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*Official* Sri Lanka in South Africa 2011/12

kingkallis

International Coach
Morne is not a form or rhythm bowler. He is the kind of block who loves his game and have either a GREAT day or a pathetic one. When he is good, he looks better than Steyn and when he loses his radar, he is way below average.
 

MrPrez

International Debutant
Take away your first sentence and I'd agree. He is definitely a rhythm bowler, if Morne starts a spell badly, it stays bad. He will always come up with a genius ball out of nowhere, even when he has no rhythm, which makes him so dangerous.
 

SeamUp

International Coach
Morne's major problem is that he doesn't find his threatening length on each surface quick enough. That length must preferably be as full as possible and that doesn't necessarily mean full length for the batsman to come forward.

What we have also got to remember is that he does do a lot of the hard work of pushing the batsmen back for bowlers like Steyn and Philander to reap the benfits so its a catch 22 situation.

Without doubt he will play at Kingsmead but this is the sort of pitch where he hasn't bowled as full as he should have as he gets carried away with the extra bounce.

Lopsy has no chance!
 
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MrPrez

International Debutant
If someone is to replace him, I'd like to see de Lange. I'd prefer Morne to stay in though!

Morne needs to put it on what the "standard" good length - he'll still get enough bounce to trouble the batsmen without being overly short.
 

Himannv

Hall of Fame Member
No way should Morkel be dropped. Sure, he had a bad game in the last test but that doesn't take away from his quality as a bowler. There are days that he seems more of a threat than even Steyn. If he gets it right, SA's pace attack will be stronger than its been in a very long time.
 

MrPrez

International Debutant
100% agree Himannv. On his day, Morne>Steyn. We need to find a way to make him more consistent - imo its a matter of time.
 

Garson007

State Vice-Captain
You give Morne too much credit. I've been saying fo a while that he has nothing between his ears and it shows. So he has a good game every 5 games - not good enough. On average he has turned out pretty much average. An average of 30 over a length of time is not good enough for a strike bowler. It's time to give other bowlers a chance.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
You give Morne too much credit. I've been saying fo a while that he has nothing between his ears and it shows. So he has a good game every 5 games - not good enough. On average he has turned out pretty much average. An average of 30 over a length of time is not good enough for a strike bowler. It's time to give other bowlers a chance.
Get Friend in thur
 

Cabinet96

Hall of Fame Member
Talk about dropping Morne is ridiculous. Morne had a great 2010 and has the potential to be amazing. It's incredible how before the Australia series Steyn and Morkel get bigged up so much yet all it takes is for one new guy to do well in 3 tests, while the other doesn't do that well and talks about being dropped emerge. Just give him time to get his rhythm back. If it was up to me I wouldn't even consider dropping him until after the New Zealand series, and he would have to bowl a hole bunch of crap to be dropped then. Tsotsobe's Test average of 49.77, involving some pretty helpful tracks last year, doesn't exactly scream out for selection.
 

hang on

State Vice-Captain
tsotsobe's figures belie how 'well' he actually bowled against the indians. he was rather unlucky, from what i remember.
 

Garson007

State Vice-Captain
It's not about dropping him without a chance of coming back in. It's just a bit of side rotation against weak opposition, to try and eliminate your weak links (I've been convinced for a while that Morkel is such a weak link). De Lange, from what I know, is pretty much a like-for-like replacement. There is potential for direct competition between the two.

The selectors making it known that there is competition would be a good thing. If Morkel's fragile mind can't take a bit of competition, then kick him out. We don't need a mental midget like Harmison in our side. Sport isn't a place for the mentally fragile, no matter how talented they seem. Morkel's quirks haven't got any better over the years.

Edit: Tsotsobe is a decent ODI bowler because he can be deceiving in pace. Unfortunately changes in pace don't matter as much in test cricket as being able to swing or seam the ball. He has a future career with the Proteas, but not in the test team.
 
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MrPrez

International Debutant
It's not about dropping him without a chance of coming back in. It's just a bit of side rotation against weak opposition, to try and eliminate your weak links (I've been convinced for a while that Morkel is such a weak link). De Lange, from what I know, is pretty much a like-for-like replacement. There is potential for direct competition between the two.

The selectors making it known that there is competition would be a good thing. If Morkel's fragile mind can't take a bit of competition, then kick him out. We don't need a mental midget like Harmison in our side. Sport isn't a place for the mentally fragile, no matter how talented they seem. Morkel's quirks haven't got any better over the years.

Edit: Tsotsobe is a decent ODI bowler because he can be deceiving in pace. Unfortunately changes in pace don't matter as much in test cricket as being able to swing or seam the ball. He has a future career with the Proteas, but not in the test team.
Calling Morne a weak link is harsh. He is hot and cold, but can always pipe up with a jaffa. On his day he is at least equal to Steyn, but he does struggle when it is not his day.
He is inconsistent and unreliable, but not a weak link imo.
 

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