BoyBrumby said:
looking at the form shown by Amla & Van Jaarsveld in the 2nd test objectively one has to conclude that VJ is more deserving of retention. Imagine the uproar if their form were reversed & Amla dropped?
I think cases of (what to call it?) "positive discrimination" (an oxymoron if ever there was) such as this only give more ammunition to the still extant darker forces in SA society.
I don't see it as
obvious that van Jaarsveld, whose nine Tests have so far yielded pretty modest results, should be retained ahead of a bloke who made a muck of his debut appearance, as have so many players in the past. Dropping guys after they made a ricket of their first Test was one of the successless policies followed by England during the Nineties, and it would be rather sad to see SA going down the road of proven failure like that.
To me, the first sign that England were serious about becoming a good side came on the last tour of SA, when Chris Adams played all five Tests. I now learn from Hussain's autobiog that Fletcher had doubts about Adams after the first net session of the tour, which makes it all the more pleasing that they stuck with him for five games.
Not because I'm a great fan of picking rubbish players like Adams, but because of the huge signal it sent to every aspiring English cricketer. "You won't be dropped just because you made a mistake or two first time out. When we pick you, you'll get a reasonable run of a few games in which to show what you can do." The subsequent ignoral of Adams sent the further message that if you do get a decent chance and you screw it up, you can just about forget about ever being called up again.
I don't see that van Jaarsveld has done enough with his opportunities to make a convincing case that he's an authentic Test player. It would be poor policy to stick with his mediocrity if Amla has the potential to be better.
I quite agree with all those who thought Amla looked hopelessly out of his depth at Durban, but Gooch looked completely useless on debut too.
Which of them to pick for Cape Town seems to me to be a 50-50 call. On good cricketing grounds.
And the forward-looking pick is Amla.
Cheers,
Mike