Best players to have never played Test cricket for SA, post-1991

[Marius]

not many bowlers yet huh

Friedel de Wet got a couple Tests otherwise he'd be in. Might have to stretch to Roelof van der Merwe and bat deep

Corrie van Zyl might have been a shout but he played most of his career pre-1991 and I think he did play some rebel Tests.

 

[StephenZA]

Of the current lot I would say Pite van Biljon and Rudi Second. Both very good batsmen and decent wicketkeepers. Migael Pretorius may still make a Test team, but unlikely, and think he would be a bit unlucky.

But honestly the only true great potential player that missed out on an international Test career since the 90s would be Andrew Puttick. And possibly Nic Pothas.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Then we may as well say Paul Harris, Gary Ballance, Dale Benkenstein etc are some of the best players to have never played a Test for Zimbabwe.

And CDG

 

[BoyBrumby]

Dunno what his record in RSA is like, but David Bedingham has made hay up here in the last couple of years.

No doubt in my mind that, were he qualified, he'd have got a call up for England.

 

[Marius]

Dunno what his record in RSA is like, but David Bedingham has made hay up here in the last couple of years.

No doubt in my mind that, were he qualified, he'd have got a call up for England.

There's still some hope he'll play for SA but looks like he's set on qualifying for England. Think he qualifies later this year.

 

[Rasimione]

Andrew Puttick should have played test cricket. It's hard to understand why that didn't happen. Same with Bedingham. I can understand the Conway thing but not Bedingham.

 

[CricAddict]

Tendulkar, Steve Smith, Mcgrath, Murali, Warne and Gilchrist are the top 6 that come to my mind.

 

[TheJediBrah]

The other day I was thinking of the best players from SA who never played a Test for the country, after readmission.

Tendulkar, Steve Smith, Mcgrath, Murali, Warne and Gilchrist are the top 6 that come to my mind.

news to me

 

[ImpatientLime]

The other day I was thinking of the best players from SA who never played a Test for the country, after readmission.

I was putting together a tentative XI in my head.

You could probably open with Sven Koenig and Andrew Puttick, with Rilee Rossouw in the middle order. Nick Pothas would be the keeper.

Of the bowlers, Aubrey Martyn could be there.

What are some other names when thinking about a post-isolation uncapped Test XI for South Africa?

damn sven koenig really? I watched him quite a bit for Middlesex in the 00s. he was solid but never looked international class

 

[akilana]

Dunno what his record in RSA is like, but David Bedingham has made hay up here in the last couple of years.

No doubt in my mind that, were he qualified, he'd have got a call up for England.

I think he wanted to play for SA but there has been no communication between the circus and Bedingham. SA probably lost him by now.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

damn sven koenig really? I watched him quite a bit for Middlesex in the 00s. he was solid but never looked international class

To be fair, if you’re picking an XI made up of players who were never selected the chances are that very few will have looked international class or they would have been tried at some point. I dread to think who would make a similar England XI, probably Darren Stevens as captain.

 

[StephenZA]

Andrew Puttick should have played test cricket. It's hard to understand why that didn't happen.

Because he played between 2000 and 2018... basically he played between SA strongest batting era, fighting for wk and/or opening duties. His best chance was probably between 2013-15 when retirements started happening.

Same with Bedingham.

At the point Bedingham was likely to be selected (we were even discussing it in thread - 3 years ago when he was 24) he basically went off to play in England and started talking about qualifying for England. (understandably) No administration would consider selecting him over other players at that stage. Why he was not selected before that is partly the systems problems (hence we have gone back to a provincial system) but also the continued administrative/management issue of not wanting to select young promising batsmen for SA without experience.

 

[Gowza]

Could’ve had a batting line up with de villiers, du plessis, pietersen and ten doeschate, would’ve been a really good all format line up.