***Official*** England in South Africa 2015/16

[Stefan9]

Well because he wants a lighter load, and the captaincy isn't going to help with that.

That was in reference to keeping and physical work.

 

[91Jmay]

I do think AB will be good with the captaincy.

Also, Bavuma's century brings up a pretty interesting dilemna for the selectors. Stiaan van Zyl hasn't worked well at opener, and will likely lose that spot. Before Bavuma scored his ton, and Faf his 80-odd, I'd assumed van Zyl would fall down the order in place of one of them. Now, though, I'm guessing he'll fall straight out of the XI. A bit unfortunate given he was probably considered the superior prospect over Bavuma, but was pushed out of position because it was thought that he could compete better as an opener than Temba.

Van Zyl is one of the worst openers I've seen play for a top team. Absolute shambles of a 'technique'

 

[hendrix]

AB,faf,jp and hash were the people interviewed. Hash never wanted it if we are honest, read his answers during the press conference carefully. When he was asked this he says it was an honour to be asked to be captain. He was coerced into this because CSA wanted a non white captain.

Hash has always been a reluctant captain. He resigned the dolphins captaincy after a season as a young man as he felt it was affecting his batting even though he scored a truck load of runs that season. He resigned the odi vice captaincy as he didn't like standing in as captain when ab wasn't available.

We can question the timing but there is no doudt it was the right decision.

Amla the batsman is better then Amla the captain. So hopefully without the stresses of captaincy he returns fully to the great he is.

Personally I think faf should be captain as he is better tactically then ab but you need to go with someone that is 100% guaranteed his spot.

I think it's a bit harsh on CSA to say they wanted Amla because he's not white.

It's true that he was initially a reluctant leader but he absolutely has leadership qualities, aside from being one of the first men on the team sheet. It's also probably a factor that they wanted to reduce AB's workload, which is definitely something that should be taken into consideration.

TBH any one of Amla, AB or Faf seem equally capable.

I think this decision has been more about personal accountability more than anything; the team hasn't delivered the expected results so he's fallen on his sword.

 

[Jono]

"When Graeme stepped down, it gave an opportunity for me to explore my captaincy. I thought at the time I could add value and I'd like to believe that I have added value. I am really surprised some people have suggested it was not my choice. You don't look like me in this world without being firm on what you want to do."

What a magnificent line. All hail Hashim Amla.

 

[Jono]

Poor AB. Wanted a lighter workload in tests. gets the captaincy thrust on him mid-series instead.

Exactly. Not a very selfless decision IMO.

What? AB wanted the captaincy, and described it as a lifelong dream.

 

[cnerd123]

"When Graeme stepped down, it gave an opportunity for me to explore my captaincy. I thought at the time I could add value and I'd like to believe that I have added value. I am really surprised some people have suggested it was not my choice. You don't look like me in this world without being firm on what you want to do."

What a magnificent line. All hail Hashim Amla.

This quote needs to be made into one of those inspirational tumblr picture things with Amla looking firm in the background

 

[smash84]

"When Graeme stepped down, it gave an opportunity for me to explore my captaincy. I thought at the time I could add value and I'd like to believe that I have added value. I am really surprised some people have suggested it was not my choice. You don't look like me in this world without being firm on what you want to do."

What a magnificent line. All hail Hashim Amla.

wow, that's such a gun quote

 

[OverratedSanity]

What? AB wanted the captaincy, and described it as a lifelong dream.

Yeah I know he said that, but it was a while ago, wasn't it? He's said he wants a lighter workload since, and it probably refers to his keeping duties, but I still dunno.

Not a big deal though, not saying Amla is selfish or anything like that **** indiaholic. wtf man?

 

[Jono]

Yeah I know he said that, but it was a while ago, wasn't it? He's said he wants a lighter workload since, and it probably refers to his keeping duties, but I still dunno.

Nah he said it yesterday.

 

[cnerd123]

Not a big deal though, not saying Amla is selfish or anything like that **** indiaholic. wtf man?

I can see where he is coming from. 1-0 down, two tests to go, and he resigns. ABDV needs to take the reigns and try and win from the get go. The team is already struggling, they don't need more obstacles to overcome.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Nah he said it yesterday.

Oh.

Then as they would say on the streets "my bad"

 

[Jono]

incredible

 

[hendrix]

"When Graeme stepped down, it gave an opportunity for me to explore my captaincy. I thought at the time I could add value and I'd like to believe that I have added value. I am really surprised some people have suggested it was not my choice. You don't look like me in this world without being firm on what you want to do."

What a magnificent line. All hail Hashim Amla.

sigged.

I wanted to say something about Hash being an independent character and that the real test of leadership is about individual strength of character, but I couldn't put the right words together without making it about his religion or the fact he doesn't drink. It's really not about those things.

That quote sums it up perfectly.

 

[Jono]

I can see where he is coming from. 1-0 down, two tests to go, and he resigns. ABDV needs to take the reigns and try and win from the get go. The team is already struggling, they don't need more obstacles to overcome.

Amla has said he's been speaking about this to AB, Faf etc. prior to today. He didn't just drop a bombshell randomly to his team.

 

[cnerd123]

Amla has said he's been speaking about this to AB, Faf etc. prior to today. He didn't just drop a bombshell randomly to his team.

Well yea; I didn't say that was the issue. Said its the idea of a new captain taking the lead mid series with task of winning 1-0 or 2-0 over the next two tests is a potential problem.

I didn't call Amla selfish anyways, it was indiaholic. IDK why I'm trying to justify his statement. Maybe becuase of all the likes he's given me recently.

 

[Dan]

I don't think AB will have a problem, as long as the CSA selectors don't decide to throw the gloves his way again.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Good and brave decision from Amla. Respect him for this. I had my issues with his captaincy all along, but it takes a lot of courage to acknowledge that within one year and also goes to demonstrate the immense pressure of test captaincy.

 

[Black_Warrior]

I wonder how the Stokes 258 will go down now since the game ended in a draw and saw another double century?

On Day 2 social media went crazy and were hailing it as one of the greatest knocks. I myself thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it was a brilliant knock, but I wonder if it will be remembered as Botham 1981 or the Sehwag 200s since it didn't end in a victory?

 

[Spikey]

"When Graeme stepped down, it gave an opportunity for me to explore my captaincy. I thought at the time I could add value and I'd like to believe that I have added value. I am really surprised some people have suggested it was not my choice. You don't look like me in this world without being firm on what you want to do."

What a magnificent line. All hail Hashim Amla.

bah god

 

[indiaholic]

Still don't see why the timing was a good idea unless SA always had a captaincy by committee approach.