South Africa team selection

[Dendarii]

Unfortunately, the women weren't able to whitewash Pakistan in the T20s. We weren't playing our best team, and it's fair enough to give the fringe players a go in a dead rubber.

That didn't really affect our bowling, and in fact it was the lesser lights who did the damage with the ball, but it did impact the batting and losing those wickets up front set us back too much. I think we still stood a chance of winning with Du Preez and Luus at the crease, but the rain had the final say.

 

[Bahseph]

I'm not one for knee-jerk posts but surely there needs to be a rethink with this batting lineup. At the moment the only time we look like we can get ahead in a game is when we are bowling. Who knows when we will be playing Tests again? But I really hope some changes are made.

 

[Nintendo]

Bavuma has to go, quinny needs to lose the captaincy be on serious warning if he doesn't get his batting and keeping together after losing the captaincy. Sa have plenty of good domestic talent, 2 good openers and a solid bowling attack, the tools are there the management and captain, whoever that my me, just need to get there **** together.

 

[Heboric]

Bavuma has to go, quinny needs to lose the captaincy be on serious warning if he doesn't get his batting and keeping together after losing the captaincy. Sa have plenty of good domestic talent, 2 good openers and a solid bowling attack, the tools are there the management and captain, whoever that my me, just need to get there **** together.

Bavuma wont go, he will be vice-captain

 

[TT Boy]

Making Bavuma captain and putting him at 3 will expedite the removal process.

 

[Dendarii]

Bavuma was our second highest run scorer this series. So while I agree that Bavuma is out of his depth, yet again he's not the worst performing batsman in the side.

De Kock as captain is an experiment which failed miserably, but that they're going to give it to someone else and dropping him down to 6 puts him back into a more comfortable position in the batting line-up. So that problem has an easy fix.

The big problem for me is Faf. Apart from the 199 against Sri Lanka he's done nothing of note for a long time and it's part of the reason we're seeing batting collapses as too often he starts the ball rolling. So it's definitely time to put him out to pasture.

 

[StephenZA]

I agree Bavuma needs to be gone, but he at least avged 50 in these two series against SL-Pak and consistently contributed. Rassie avged 35. Faf needs to be gone now as well, he avged 44 in these last two series (above career) but that is with a single 199 innings. The truth is that the entire 3 to 5 needs to go now, and anything else will just be delaying the inevitable and continuing us on a path of nonsense.

And the nonsense about dropping QDK, when he is literally being pulled around pillar to post, as some sort of batting fix and dumped with the captaincy, shows how people are just continuing to ignore the middle order problems for some set of inexplicable reasons. I hated the selection of van der Dussen at the beginning (along with Dwaine Pretorius) for exactly what has happened, we are picking filler players. And it is both unfair on those players and on players like QDK who somehow must cover for them.

We are not moving on and the problems will continue until we start making decisions not based on the next series, but what gives us our best opportunity to have a quality team in 2-3 years time.

I also have a huge problem with Rabada and Nortje as our opening bowlers, I don't think they compliment each other well. We need a proper line and length, hit the seam opening bowler.

 

[Bahseph]

I'd love to hear the "thinking" around these selections with regards to the batting.

- Elgar. I understand. Been the best opener in the world for a few years.
- Markram. I understand. Has always been earmarked as a future leader and bosses domestic cricket. Hopefully this 100 is a rebirth for him.

Now things get iffy for me.
- Rassie scores 50s. He doesn't have the most pleasing technique but he seems more of a 5 than a 3 to me.
- Faf. 37 this year? Always been better at 5 but now they expect him to be a 4?? What is the evidence for this?
-QDK. So he averages 50 at 7 and obviously didn't want to be Captain. So we make him Captain and bat at 5. StephenZA said it in the tour thread,he is icing. He is not a banker.
-Bavuma. This innings encapsulates the problem with him. He is good with some gritty innings but he can't go big. And our problem is that we can't score enough runs at the moment.
- Mulder. He has Franchise hundreds. Won't it be logical to bat him at 6 and QDK at his preferred position?

This is just my thoughts on the selected line up. Not even the players that aren't picked.

 

[Dendarii]

- Rassie scores 50s. He doesn't have the most pleasing technique but he seems more of a 5 than a 3 to me.

I don't think he bats at 3 domestically, so really he's only at 3 because he's a better option than any of the other batsmen currently in the team. Meanwhile, we've got Petersen and Van Tonder hovering around, both of whom are 3s, so there's an obvious answer to the problem there.

 

[Bahseph]

Basically our middle order is 3 number 5s. And a bloke at 5 who should be at 7. And a young allrounder at 7 who should probably be at 5. What a mess.

 

[Heboric]

So it looks like our next test series will be against India in Dec / Jan - yikes

 

[StephenZA]

- Markram. I understand. Has always been earmarked as a future leader and bosses domestic cricket. Hopefully this 100 is a rebirth for him.

Markram was a concern. But he is a quality player, that having started well needed to get into Test cricket and improve some of his technical problems. He has show improvement and hopefully now kicks on to a great career. The important part of this was he needed to be selected and his ability trusted.

 

[StephenZA]

Basically our middle order is 3 number 5s. And a bloke at 5 who should be at 7. And a young allrounder at 7 who should probably be at 5. What a mess.

I would probably bat Mulder 7 and QDK 6 for the next few matches before swapping them around in a couple years. That should be alright as long as we can solidify our 3 to 5.

 

[Dendarii]

I would probably bat Mulder 7 and QDK 6 for the next few matches before swapping them around in a couple years.

I don't think it matters too much which way round those two bat, as long as the guys above them regularly give them a decent platform. And there's the rub...

 

[Heboric]

1. Elgar
2. Markram(c)
3. Rassie
4. Another
5. Bavuma (v/c)
6. QDK
7. Mulder
8. Maharaj
9. Rabada
10. Nortje
11. Ngidi

I like the cut of Rassies gib, he got some good balls, and there is no way they are dropping Bavuma.

 

[StephenZA]

Elgar
Markram
van Tonder
Petersen
Verreynne/Qeshile
QDK
Mulder
Coetzee
Maharaj
Rabada
Dupavillon/Ngidi/Nortje/Sipamla

It would be young and inexperienced side, but full of talent and would do no worse than we doing now, with potential to do a whole lot better.

I repeat. Anything else and we just wasting time and effort.

 

[Rasimione]

Faf is the only one getting dropped.. There's no way they'll drop Bavuma or Rassie after this series. I'm also certain they'll give Petersen a crack at 3 with Rassie being moved back to 5.

Elgar
Markram
Petersen
Bavuma
RvD
De Kock
Mulder
Maharaj
Rabada
Nortje
Ngidi.

Van Tonder will probably be the one to replace Rassie if he doesn't pan out. It's not looking good for that batting line up.

 

[morgieb]

Bavuma batting 4 would be the mother of all mistakes. I actually think he has a lot of virtues as a #6 but anything above the order and the sheer lack of runs he scores will look glaring.

 

[StephenZA]

Faf is the only one getting dropped.. There's no way they'll drop Bavuma or Rassie after this series. I'm also certain they'll give Petersen a crack at 3 with Rassie being moved back to 5.

I am not commenting on what they will do, I`m commenting on what I believe needs to be done. Faf is probably going to retire soon, probably this year and Petersen will likely be given the role. But it is effectively very slow steps forward due to being 'forced' rather than selection making the necessary tough decisions on their own.

 

[Dendarii]

Bavuma batting 4 would be the mother of all mistakes. I actually think he has a lot of virtues as a #6 but anything above the order and the sheer lack of runs he scores will look glaring.

5 seems to work for him as that's the position where he has the highest average (40.77), although it is only from eight matches. But 4 is not an option.