South Africa team selection

[Kenneth Viljoen]

I think that de Zorzi opens and Petersen players 3 with Markram at 4.

In our last test Markram opened the batting and got a 96 , De Zorzi made a 85 at No.3 vs the Windies

Don't think they will change Markram up top

 

[StephenZA]

I'm surprised that Conrad went back to Verreynne that quickly. I thought Klaasen was going to be given the Indian series.

Yes. But I will say outside Elgar and Bavuma team is pretty young. I hope he is using it to build and test. From the squad I don't like the selection of Stubbs for the Tests. I would have preferred an extra batsmen like van Tonder or what's happened to Rickelton?

Burger well deserved maiden call up , in all three squads so should get a debut ..

Brutally I`m not a fan of Burger... I think we have much better more skilled bowlers than him.

 

[StephenZA]

I would go horses for courses seeing that it is only a 2 Test match series .

The first Test is at Centurion,
Keshav Maharaj has played 5 test matches there and he averages 114 with the ball.
Against India he averages 94 with the ball in 7 tests, we would be as good as playing with 10 men if we start Maharaj at Centurion.

Our batting line up is weak and needs shoring up, Keegan Petersen has to play because he was very good the last time we played India and he's coming off a hundred for SA A ..

So if I was picking the team, I'd play 7 batsmen, and 4 seamers ..
Markram can bowl a few offies on his home ground if need be.

So my team for the first test would be:

1.Markram
2.Elgar
3.De Zorzi
4.Bedingham
5.Petersen
6 Bavuma
7.Verreynne (WK)
8.Jansen
9.Coetzee
10.Rabada
11.Ngidi

I think we have to start playing Mulder. He balances the team and has the potential to bat as well as any of the selected batsmen. We need to give him at least 6 to 10 Tests in a row. If at that stage he does not come up with the goods we can go back to the 7/4 batting(wk) split.

And I think we would miss Maharaj for his experience and skill. I don't trust the leadership of Bavuma, and Markram has not always been good under pressure I truly think that Maharaj should have been made Test captain in this transition period.

 

[StephenZA]

And final comment... Elgar needs to retire. There is not enough space with all the other restrictions for us to be holding on to Elgar. It was bad enough when we did it with Amla and Elgar is not near the same level as that. It is harsh but if we not looking at blooding and upskilling new players then... or else in 3-5 years time we end up in exactly the problem we have now.

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

I think we have to start playing Mulder. He balances the team and has the potential to bat as well as any of the selected batsmen. We need to give him at least 6 to 10 Tests in a row. If at that stage he does not come up with the goods we can go back to the 7/4 batting(wk) split.

And I think we would miss Maharaj for his experience and skill. I don't trust the leadership of Bavuma, and Markram has not always been good under pressure I truly think that Maharaj should have been made Test captain in this transition period.

I agree. We do need a test all rounder , but I feel this series is too high profile and far too short to pin our hopes on Mulder just yet ..

With nobody in our top 6 with a Test batting average above 40 , and a couple of new faces in the batting unit they are going to need all the help they can get when they come up against a quality Indian pace attack, and Mulder doesn't have the X factor in his bowling like a Marco Jansen to justify taking such a big risk in the top 7 ..

Unfortunately Mulder is committed to the SA T20 Tour so can't play the NZ series , but a tour of West Indies next year is where I'd blood Mulder..Hopefully we can organize some games outside the WTC aswell ..

At Newlands there is a bit in it for the spinners, that is when I'd play Maharaj..

 

[Silver Silva]

I would go horses for courses seeing that it is only a 2 Test match series .

The first Test is at Centurion,
Keshav Maharaj has played 5 test matches there and he averages 114 with the ball.
Against India he averages 94 with the ball in 7 tests, we would be as good as playing with 10 men if we start Maharaj at Centurion.

Our batting line up is weak and needs shoring up, Keegan Petersen has to play because he was very good the last time we played India and he's coming off a hundred for SA A ..

So if I was picking the team, I'd play 7 batsmen, and 4 seamers ..
Markram can bowl a few offies on his home ground if need be.

So my team for the first test would be:

1.Markram
2.Elgar
3.De Zorzi
4.Bedingham
5.Petersen
6 Bavuma
7.Verreynne (WK)
8.Jansen
9.Coetzee
10.Rabada
11.Ngidi

Yeah dude you should play to your guys strengths!, wow I didn't know Maharaj had such a poor record vs India.
That's a bit disappointing for such a quality spinner

 

[StephenZA]

I agree. We do need a test all rounder , but I feel this series is too high profile and far too short to pin our hopes on Mulder just yet ..

With nobody in our top 6 with a Test batting average above 40 , and a couple of new faces in the batting unit they are going to need all the help they can get when they come up against a quality Indian pace attack, and Mulder doesn't have the X factor in his bowling like a Marco Jansen to justify taking such a big risk in the top 7 ..

Unfortunately Mulder is committed to the SA T20 Tour so can't play the NZ series , but a tour of West Indies next year is where I'd blood Mulder..Hopefully we can organize some games outside the WTC aswell ..

At Newlands there is a bit in it for the spinners, that is when I'd play Maharaj..

I honestly don't care about winning... I care about the choices looking towards the future. We in this position because cricket in SA keeps making short term and political choices. I would not drop Jansen. I would drop Elgar and play Mulder at 6. If I played Maharaj I would not play Coetzee (as much as I love him)! Truthfully I would drop both Bavuma and Elgar and bring in Mulder and someone else. As I said whats happened to Rickelton?

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

I honestly don't care about winning... I care about the choices looking towards the future. We in this position because cricket in SA keeps making short term and political choices. I would not drop Jansen. I would drop Elgar and play Mulder at 6. If I played Maharaj I would not play Coetzee (as much as I love him)! Truthfully I would drop both Bavuma and Elgar and ring in Mulder and someone else. As I said whats happened to Rickelton?

Can't drop Bavuma he made 172 in his last test and got man of the match , I feel we have to be pragmatic with our selections given the restrictions that won't go away and that we will play very little test cricket in this current cycle ..
Undefeated vs India at home is one of the few proud records we still have, I'd like us to keep hold of that by atleast drawing the series (Touchwood!)

Rickleton played the last 4 day game vs Warriors, so he's definitely not injured ..
Van Tonder just not in the plans just yet but he could go to New Zealand seeing that he played well for SA A. The selectors tend to just forget about players it seems..

 

[Bahseph]

Perhaps the toss up was Rickelton vs Bedingham as the back up and they went with Bedingham because he is going to NZ? Pure speculation though.

 

[Bahseph]

@StephenZA does push the team building idea and I agree with him. I think Bavuma and Elgar have some value for the next year and a bit. Elgar especially might be fine in SA but he has been proven as below par abroad. Don't think that will change at his age. Temba is Temba. You can't build a batting line up around a bloke who doesn't even average 35. Doesn't matter how compact he looks.

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

Perhaps the toss up was Rickelton vs Bedingham as the back up and they went with Bedingham because he is going to NZ? Pure speculation though.

Possibly, but then he wasn't named even in the white ball squads ?

Rickleton is very fine white ball player averages 46 in List A cricket , left handed opener that keeps wicket ..
Would have been a straight swap for Quinton De kock if he was in the plans .

 

[Marius]

Judging by how Conrad has gone I really think he is going to play Mulder. He likes the fifth bowler doesn't he? Probably:

1. Elgar
2. Markram
3. de Zorzi
4. Petersen
5. Bavuma
6. Verreynne
7. Mulder
8. Jansen
9. Maharaj
10. Rabada
11. Ngidi/Coetzee

I think I agree with this, but Bedingham instead of Petersen.

 

[Nintendo]

Surprised noene mentioned stubbs in the test squad.

 

[Bahseph]

He scored a hundred for the A team(emerging team?)in Sri Lanka. I'm not that surprised to be fair. They obviously view him as a huge talent and I don't think he is a "tee off from ball one" kinda batsman. Wouldn't have selected him over Rickelton though.

 

[Dendarii]

Stubbs is most likely in the squad for the experience. He probably won't get a game.

 

[Nintendo]

Wait was rickelton not picked? What's the story there?

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

Surprised noene mentioned stubbs in the test squad.

Hes just there to give cover, Verreynne will play both games for sure with Newlands being his home ground where he scores bucket loads of runs for Province.
The surprising and perhaps worrying thing is that Conrad gave Klaasen such a vote of confidence one series ago, now he's no longer in the test team. The selection process is puzzling.

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

Wait was rickelton not picked? What's the story there?

Bit of a revolving door policy at the moment ..

The player that's been hard done by the most in my opinion is Simon Harmer, tough being a spinner in South Africa ..Picked up 5 wickets vs West Indies in his last test then dropped.

 

[Dendarii]

Harmer's never going to displace Maharaj as the first-choice spinner. So he's only going to make it into squads where two spinners are deemed necessary, and this isn't one.

 

[Nintendo]

Yeah if SA serve up a deck where you can justify two frontline spinners they've ****ed up. Half of India's issue in sena is the choice between ashwin or a 4th pacer and long tail to partner jadeja.