Terrible is a label I'd hold back for real quality like RSA, but India don't have too much to speak of anymore either.
SA have gone a bit far for some of the recent pitches... the Wanderers pitch against India was terrible. But this Newlands pitch is not one of those.
You make it sound like they have been doing it on purpose by saying gone too far. Groundskeepers have just been doing a bad job recently. Both with inconsistent bounce, and with too much juice in the pitches against instructions (for the Indian series and one or two from AUS).
Yes, indeed it was.
LMAO tf? And that too after SA piling on almost 400.
They were trying to create the fast bouncy pitches on purpose, particularly for India.... but they got it wrong and it went to far. The final Wanderers pitch was not good. And there had been clear pressure from SA management as what they expected. The pitches in prior years had got a bit slower in the highveld for a multitude of reasons. So what we have here is a 2 part problem, the public management pressure put on groundsman to make sure that the pitch had some juice combined with inexperienced curators. Unnecessary public pressure on the curators was not the solution, support from CSA to ensure those inexperienced curators got it right and kept the feel of what was already there is what was needed.
We were actually discussing this in the South African selection thread, and it was suggested that it might actually be Mulder who comes in for De Bruyn as he brings his bowling with him, which helps team balance. That's tough on Hamza, but he may necessarily not have to wait too long to make his debut if Amla does retire after the World Cup as we all think he probably will.
With Mulder just coming back off injury, surely he would a need a fair few overs under his belt before being rushed in?
Given that South Africa are going to post over 400 (barring a monumental collapse), there's no way you can say it's a poor pitch. The worst thing you can say about it is that maybe it favoured the bowlers on Day 1 and the toss became a bit too important, but if Pakistan get bundled out for a low score in their second innings as well then that argument goes out the window.
We looking long term... getting Mulder into the team at 6 giving him a chance to settle during the SL series is the hope. Which I have been advocating.
It did stuff morning of day 2 as well; it took hard test batting, a bit of luck and wearing a few to get into the position we got.
I like Mulder, kid has a bright future ahead of him with bat and ball, but if he's only half fit/not bowling much then he probably shouldn't be picked at this stage
He is playing in the 4 day competition... so assume he is back to at least reasonable fitness. Not calling for his inclusion for next test as such, maybe in the SL series.
Fair, but you need a proper, solid middle order bat though, short term. If Mulder can handle spin well and can be a solid middle order bat, then bowling is pretty much a bonus. You need some real proper bats touring India especially.
Yeah, the first test against Sri Lanka is over a month away, so that's enough time for Mulder to prove his fitness.
