as spread to the sidelines in a big way.Former assistants Jim McElwain, Will Muscha

Test cricket in winter could become a reality in South Africa after the experiment to host New Zealand out-of-season in August was declared a success by players and administrators alike. The Durban debacle aside, SuperSport Park in Centurion produced a good pitch and pristine outfield, and drew sizable crowds on all four days.We want to play Test matches at home as much as possible so if that means we have to do it in the winter, we are all for it. Especially in Centurion, Faf du Plessis, South Africas stand-in captain, said. Everything about the field was really good. The weather was really good, the pitch played well and the outfield was beautiful.The possibility of dead pitches was one of the reasons why cricket in winter hadnt been mooted by Cricket South Africa previously. Dry winters everywhere except the Cape - where rain makes it difficult to play - leave surfaces barren. But at Centurion, a significant grass covering ensured assistance for seamers throughout.This was a great Test wicket - you had all the different combinations and all the factors come into play, du Plessis said. Day one, your seamers must play a big role, the wicket must move around and you must be tight as a batting unit. Day two and three must be good batting conditions and then day four and five must bring its different challenges. Maybe the only thing we didnt see in this match was spin on day four and five, and also, we didnt see reverse swing. It didnt happen because the outfield was beautiful, nice and lush, so those are the only things we didnt see.Kane Williamson, who regarded South Africas first innings total as being hugely influential in the outcome, was a little more measured in his praise of the pitch, which thought may have deteriorated a little too quickly. Batting became progressively difficult as uneven bounce became a factor from the second day.What both captains agreed on was that the outfield was as pleasant to play on as it was to look at. The playing area was re-laid with winter grass for this Test after both South Africa and New Zealand complained of the outfield being too hard, during an ODI series in July-August 2015.The de-seeding process, which involved planting different grass to the usual summer carpet, took place in April. It was far different to the work done at Kingsmead in Durban, where the outfield was decompacted in June, making it hard to recover in time for the first Test.That doesnt mean Durban is completely unsuitable for winter cricket. Had flash floods in July and unseasonal downpours on the second day of the first Test not taken place, more play may have been possible. Durbans warm days could be factored in while drawing the winter schedule. However, it is likely that concentration of out-of-season activity is likely to be on the Highveld where clear skies and mild sunshine are a guarantee.One venue that is particularly keen to continue hosting winter cricket is the SuperSport Park. Its like asking a kid if they want ice-cream, Jacques Faul, Titans CEO said. We would definitely do it again. We considered it a huge success.While the stadium did not see a sell-out crowd, the local association was happy with the numbers they got. Faul put down the response to proliferation of sporting activities at this time of year, which includes rugby. Attendance swelled to 9000 on days one and two - a Saturday and Sunday - and dropped to around 3500 on day three and 2000 on day four.Thats what we budgeted for, Faul said. We would have liked to start on Friday but that was impossible because of the regulations about the number of days teams needs between Tests. Ideally, we would like to have it Friday to Tuesday.Air Max 95 Sale Nz . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. Air Max 95 Womens Nz . Nigeria beat surprise package Ethiopia 2-0 in the second leg of their playoff for a comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory. Victor Moses converted a 20th-minute penalty after an Ethiopian handball, and Victor Obinna made certain of Nigerias place in Brazil with his powerful free kick in the 82nd at UJ Esuene Stadium. http://www.airmax95salenz.com/ . Fellow centre Pavel Datsyuk remains out because of a concussion. Zetterberg has 11 goals and 19 assists for a team-high 30 points, and Datsyuk has a team-high 12 goals and 11 assists. Wholesale Air Max 95 .ca. Kerry, Just watched the shootout in the Coyotes/Leafs game and I have to ask, why was the James van Riemsdyk goal allowed to count? All of the video replays we were shown on TV were inconclusive about whether the puck had entirely crossed the line or not. Air Max 95 Nz .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch.TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Bobby Bowden never thought hed see the day when someone would challenge Bear Bryant as Alabamas greatest coach.But its happened. Nick Saban has bellied up to the Bear with one of the best runs in major college football history, and hes already passed the rest of his predecessors in the category that turns coaching greats into coaching legends.Sabans latest Crimson Tide team seems ready-made to challenge for the sixth national title of his career, which would match Bryants longstanding record. The once-nomadic coach enters his 10th season in Tuscaloosa fresh off claiming No. 4 in seven years.As the Bear might say of his successor, he aint nothin but a winner. Like Muhammed Ali in boxing, it had long seemed there could only be one Greatest at `Bama.Never thought it could happen, said Bowden, a Birmingham native who was coaching at Howard (now Samford) when Bryant hit his stride at Alabama starting in the late 1950s. Gosh, its like lightning striking twice in the same place, which they say it doesnt do. For him to come in there and do what he does, and now theyre comparing whos the greatest. Who would have thought that 20 years ago?Twenty years ago, Saban was having his second straight six-win season at Michigan State. Alabama was in the final season of Gene Stallings tenure, easily the most successful of the seven head coaches bridging the Bryant and Saban eras. (Mike Price was fired without coaching a game).Saban, who also won a championship at LSU, has gone 98-12 over the past eight seasons. Notre Dames Frank Leahy and Southern Californias John McKay join Bryant and Saban as the only coaches with at least four national championships in The Associated Press poll era, dating to 1936. Leahy also won his four titles in a seven-year span but he didnt actually coach in 1944 or 1945 because of World War II.Then there was Bowden, who had a run of 14 consecutive top-5 finishes at Florida State. Who knows if Saban will stick around long enough to match that, but hes been nearly unbeatable with a title on the line. Hes 11-1 in conference or national championship games, with the only loss coming to eventual national champ Florida in the 2008 SEC title tilt his second year at Alabama.There were runs something like this, but this may be the best of all of them so far in the history of football, Bowden said.The Alabama coach turns 65 on Oct. 31 and shows no sign of slowing down. He continued his string of No. 1-ranked recruiting classes in February. About a month earlier, he led the Tide to a shootout victory over Clemson in the national championship game, making the call for a game-changing onside kick early in the fourth quarter.Steve Spurrier, who had three straight 11-2 seasons at South Carolina after turning 65, visited with Saban after speaking at a high school clinic over the summer. He said Saban joked that he was starting to hear of opposing coaches telling recruits he wouldnt be around much longer.Hes got a good six to eight years or more, depending on what he wants, really, said Spurrier, who stepped down during the 2015 season. If he keeps winning at a high level, which he certainly can the way they recruit.dddddddddddd The question is if he gets to 8-4, I think he said, `All hell will break loose around here if I go 8-4. Its really hard to go out on top. Its hard to say youve had enough unless you start losing. Thats what happened to me, is we started losing.Saban still takes care of himself physically. He eats a salad daily for lunch, plays basketball with his assistants during the offseason and tosses passes with a nice touch during drills with the defensive backs.Hes stayed the same weight probably since he was 30 or 35, said Spurrier, fresh from one of his own daily workouts.Plenty of other coaches have had high levels of success after 65. Bowden won two national titles and 12 ACC championships before stepping down not long after his 80th birthday. Penn States Joe Paterno won 169 games and had seven top-10 finishes.Bryant won championships in 1978 and 1979 and was 49-9-1 at 65-plus.Bowden said the biggest challenge in sustaining that kind of enduring success is keeping the players as focused and motivated after they reach the top as they were in getting there.So your biggest enemy becomes yourself, Bowden said. Keeping your players hungry is a very key ingredient, and I really dont know anybody that does a better job of that than Coach Saban.Enter The Process, Sabans philosophy of focusing on the task at hand and not getting distracted by past results or future ambitions. Saban says its the human condition to relax and feel a sense of entitlement after great success, though he never seems to suffer from it.Weve had to deal with this with some of our teams in the past, Saban said. They start questioning and judging, `Why are we practicing this hard? Why are we doing conditioning this way? Well, its the same thing we did that helped you be successful last year.Sabans footprint on college football and the SEC has spread to the sidelines in a big way.Former assistants Jim McElwain, Will Muschamp and Kirby Smart are all head coaches in the SEC East, Jimbo Fisher won a national title at Florida State and Mark Dantonio led Michigan State to a playoff matchup with his former boss last season.I think he can go forever, McElwain, Floridas head coach, said of Saban. Thats just the way hes wired. And I havent seen one thing, when we were around each other that week of the SEC Championship game, I didnt see one less bounce in his step, anything like that. And, you know what? The guys something special.Smart took over at Georgia this season after serving on Sabans Alabama staff for all four national championships. Hes pretty well qualified to answer: What drives Saban?Well, thats an easy question, Smart said. Hes driven to be the best. And I think thats what makes him different. Because everybody is driven for their different purpose and everybody has their `why. And for Coach Saban, I think he wants to be the best.At Alabama, that means topping the Bear. ' ' '