Who can stop South Africa?

[SeamUp]

SA will have to replace Kallis sooner or later, that will hurt them massively. I don't think that SA have as much depth as England but they do have more top stars than us and a better first choice side though we have about 10 spinners better than they do.

I'm pretty confident we have good depth mate.

 

[L Trumper]

Only hurdle I can see is their home performances against AUS. But after 10 ashes tests in a row I am not sure AUS will really fancy touring SA. Apart from that, a tour to UAE/PAK or Home series against ENG in 2015/16 I think. So they are probably good for next 4-5 years. Having said that we have to see how they go with out Kallis, that would be a massive gap to fill.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

I'm pretty confident we have good depth mate.

Yeah Elgar is top class.

 

[Woodster]

Obviously with Kallis you lose two players in one, a world class batsman and a very serviceable swing bowling option that offers the side great balance. He's pretty much irreplaceable I would have thought, it just depends on how massive a hole he leaves.

 

[SeamUp]

Yeah Elgar is top class.

Just like Petersen, Duminy and Faf who have stepped in and done well outside our supposed top players?

Elgar deserves an opportunity and didn't Graham Gooch, Saeed Anwar and Marvin Atapattu all get pairs on debut ? Oh yeah they did.

 

[MrPrez]

You're speaking the biggest load of tosh in this thread Prez. NZL didn't draw with us.

Our sub-continent play has been pretty good for a while now. The best from outside the sub-continent.

Quite clearly the English team is the next best but we don't play them for a long time.

Fair enough. I don't quite know why I thought we drew with them last time we played. Was it SA vs Aus in SA that I'm thinking of then?

 

[SeamUp]

Fair enough. I don't quite know why I thought we drew with them last time we played. Was it SA vs Aus in SA that I'm thinking of then?

Yeah. A pathetic two match test series. Due to the Champions League.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Given South Africa's total lack of depth, Kallis retiring soon, and the fact that their batting is so reliant on 3-4 guys I would expect to see them randomly lose a series somewhere. In the past 2-4 years their random defeats have been spread out a bit so they've tended to get away with 1-1 or similar scorelines. Given they only really play short series it won't take much for them to lose a series somewhere.

 

[Burgey]

Lord Kitchener.

 

[SeamUp]

Given England's total over-reliance on South African schooled cricketers like Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott they will get away with scoring enough runs when not playing quality attacks. KP at 32 won't be a guy to play around till he is 36/37 as he will be worrying about being away from his wife too long and who knows what will happen with the ego next. A KPless England looks very vulnerable as we saw recently. Alistair Cook showed in the series against South Africa after his first knock that his old deficiencies can be attacked when up against a moving ball. The struggles in the middle order haven't been totally sorted. The two 'great' spinners have both been nullified by South Africa in their home conditions on our last two tours there. Jimmy Anderson is quality on his day but didn't really do much against us on our last tour there and before that.

Wachacha


See what I did there.

 

[Prince EWS]

Given England's total over-reliance on South African schooled cricketers like Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott they will get away with scoring enough runs when not playing quality attacks. KP at 32 won't be a guy to play around till he is 36/37 as he will be worrying about being away from his wife too long and who knows what will happen with the ego next. A KPless England looks very vulnerable as we saw recently. Alistair Cook showed in the series against South Africa after his first knock that his old deficiencies can be attacked when up against a moving ball. The struggles in the middle order haven't been totally sorted. The two 'great' spinners have both been nullified by South Africa in their home conditions on our last two tours there. Jimmy Anderson is quality on his day but didn't really do much against us on our last tour there and before that.

Wachacha


See what I did there.

This is an awful, defensive, effectively warmongering post. Scaly didn't say you didn't have a better team than England or even compare your side to England in any way; he was just responding to the thread title by pointing out that even though South Africa have the best side, they probably won't go on a massive undefeated run because they have a few weaknesses that could see them drop series to teams they're better than on paper.

You only brought England up because someone who supports England criticised your side, which by definition makes it a terrible post. I consider you a great member too, so this is totally out of character. If you disagree with his points about the side, say why. Post properly.

 

[SeamUp]

This is an awful, defensive, effectively warmongering post. Scaly didn't say you didn't have a better team than England or even compare your side to England in any way; he was just responding to the thread title by pointing out that even though South Africa have the best side, they probably won't go on a massive undefeated run because they have a few weaknesses that could see them drop series to teams they're better than on paper.

You only brought England up because someone who supports England criticised your side, which by definition makes it a terrible post. I consider you a great member too, so this is totally out of character. If you disagree with his points about the side, say why. Post properly.

Protect him it's fine with me. I've done all the wrong here and I apologise.

 

[hendrix]

Given South Africa's total lack of depth, Kallis retiring soon, and the fact that their batting is so reliant on 3-4 guys I would expect to see them randomly lose a series somewhere. In the past 2-4 years their random defeats have been spread out a bit so they've tended to get away with 1-1 or similar scorelines. Given they only really play short series it won't take much for them to lose a series somewhere.

Not sure if this post is serious.

3-4 consistent batsmen is relatively healthy IMO.

That said, Southee and Boult will destroy them in January.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Will be funny if they lose to Pak after beating both England and Aus away.

 

[sonnench]

Nobody....

 

[Flem274*]

Taylor to be flown over and score three consecutive double hundreds.

We're winning the second test by an innings naturally.

 

[Bahnz]

Taylor to be flown over and score three consecutive double hundreds.

We're winning the second test by an innings naturally.

Yeah but only thanks to a McCullum 10 wicket bag.

 

[Xuhaib]

Will be funny if they lose to Pak after beating both England and Aus away.

haha yeah can't see it happening though with the current pace attack.

 

[NasserFan207]

If you follow SA domestic cricket you'd realise they actually have excellent depth, probably better than England in some respects.

Clearly though the combined tactical genius of Hesson and McCullum will be their downfall

 

[Burgey]

Lack of response to my Lord Kitchener post is disappointing but not surprising.