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South Africa [284 & 272] defeat England [181 & 268] by 107 runs to win the 1st Test

spoke too soon

i think english bowlers gave 70 runs too many yesterday morning, otherwise eng would have chased 300-310 runs
 
Root is England’s last hope. I like Bairstow and Buttler but I would not have too much confidence in them right now.

Positive for South Africa is that some of the newer players are the ones contributing to the win. They need Elgar and Faf to step up in the remaining games.
 
Think England are slight favorites with Root and Bairstow there and Curran and Archer still to come.
 
Hasan123 said:
Root is England’s last hope. I like Bairstow and Buttler but I would not have too much confidence in them right now.

Positive for South Africa is that some of the newer players are the ones contributing to the win. They need Elgar and Faf to step up in the remaining games.
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bairstow and butler have to atleast make 50 runs combined

i think sam curran and root can make the remaining 100 runs
 
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Never rated bairstow nor buttler as test bats, to many difincies, these 2 are one the major problems why Englandare not consistent withbthe bat
 
Philander and Rabada would look to wrap this up as new ball has been taken. Very hard to get away with this duo for Root and company right now. Still 150 more to go.
 
That is poor from Root. A nothing shot and gives it away.
 
RSA 284, 272
ENG 181, 268-all out (93.0) CRR: 2.88
South Africa won by 107 runs


Capture.JPG
 
Played SA. Deserving winner. England picked the wrong side, lost toss advantage and batted with little discipline overall.
 
Aman said:
Think England are slight favorites with Root and Bairstow there and Curran and Archer still to come.
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At the beginning of the innings I gave England one chance in a hundred. Their batting stops at #5. Why people think this tail can bat is beyond me.
 
Deserved win for South Africa.

I know it's the old cliche that "Cricket needs a strong Team X" but it would be catastrophic for world cricket if South Africa fall by the wayside.

Batting still needs work, hopefully Kallis can introduce some grit into this lineup.
 
Root will rightly get laid into for his captaincy.

England chose to bowl first but bowled with no discipline, and it was made worse by some bizarre tactics.
 
positives for eng

Jofra is back in rhythm
Openers are solid.

Eng bowlers in their 2nd innings bowled badly.

I still think eng will win the series
 
how is a player like leus de plooy not given a csa contract?? he signed for county cricket. That is insanity. I cannot believe this nonsense. He should be picked for odi and possibly even for tests. I hope this kolpak Bulls*it ends.
 
Robert said:
Played SA. Deserving winner. England picked the wrong side, lost toss advantage and batted with little discipline overall.
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What are the changes you would have made?
Apart from Pope I can't see anyone else in this English squad.

England is really struggling with test level batsman.
 
Well played SA.

Good start by Burns and Denly but England couldn't capitalize.
 
A thoroughly deserved win for SA after a very tough period for them. Congratulations to their staffers, players and fans.

The margin of victory (107 runs) is still good - but to be honest it’s actually less than I was expecting. Apparently 268 is the most runs ever scored in the 4th innings at Centurion. So for all of their shortcomings in this Test match, 268 wasn’t too bad from England really. For once, their bowling lost them this match as much as their batting did.

Bairstow is useless, but there is talent in the squad and most of our problems are not down to personnel. It is more an issue of leadership. Root is still a top batsman and he played pretty well today in the conditions, but his days as captain are becoming very much numbered now.
 
THE Standard Bank Proteas re-established their winning culture and picked up their first 30 points in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) when they beat England by 107 runs with a day and a session to spare in the opening match of the four-match series at SuperSport Park, Centurion, on Sunday.

Having not picked up a single point in their opening WTC series in India it was important that they bounced back quickly, and they have the chance to pick up a possible 90 further points in the three remaining matches.

It was an important win for the Proteas as they held their nerve after England got into a strong position at the close of day three with nine wickets still in hand and the target batted down to little more than 250. They could not afford a repeat of the Kingsmead match earlier this year when they let Sri Lanka off the hook.

The match also provided conclusive evidence that the franchise system is much stronger than the credit it is being given as once again players brought into the team with little or no international experience – Anrich Nortje, Rassie van der Dussen and Dwaine Pretorius – more than played their part.

Nortje’s performance in only his third Test after two very difficult matches in India was significant. Not only did he take 5 wickets in the match but his innings of 40 and his partnership of 91 with Van der Dussen was critical to the margin of victory as was the first innings lead of 103.

The Proteas have dished out 11 new caps over the last 27 months starting with Aiden Markram and Andile Phehlukwayo against Bangladesh and, taking into account how difficult the debuts in India were this year, they have nearly all been success stories.

Today’s final chapter was built around a disciplined bowling performance that kept England under pressure all day and restricted them to only two partnerships of note – 47 between Rory Burns and Joe Denly and 46 between Joe Root and Ben Stokes – and not any of the big ones that England needed to get over the line.

Burns (84 off 154 balls, 11 fours) finished England’s top scorer with Root’s 48 (101 balls, 8 fours) the next best.

Once again, England suffered a major collapse in the middle and lower order with the last seven wickets falling for 64 runs after the seven for 39 in the first innings.

Kagiso Rabada had the best bowling return of 4/103 to give him seven in the match in what was a good all-round performance by the bowling unit.

Quinton de Kock was named Man of the Match for his 129 runs and 8 catches in the match.

The Sunfoil Education Trust (SET) benefited to the extent of R240 000 from the number of boundaries and sixes hit in the match by the two sides as well as wickets taken.
 
Mobashir said:
What are the changes you would have made?
Apart from Pope I can't see anyone else in this English squad.

England is really struggling with test level batsman.
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Pope for Bairstow
Foakes for Buttler
Wood for Anderson
Burns take the captaincy from Root.
 
Robert said:
Pope for Bairstow
Foakes for Buttler
Wood for Anderson
Burns take the captaincy from Root.
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Excellent list robert, I'd go for a fully fit olly stone over woods, stones I've seen a few times in live at the ground at county games, he has it all, genuine pace, movement, and a excellent fast bowling brain
 
James said:
A thoroughly deserved win for SA after a very tough period for them. Congratulations to their staffers, players and fans.

The margin of victory (107 runs) is still good - but to be honest it’s actually less than I was expecting. Apparently 268 is the most runs ever scored in the 4th innings at Centurion. So for all of their shortcomings in this Test match, 268 wasn’t too bad from England really. For once, their bowling lost them this match as much as their batting did.

Bairstow is useless, but there is talent in the squad and most of our problems are not down to personnel. It is more an issue of leadership. Root is still a top batsman and he played pretty well today in the conditions, but his days as captain are becoming very much numbered now.
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Yep, burns is a smart cricketer with a excellent cricketing brain, hes the one
 
South Africa have been decent but England have largely self-destructed in this Test. The soft dismissals in the first innings cost them the match.

South Africa didn’t bowl well enough to dismiss England for 181. Another 60-70 runs could have changed the complex of the game.
 
Captain Joe Root said England will not use the illness that affected much of their squad as an excuse for the first-Test defeat in South Africa.

Ten players were hit in the build-up to or during the match in Centurion, which England lost by 107 runs.

"There has been a huge amount thrown at the group, on and off the field," Root told BBC Sport.

"It would be wrong to hide behind that, but it has disrupted preparations for a lot of the guys."

As well as the illness, which also affected four members of the backroom staff, all-rounder Ben Stokes' father was admitted to hospital three days before the Test began.

Stokes missed training on 24 December to be with his father Ged, who has since left intensive care.

"We showed a huge amount of character throughout the whole week," said Root. "No-one has moaned about it."

Coach Chris Silverwood, who is now without a win in three Tests since taking charge, said the illness left England with an "unpredictable" build-up.

"I've never been involved in a build-up like this, to have a morning of a game where you're getting told that players are falling over," he said.

"Guys that were coming back from being poorly were training while others were on the park, to keep them separate.

"When Jos Buttler was poorly yesterday, he was in a different room. We've had hand sanitisers. You name it, it's all happening."

In all the years, I've never known a Test match like this, with people going down ill.

Jonathan Agnew
BBC cricket correspondent
On the field, England paid the price for failing to capitalise on two strong positions.

After winning the toss and choosing to field, the tourists had South Africa 111-5, only to let them reach 284.

In response, England collapsed from 142-3 to 181 all out.

It meant that a determined batting effort in their second innings, when they battled hard to 268, left them well short of the target of 376.

"I said at the time the toss was a 50-50 call," said Root. "You get a side 111-5, you think you've made the right call. It's about finishing the innings off and we didn't manage to do that.

"At 111-5 in the first innings, you're looking at bowling them out for 180. Unfortunately they got away from us there.

"Then we got into a reasonable position with the bat, lost a couple of wickets and were 100 runs short of where we should have been. Those two scenarios have cost us this Test match."

Silverwood confirmed that off-spinner Dom Bess and pace bowler Craig Overton, who were added to the squad as cover, will remain in South Africa for the second Test in Cape Town, which begins on Friday.

"Everything has been thrown at this group and we have worked hard to deal with that," said Root.

"Maybe that will stand us in good stead for the next game. Hopefully the illness is through camp and we can prepare well."

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/50938126
 
Anybody who gave England even the slightest of chances to chase this 4th innings score has probably only started watching england play over the last 2-3 years. Its a tall ask for any side to be fair but those of us familiar with English cricket knew that they would have zero chance.

The test team genuinley looks the poorest ive seen for many many years. Joe Denly has done ok but really 4-5 years ago if someone had told me he would be the england test match number 3 in 2019 I'd have laughed. Root is a poor captain, Bairstow is woefully out of form, Curran ( played well dont get me wrong) is not going to consistently bowl sides out and win you test matches, Jimmy is probably finished outside of England and im still not convinced Archer has the temperament for test match cricket.

Now there arent many players knocking on the door in country cricket but at the very least the captaincy should be changed.
 
Manunited18 said:
Excellent list robert, I'd go for a fully fit olly stone over woods, stones I've seen a few times in live at the ground at county games, he has it all, genuine pace, movement, and a excellent fast bowling brain
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Ok. I like Woody but he is made of glass so perhaps should be kept for ODIs. We need to build the next bowling generation and Broad can be the wise head so let us stick with him, Stone, Archer and Curran with Stokes chipping in.
 
Robert said:
Ok. I like Woody but he is made of glass so perhaps should be kept for ODIs. We need to build the next bowling generation and Broad can be the wise head so let us stick with him, Stone, Archer and Curran with Stokes chipping in.
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I think they need to phase Anderson out if they want to build a bowling attack that can take 20 wickets in Australia or India. That includes leaving him out in home tests and giving a chance for different bowlers (Archer, Stone) to develop as leaders of the attack. Anderson shouldn't be playing the easy tests and retiring before the difficult ones. It was something similar (phasing out Harmison and Hoggard) 12 years ago that made Anderson and Broad as leaders of the attack.
 
Robert said:
Ok. I like Woody but he is made of glass so perhaps should be kept for ODIs. We need to build the next bowling generation and Broad can be the wise head so let us stick with him, Stone, Archer and Curran with Stokes chipping in.
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Yes, I'd definitely use woakes at home with dukes, I'd actually seriously consider him in south africa has lethal when there's movement around
 
Anyone who thinks South African Cricket will go the way of Zimbabwe or West Indies knows nothing. There are schools producing cricketers by the dozen. So long as these schools exist, we won't go under, ever! We have problems sure and a lot of them are self imposed problems that shouldn't happen.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise how bad our openers have been in the recent while. Instead the selectors have stuck with Makram and Elgar. Madness. Amla prolonged his retirement far too late and should have quit when he was still ahead. We backed De Bruyn to deliver but he's been an utter failure. Faf has decided to hide at 5 and give the number 4 slot to De Bruyn/Bavuma. Both of them are not good enough to score runs at test level. Stats don't lie. Bavuma and De Bruyn should have been dropped long ago.

What's the solution?

Janneman Malan Or Eddie Moore should have been brought in the side as test openers. I'm in favour of Janneman, the kid scores runs. Once again, stats don't lie! I'd persist with Elgar for now... But he really needs a kick up the backsite! As you've all seen, Hamza looks the goods and has a pretty great domestic record filled with big scores and averages above 45. He's the long term number 3 and deserves to be there. Markram should move down to 4. His style of play demands it. At 5 I'd have De Kock. We need his runs. The man is wasted at 6/7. Faf can play at 6. He's very good with the lower order. If he does retire then the next man in should be Rassie Van Der Dussen. In actual fact Bavuma and De Bruyn should have long been dropped for Rassie.

Wian Mulder and Kyle Verryne need to come in the side. Mulder is a genuine batting all-rounder. He averages 43 at domestic level with his first 100 scored as an 18 years old. He's been playing franchise cricket for the last 3 seasons. Most have seen him in ODI cricket but That's not the type of game his suited for. The kid is a test player. Good enough to bat at 5/6/7.

Verryne is a wicket keeper batsmen. Who bat's top 6 for his province. Massive talent. If De Kock does give up the gloves, Kyle would be my go to man.

The rest of the team would be Maharaj, Rabada, Nortje and Ngidi..

Janneman Malan/Eddie Moore
Elgar
Hamza
Markram
De Kock
Faf
Verryne/Mulder
Maharaj
Rabada
Nortje
Ngidi.

Rassie Van Der Dussen
Rudi Second
Keagan Petersen
Pieter Malan
Beuran Hendricks
Dane Paterson
George Linde.

That's a long term test team there. With clear replacements in the pipeline.

Batsmen

Van Tonder
David Bedingham
Marques Ackerman

Keeper batsmen.

Wandile Makwetu
Sinethemba Qeshile

Bowlers

Gerald Coetzee - Right Arm Fast
Ethan Bosch - Right Arm Fast Medium
Lutho Sipamla - Right Arm Medium Fast
Marco Jansen - Left Arm Fast Medium
Nadre Burger - Left Arm Fast Medium

Like I said, we are far from approaching Zimbabwe /West Indies levels of decline.
 
Good win , congrats SA. When root and Stokes were batting together , I was thinking of a close finish but wasn’t to be. Joe Root does not look like a match winner anymore and batting line up could use another grafter in middle order. Curran can also bat up the order to get his confidence back.

SA has long way to go to reach the standards we were used to , but this is a positive start. Not out of the wood yet as England can come back strong. I look forward to the rest of the series. Should be a close one.
 
Dark Magician said:
Anyone who thinks South African Cricket will go the way of Zimbabwe or West Indies knows nothing. There are schools producing cricketers by the dozen. So long as these schools exist, we won't go under, ever! We have problems sure and a lot of them are self imposed problems that shouldn't happen.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise how bad our openers have been in the recent while. Instead the selectors have stuck with Makram and Elgar. Madness. Amla prolonged his retirement far too late and should have quit when he was still ahead. We backed De Bruyn to deliver but he's been an utter failure. Faf has decided to hide at 5 and give the number 4 slot to De Bruyn/Bavuma. Both of them are not good enough to score runs at test level. Stats don't lie. Bavuma and De Bruyn should have been dropped long ago.

What's the solution?

Janneman Malan Or Eddie Moore should have been brought in the side as test openers. I'm in favour of Janneman, the kid scores runs. Once again, stats don't lie! I'd persist with Elgar for now... But he really needs a kick up the backsite! As you've all seen, Hamza looks the goods and has a pretty great domestic record filled with big scores and averages above 45. He's the long term number 3 and deserves to be there. Markram should move down to 4. His style of play demands it. At 5 I'd have De Kock. We need his runs. The man is wasted at 6/7. Faf can play at 6. He's very good with the lower order. If he does retire then the next man in should be Rassie Van Der Dussen. In actual fact Bavuma and De Bruyn should have long been dropped for Rassie.

Wian Mulder and Kyle Verryne need to come in the side. Mulder is a genuine batting all-rounder. He averages 43 at domestic level with his first 100 scored as an 18 years old. He's been playing franchise cricket for the last 3 seasons. Most have seen him in ODI cricket but That's not the type of game his suited for. The kid is a test player. Good enough to bat at 5/6/7.

Verryne is a wicket keeper batsmen. Who bat's top 6 for his province. Massive talent. If De Kock does give up the gloves, Kyle would be my go to man.

The rest of the team would be Maharaj, Rabada, Nortje and Ngidi..

Janneman Malan/Eddie Moore
Elgar
Hamza
Markram
De Kock
Faf
Verryne/Mulder
Maharaj
Rabada
Nortje
Ngidi.

Rassie Van Der Dussen
Rudi Second
Keagan Petersen
Pieter Malan
Beuran Hendricks
Dane Paterson
George Linde.

That's a long term test team there. With clear replacements in the pipeline.

Batsmen

Van Tonder
David Bedingham
Marques Ackerman

Keeper batsmen.

Wandile Makwetu
Sinethemba Qeshile

Bowlers

Gerald Coetzee - Right Arm Fast
Ethan Bosch - Right Arm Fast Medium
Lutho Sipamla - Right Arm Medium Fast
Marco Jansen - Left Arm Fast Medium
Nadre Burger - Left Arm Fast Medium

Like I said, we are far from approaching Zimbabwe /West Indies levels of decline.
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excellent choices buddy. I love this team. Replace du plexus with van der dussen who is tough and gritty.

Also ngidi is a bit injury prone. That's my only concern.
 
Two very poor teams.

South Africa remain in steep decline. They just came up against an illness-ravaged England team which is itself exceedingly mediocre and got bowled out at Lords for 85 and 303 by Ireland in a recent Test.

For many years from 2015 to 2018 I wrote that the Top Six Test teams were on an even level.

Not any more.

High Level: India and Australia

Medium Level: New Zealand (falling) and Pakistan

Low Level: England (falling), South Africa (falling)

Very Low Level: Sri Lanka, West Indies

Too Low to Register: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe.
 
South Africa have a good bowling base at home.

However, since they lack batsman, maybe they should pick a keeper such as Veryyne and then pick QDK as a specialist batsman.
 
England has decent reserves. Foakes, Pope. Woakes will be available. I am sure there is another KP somewhere out there.
 
Junaids said:
Two very poor teams.

South Africa remain in steep decline. They just came up against an illness-ravaged England team which is itself exceedingly mediocre and got bowled out at Lords for 85 and 303 by Ireland in a recent Test.

For many years from 2015 to 2018 I wrote that the Top Six Test teams were on an even level.

Not any more.

High Level: India and Australia

Medium Level: New Zealand (falling) and Pakistan

Low Level: England (falling), South Africa (falling)

Very Low Level: Sri Lanka, West Indies

Too Low to Register: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe.
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I’d put NZ and Pak in Low level as well.
 
Junaids said:
Two very poor teams.

South Africa remain in steep decline. They just came up against an illness-ravaged England team which is itself exceedingly mediocre and got bowled out at Lords for 85 and 303 by Ireland in a recent Test.

For many years from 2015 to 2018 I wrote that the Top Six Test teams were on an even level.

Not any more.

High Level: India and Australia

Medium Level: New Zealand (falling) and Pakistan

Low Level: England (falling), South Africa (falling)

Very Low Level: Sri Lanka, West Indies

Too Low to Register: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe.
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lol you flatter and overrate Pakistan massively. They belong with sri lanka and west indies in that group.
 
Usman Chadda said:
Careful, New Zealand might smash you at home :srt
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not "might" but "definitely", and along with it- the drama of current India being as dominating as aussies of 2000's or windies of 1980's. Mark my words- India has no chance of winning the test series in New Zealand and neither the series in Australia at 2020 end (with Warner and Smith back and the rejuvenated labu- this is the real australia not the third class team india faced last time where jadeja's score of 84 was more than that of any aussie batsman in the whole series)
 
Shoaib88 said:
umm where were you for the last month lol, just to remind you- pak scored 555/3 in second innings and sri lanka were all out for 212
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In that case shouldn't pakistan be below South Africa losing 3 out of 3 while Srilanka above South Africa beating them 4 out of 4.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
In that case shouldn't pakistan be below South Africa losing 3 out of 3 while Srilanka above South Africa beating them 4 out of 4.
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Sri Lanka would be ahead of pakistan if they could defeat pakistan instead of being manhandled. Just like I consider Sri lanka to be much better t20 side than pakistan, I consider Pakistan to be much better test side than Sri Lanka.
 
Shoaib88 said:
not "might" but "definitely", and along with it- the drama of current India being as dominating as aussies of 2000's or windies of 1980's. Mark my words- India has no chance of winning the test series in New Zealand and neither the series in Australia at 2020 end (with Warner and Smith back and the rejuvenated labu- this is the real australia not the third class team india faced last time where jadeja's score of 84 was more than that of any aussie batsman in the whole series)
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Hope you won't pull off a Houdini once the India -NZ tour is over. :) Atleast India can beat them in Asia unlike all our neighbours . :srini
 
Shoaib88 said:
Sri Lanka would be ahead of pakistan if they could defeat pakistan instead of being manhandled. Just like I consider Sri lanka to be much better t20 side than pakistan, I consider Pakistan to be much better test side than Sri Lanka.
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But you cannot say you are much better than SA. There is no evidence or proof.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
But you cannot say you are much better than SA. There is no evidence or proof.
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Last time he was in this forum he was a BD supporter, I don't understand if you have to pick and choose your team why not picking the successful ones? What is the point from jumping one crap team to the other?
 
Hyperion66 said:
Last time he was in this forum he was a BD supporter, I don't understand if you have to pick and choose your team why not picking the successful ones, what is the point from jumping one crap team to the other?
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I am half Pakistani and half Bangladeshi :D
 
The Viper said:
South Africa have a good bowling base at home.

However, since they lack batsman, maybe they should pick a keeper such as Veryyne and then pick QDK as a specialist batsman.
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I've been saying. De Kock is a very good keeper but at this point in time we need his runs. He should be in the middle order destroying teams. I reckon he's one of a few players in our line up capable of averaging close to 50. That's how good he is, and it's not like we have poor keepers to replace him. Verryne and Second are the best after him but we've kept going back to Klassen who's not good enough at this level.
 
Shoaib88 said:
not "might" but "definitely", and along with it- the drama of current India being as dominating as aussies of 2000's or windies of 1980's. Mark my words- India has no chance of winning the test series in New Zealand and neither the series in Australia at 2020 end (with Warner and Smith back and the rejuvenated labu- this is the real australia not the third class team india faced last time where jadeja's score of 84 was more than that of any aussie batsman in the whole series)
Click to expand...

if bumrah is back to his best post injury, india will annihilate n.z in n.z. especially with Shaw and Mayank coming in for fodders like dhawan and vijay/Rahul.

India can also beat australia in australia if bumrah is playing at his best. People don't realize how good this guy is.

AUSTRALIA BETTER hope they win the toss. Cause toss matters in australia. I can see india losing if they lose the toss in australia but the difference is that in india it won't matter whether india wins or loses the toss. You will still get crushed. So overall h2h is what counts.

Anyway let's see what the skippy's can do.
 
f.b.m said:
I think they need to phase Anderson out if they want to build a bowling attack that can take 20 wickets in Australia or India. That includes leaving him out in home tests and giving a chance for different bowlers (Archer, Stone) to develop as leaders of the attack. Anderson shouldn't be playing the easy tests and retiring before the difficult ones. It was something similar (phasing out Harmison and Hoggard) 12 years ago that made Anderson and Broad as leaders of the attack.
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Yeah, that was ruthless by Strauss, axing both opening bowlers midway through a series and bringing in Jimmy and Sidebottom.
 
Dark Magician said:
I've been saying. De Kock is a very good keeper but at this point in time we need his runs. He should be in the middle order destroying teams. I reckon he's one of a few players in our line up capable of averaging close to 50. That's how good he is, and it's not like we have poor keepers to replace him. Verryne and Second are the best after him but we've kept going back to Klassen who's not good enough at this level.
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Du plooy is also a brilliant batsman.

Bjorn fortuin is the second spinner whoncan partner Maharaj when touring Asia.

No idea why Bjorn didn't play in india series
 
sindhiboy said:
Du plooy is also a brilliant batsman.

Bjorn fortuin is the second spinner whoncan partner Maharaj when touring Asia.

No idea why Bjorn didn't play in india series
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They backed Muthusamy and Dane Piedt. Piedt was the highest wicket taker the previous season. Turns out he's not good enough at this level. Muthusamy should not have been there too. Terrible selection even though he did not disgrace himself but at this point in time he's not a test player. He's bits and pieces. George Linde is another one that's pushing. I reckon it's between him and Fortuin for the other spin position.
 
praveen said:
I have no doubt they will get us out cheaply but their batting is so bad I think it’ll be a close contest in the end and we should win it.
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williamson is in bad form.
ross taylor and latham are there only batsmen to be worried about
boult southee are getting old and not that effective

unless lockie feurguson becomes fit ,in tandem with wagner, blasts india away. There is not even the slightest chance of india losing.

pitches are also flat, india are experts at winning on flat pitches.
 
Dark Magician said:
Anyone who thinks South African Cricket will go the way of Zimbabwe or West Indies knows nothing. There are schools producing cricketers by the dozen. So long as these schools exist, we won't go under, ever! We have problems sure and a lot of them are self imposed problems that shouldn't happen.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise how bad our openers have been in the recent while. Instead the selectors have stuck with Makram and Elgar. Madness. Amla prolonged his retirement far too late and should have quit when he was still ahead. We backed De Bruyn to deliver but he's been an utter failure. Faf has decided to hide at 5 and give the number 4 slot to De Bruyn/Bavuma. Both of them are not good enough to score runs at test level. Stats don't lie. Bavuma and De Bruyn should have been dropped long ago.

What's the solution?

Janneman Malan Or Eddie Moore should have been brought in the side as test openers. I'm in favour of Janneman, the kid scores runs. Once again, stats don't lie! I'd persist with Elgar for now... But he really needs a kick up the backsite! As you've all seen, Hamza looks the goods and has a pretty great domestic record filled with big scores and averages above 45. He's the long term number 3 and deserves to be there. Markram should move down to 4. His style of play demands it. At 5 I'd have De Kock. We need his runs. The man is wasted at 6/7. Faf can play at 6. He's very good with the lower order. If he does retire then the next man in should be Rassie Van Der Dussen. In actual fact Bavuma and De Bruyn should have long been dropped for Rassie.

Wian Mulder and Kyle Verryne need to come in the side. Mulder is a genuine batting all-rounder. He averages 43 at domestic level with his first 100 scored as an 18 years old. He's been playing franchise cricket for the last 3 seasons. Most have seen him in ODI cricket but That's not the type of game his suited for. The kid is a test player. Good enough to bat at 5/6/7.

Verryne is a wicket keeper batsmen. Who bat's top 6 for his province. Massive talent. If De Kock does give up the gloves, Kyle would be my go to man.

The rest of the team would be Maharaj, Rabada, Nortje and Ngidi..

Janneman Malan/Eddie Moore
Elgar
Hamza
Markram
De Kock
Faf
Verryne/Mulder
Maharaj
Rabada
Nortje
Ngidi.

Rassie Van Der Dussen
Rudi Second
Keagan Petersen
Pieter Malan
Beuran Hendricks
Dane Paterson
George Linde.

That's a long term test team there. With clear replacements in the pipeline.

Batsmen

Van Tonder
David Bedingham
Marques Ackerman

Keeper batsmen.

Wandile Makwetu
Sinethemba Qeshile

Bowlers

Gerald Coetzee - Right Arm Fast
Ethan Bosch - Right Arm Fast Medium
Lutho Sipamla - Right Arm Medium Fast
Marco Jansen - Left Arm Fast Medium
Nadre Burger - Left Arm Fast Medium

Like I said, we are far from approaching Zimbabwe /West Indies levels of decline.
Click to expand...


South Africa will be fine.

Don’t listen to PP. Losing 1 series makes you a minnow according to some but years of rubbish performances in all formats somehow means you should be in that super series the BCCI are proposing.

I think over the next 18 months some of these players will be introduced . Faf needs to step down from tests, he is 35 now. Need to move on.
 
Hasan123 said:
South Africa will be fine.

Don’t listen to PP. Losing 1 series makes you a minnow according to some but years of rubbish performances in all formats somehow means you should be in that super series the BCCI are proposing.

I think over the next 18 months some of these players will be introduced . Faf needs to step down from tests, he is 35 now. Need to move on.
Click to expand...

There's a reason why the English have been poaching our players, there's a serious pipeline of players in South Africa. It's unfortunate that a lot of our great players retired at the same time. But there's talent as witnessed by how Hamza and Rassie have come in and looked comfortable.
 
Still I doubt them,they will be better away from home except Australia, Newzealand.
 
Dark Magician said:
There's a reason why the English have been poaching our players, there's a serious pipeline of players in South Africa. It's unfortunate that a lot of our great players retired at the same time. But there's talent as witnessed by how Hamza and Rassie have come in and looked comfortable.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. They always produce great talents.
 
Dark Magician said:
There's a reason why the English have been poaching our players, there's a serious pipeline of players in South Africa. It's unfortunate that a lot of our great players retired at the same time. But there's talent as witnessed by how Hamza and Rassie have come in and looked comfortable.
Click to expand...

phenomenal talents. too many of them. South Africa will always be a top side.
 
Dark Magician said:
There's a reason why the English have been poaching our players, there's a serious pipeline of players in South Africa. It's unfortunate that a lot of our great players retired at the same time. But there's talent as witnessed by how Hamza and Rassie have come in and looked comfortable.
Click to expand...

Because they want a better life? Get a decent salary at a County side, then go on to work and live in the EU?
 
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