yet recognised that in one hour, someone can take the whole match away from you, they’re less able to spot those opportunities,” Rutherford said.

While the visiting batsmen should find the going relatively easy at Sahara Park Newlands – New Zealand scored 593 for eight declared (Stephen Fleming 262) in their last match there – Port Elizabeth, especially if it is cloudy, could be an entirely different prospect.

With a bit of grass on the pitch, Steyn, Morkel, Philander and Kallis will be out to break the Geneva Convention, but the visiting attack will also enjoy those conditions.

While the Black Caps are without second leading wicket-taker Dan Vettori, whose left-arm spin has frequently chained the South African batsmen down, Chris Martin has prospered against the Proteas before and is the leading wicket-taker in Tests between the two countries. Doug Bracewell has had his moments too, while Trent Boult and Tim Southee are two talented youngsters and Neil Wagner is returning to the country of his birth.

New Zealand’s batting will revolve around the ever-dangerous McCullum, while Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson are not to be underestimated. Their best batsman, Ross Taylor, is not touring however and his replacement, Peter Fulton, did not have a happy time in South Africa in 2005/6, scoring just 65 runs in four innings.