The last time SA had to rebuild like this we had Kallis sitting at 4 not Faf. That is a hell of a difference in security for a batting line-up, SA also batted to 8 with the number of all-rounders. Both those things made a competitive batting side, and still we used to get blown away for low scores more than occasionally. What we did do is pick the best available players regardless of experience and numbers. We had a few duds, we picked a few guys I would not have considered. But we got the youngsters in and gave them a shot. Can you image the selection/coach etc choosing Smith as captain today to lead SA to England?
I am a fanboy, but anybody who has watched Hamza play for any length of time knows he is quality. And if you think that you can play in SA for any space of time and be unable to play the short ball and make runs I think you are deluded. Yes quality spin maybe, not the short ball. Hamza has got out in many different ways and what he looks to me is uncertain and tentative. People are attributing that to his inability to play the short ball, I am attributing it to a young talented player coming in at 3 in a failing batting line-up. I agree that he probably should be batting 5 but batting at 3 is fine as long as they give him a chance to settle.
We have 2 players in the top 6 that have decent international experience. Elgar and Faf. Neither are good enough to rebuild a team around. Good solid international players, but that is all. With QDKs temperament he needs to bat 6/7, he will never be a top 4 batsmen, QDK will never save a game for you by batting out time.
I have said this since before the world cup. SA needs to strip this team down to its bare bones, pick the youngsters and rebuild. We will get hammered for a few series but I do think SA have the capability to recover quickly, the talent is there it is just not being used efficiently. I would be dropping Elgar and Faf. I would never be picking the likes of Pieter Malan, van der Dussen, Pretorius, Paterson or Hendricks.
