*Official* Australia vs South Africa -2022/3

[Sunil1z]

There just aren't many openers consistently hitting 40+ who aren't flat track bullies at home. Elgar bats in pretty challenging conditions at home and still averages mid 40s there. His away record is reasonable (are there any openers going above 30 away?) too. He's a decent enough opener in an era of few good ones.

Last 5 years . Plenty are doing better than Elgar

 

[andruid]

Veryenne and the returning Petersen plus 5 others moving forward surely?

 

[StephenZA]

Yeah but the answer to this is obviously to relieve him of captaincy, not to drop him outright.

What does giving Elgar another 18 months before he retires give SA in the short term that is greater than picking young talented players and giving them a chance to prove themselves and gain experience.

The young players may not work out, but we won’t learn anything until we actually select them and see how they fair. Right now we are trying to hold onto something that does not exist.

 

[TheJediBrah]

To be fair, I think he genuinely does deserve extra points for being quite good in home conditions where many players struggle.

Which is wiped out by being garbage in all other conditions

 

[Shady Slim]

What does giving Elgar another 18 months before he retires give SA in the short term that is greater than picking young talented players and giving them a chance to prove themselves and gain experience.

The young players may not work out, but we won’t learn anything until we actually select them and see how they fair. Right now we are trying to hold onto something that does not exist.

is there any argument for, say that you're to nix erwee, zondo, vdd, theinus, and ngidi, for rickelton, de zorzi, janneman, and mulder, to keep around elgar for the transition period along with bavuma as old heads?

 

[StephenZA]

is there any argument for, say that you're to nix erwee, zondo, vdd, theinus, and ngidi, for rickelton, de zorzi, janneman, and mulder, to keep around elgar for the transition period along with bavuma as old heads?

Sure there is an argument for that, except those old heads have not provided much with the bat but more importantly neither have they shown proper leadership. So what’s the gain? If we where talking Faf, Smith, ABDV, Hash, Steyn or Philander then I could get behind it. That’s why this transition should have started 5 years ago. Now the time has passed because people were playing politics, both big and personal, caring only for immediate gratification and not showing any forethought and planning.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Yeah but you don’t use your teeth and scrotum much in rugby really do ya

No you don't.

They get more of a work out in the showers after the game.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Has a broken hand. One of the gutsiest knocks ever

Absolutely! No longer will we say "the ANZACs gave their lives in Gallipoli so you could enjoy the freedoms you have today". Instead, we'll talk about the day Cameron Green batted with a broken finger so regular Australians could enjoy the freedoms they took for granted before the 28th of December 2022.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Wayne 'Buck' Shelford lost 3 teeth and had his scrotum ripped open in an All Black rugby test vs France and kept playing.

Were the two injuries related?

 

[kevinw]

Last 5 years . Plenty are doing better than Elgar

34 is probably better than any other SA batter when their entire lineup is crap. Root was batting like Bradman and couldn't win England matches by himself. Sharma's figures are really flattered by Indian tracks. I'm sure his home average as an opener is around 70 and his away average is late 20s. I think Elgar is the one batter that SA supporters shouldn't be concerned by. Why can none of the other five frontline batters they pick score a run?

 

[Coronis]

34 is probably better than any other SA batter when their entire lineup is crap. Root was batting like Bradman and couldn't win England matches by himself. Sharma's figures are really flattered by Indian tracks. I'm sure his home average as an opener is around 70 and his away average is late 20s. I think Elgar is the one batter that SA supporters shouldn't be concerned by. Why can none of the other five frontline batters they pick score a run?

Considering he has been literally the worst batsman on the team aside from van der Dussen, I’d be concerned about him.

 

[Heboric]

Unfair just to blame Elgar for the crappy batting, barring Verryne it has been a team effort of crappiness

 

[StephenZA]

Unfair just to blame Elgar for the crappy batting, barring Verryne it has been a team effort of crappiness

Not blaming Elgar specifically. I just don’t see the point in retaining him at this stage. He is as much part of the batting problem as the rest, but simultaneously as captain also part of the head in the sand selection and administrative problem.

 

[kevinw]

Some of the other guys talked up include Eddie Moore, Marques Ackerman, Tony De Zorzi and Raynard van Tonder. Good FC records but then every guy picked before has an above 40 FC record.

 

[StephenZA]

Some of the other guys talked up include Eddie Moore, Marques Ackerman, Tony De Zorzi and Raynard van Tonder. Good FC records but then every guy picked before has an above 40 FC record.

Yes, but we have seen most of these players bat; along with considering their age and potential. Not just looking at FC stats. No guarantees but more likely chance of long turn success.

 

[Pup Clarke]

SHUT UP ALL OF YOU, EPISODE TWO IS ON

Saw this documentary about Border advertised. Was it on Fox Sports? Does anyone think this will be broadcasted in the UK?

 

[andruid]

is there any argument for, say that you're to nix erwee, zondo, vdd, theinus, and ngidi, for rickelton, de zorzi, janneman, and mulder, to keep around elgar for the transition period along with bavuma as old heads?

Ngidi is 26. Hardly over the hill...

 

[Pup Clarke]

I was watching a clip on YouTube of todays play (obviously with sound way down to save my ears). but I swear I was hearing the docile tones of Ian Smith. What he doing there ?

Just a bloke commentating on the test match. Nothing more nothing less

Regarding NZ commentators, is anyone aware what platform Jeremy Coney is on? What an erudite, insightful man he is. A true raconteur and such a joy to listen too in the comms box/radio

Hope he's ventured into the podcasting world tbh

 

[Rasimione]

Prince defending Elgar is worrying if you ask me. The guy is 35, no longer good enough to justify his place in the side and quite utterly out of his depth as Captain. The man insists we bat Jansen at 7 when anyone with common sense knows that's madness. There really is no excuse for him to continue. He is a major part of the issues we have in the test team. CSA also shot themselves in the foot by employing Mark Boucher. The madness of going into international games a batter lite started with him and has continued since.

The least said about Victor Mpitsang and the other selectors the better. It's been a **** show for years now. Utterly moronic selections that can't be justified. I'd understand if we were selecting the best batsmen and still getting pummeled, but we not. Victor Mpitsang told us that he'd not bothered with Bedingham even after the guy scored a **** load of runs here and in England for the last few seasons. I simply can't understand why we do not pick our best players in the batting positions.

David Bedingham
Marques Ackerman
Eddie Moore
Ryan Rickelton
Janneman Malan
Joshua Richards
Tony De Zorzi
Jordan Hermann

These are the players we should be seeing in that Proteas team not the dross we being subjected to.

Rassie van Der Dussen
Dean Elgar
Khaya Zondo
Sarel Erwee
Temba Bavuma
Theunis De Bruyn

All those guys aren't the best batsmen in South Africa but they keep getting selected. It's not conservative selection, it's incompetence. Ryan Rickelton has scored a ton of runs in domestic cricket but has been kept out of the side for flimsy reasons. How do I as a supporter of the team expected to respect this type of incompetence?

 

[Burgey]

Saw this documentary about Border advertised. Was it on Fox Sports? Does anyone think this will be broadcasted in the UK?

Not sure mate

There was one anecdote from it I hadn’t heard before about the first game of the 87 WC. Jones hit a six late on which was signalled four by the umpires - the fielder had tried to catch it and didn’t know if it had cleared the rope. Aus made 268. At the innings break Aus approached the match referee who agreed it was a six and told the scorers to revise the total up to 270, which they did.

India apparently made 269 in the chase.