Agree, he and the management team could have at least just feigned an injury or said he's still not quite right rather than this wishy washy BS about wanting to still play tests, but only the ones that suit him.i'm not retiring from tests!!
but i won't be touring new zealand
i'm not retiring from tests!!
but i won't be touring england
lol
the absolute state of people offering up this piss weak, flip flopping bloke as some equal to the great allan border.
Only that's precisely not what's happening now though is it? 1) He's supposedly fit and over the injury & 2) He's hasn't even been close to being asked to keep since de Kock's burst onto the scene.AB played 98 plus ODIs plus T20s and IPL. You can question the circumstances around how he was managed, the captaincy issue and the quotas all you want but to question is commitment is stupid to say the least. He kept inspite of having a back condition like Clarke and actually said he will do it for the sake of team balance even if it took out a couple of years off his career, which I guess is happening now.
How drunk were you when writing this.You ****s keep this **** going still? Fmd where's de Villiers now? Hasn't been sighted. Why? "Injury". SMC. TOTAB played 153 consecutive tests including several with a broken thumb.
For those who *still* don't get it, check out the nickname thread for the definitive exposition of the etiquette surrounding this.
You ****s. You utter, utter ****s. I gave my son the initials AB because of Allan Border, not because of some flash blow-in Jaapie. Yet even I know that should Burgeinho ever enter the storied world of international cricket, he will not be known as AB, because the only true AB is Allan Border.
Upon TOTAB's passing (should he ever pass) we will reassess. Until then, he is AB. That's it. No more.
Clarke barely missed any Tests because of his back though, and almost all of those were right at the end of his career. It's not quite a fair comparison. Say what you want for Clarke, but he did absolutely everything humanly possible to make sure he was available for Test matches, and Test matches strictly.Who said he is over the injury? The comparison with Clarke was that it is a similar back condition that has to be managed over a period of time. You dont just wake up and get better one day. You do progressive damage and he must have done a lot of it when he was keeping full time AND batting 5 and playing big innings. And he kept as late as early last year in test cricket.
Look, I am not saying this is ideal but the guy has done enough to be given the benefit of the doubt over this decision. Maybe the CSA have quotas on their minds in order to bid for the next World T20 and maybe the cut off will be just before the home season and hence AB is taking himself out of the equation so that the combination going well at the moment is not disturbed. If that is the case, and we all can only speculate either way, then to me, that is greater than anything Border did, as great as he was. I just think we should show bit more respect to a guy who has always done everything asked of him for his teams.
Clarke barely missed any Tests because of his back though, and almost all of those were right at the end of his career. It's not quite a fair comparison. Say what you want for Clarke, but he did absolutely everything humanly possible to make sure he was available for Test matches, and Test matches strictly.
AB played 98 consecutive Test matches along with being a regular in the ODIs and T20 sides, so it's hardly like AB's back was keeping out of the game. And this injury now is to do with his elbow.I was comparing only the condition though...
should have their test records erased from history imoIn assessing all time test greats, should I hold it against those players that shorten their test career to prolong their limited careers?