Lets not beat around the bush...since coming back from injury, JP's batting has been crap. He's pushing and prodding at balls that should be left and every time we've sent him in to bat at 3/4 in ODI's....he has failed miserably! But you can't deny that JP brings some history to the Aus/SA clash given his debut in Aus in 2008/2009. The scars of that 166 innings will not have left the aus cricketing public and having him come in at 7 would be daunting.
Elgar's batting stocks have recently increased especially with his double hundred against
Aus-A (even though it was a road). He has also score runs this summer in the Sunfoil series (scored a hundred). His part time leg breaks are more than handy especially with JK having retired.
In terms of balancing the team, JP and Elgar as a package bring alot to the table. They will also be the 2 batsmen under the most pressure to perform. There are 2 guys namely Quentin de **** and Stiaan van Zyl knocking very loudly for a batting spot in the Saffa team.
Alot of people saying that we should play Robbie P but Centurion doesn't spin...in fact, its a spinners graveyard. The last time I saw someone spin it at Centurion was Shane Warne and that man can spin a ball on anything. I personally think the series is gonna be won at Centurion. St Georges will most probably fizzle out to a draw (unless someone bowls really well) and
you don't want to chase the series at Newlands because SA has a bad record against Aus at Newlands.
That's why I've been saying lets all have a good ole fast bowling fire fight at Centurion! I would back our bowlers against the Aus batters and I would back our batters to score more runs (marginally) than the Aussie batters. In fact, I would say that all of us (Saffa and Aussie) want to see timber flying with Steyn and his crazy eyes bulling the Aus batters and MJ and his mo bowling rockets and skittling out Saffa batters like 10 pin bowling!