State of SA

People defending Bavuma saying guys like Rassie or Mulder haven’t don’t anything special either. That’s true, but Bavuma has been in the side for 6-7 years now playing 45 tests for just one century, the others haven’t been given so much grace.

The issue is now they are so inexperienced in the middle order with Faf & QDK retiring, this leaves Bavuma as the most experienced middle order batter they have, so until the likes of Rassie & KP start to score hundreds themselves, Bavuma will keep his place.

All these years of sticking with him despite such little runs in return has left the Proteas in this position where they can’t drop him because they have no other experienced middle order players.

Keegan has done wonderfully well and looks so pleasing on the eye. Surely he has got some talent, which is great for South Africa as they need more colored players coming through.

Sadly for South Africa Markram and Dussen haven't really looked like good test players. Markram has been very average, if you are in the system for 4 years and yet haven't cemented your place in the side, then you are not good enough.

Bavuma will remain there because he is now a senior but the truth is that he averages 33-34 after 46 tests with a lone century. He is not even the equivalent of JP or Ashwell, those two were better.

Verreynne, as much as I like him, is wasting opportunities. I'm not just talking about this series, but even in the earlier chances that he has got, he had often wasted them.

South Africa will desperately want some young players to really come through. As of now, there ain't enough. There might be potential but seriously they aren't doing enough.

Markram got a peach today. Left it and it jagged about a foot, that s**t happens. He must be down on confidence. I'd put him down the order because he's absolutely good enough to remain in that side. KP should open perhaps? He's as good as opening anyway. He looks the part, really good to watch.

VD Dussen looks really vulnerable early on, plus he tried unsuccessfully to run himself out twice in two overs- that's a guy really feeling the pressure.

I don't think SA have a guy in their line up that averages above 39? That has to be an all time first for them.

Despite his inability to convert I like Bavuma.

It burns my eyes to read people saying there aren't any young batters coming through. The system is littered with them. Verreyne, jansen, Peterston, Muelder, Markram and Van Tonder are the future. I've said it once, I'll say it again. Batting in South africa is the hardest in the world, hence why Elgar is a gun

Tinah09 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 12, 2022 11:58 pm

sam_ahm wrote: ↑Wed Jan 12, 2022 5:34 pm

Keegan has done wonderfully well and looks so pleasing on the eye. Surely he has got some talent, which is great for South Africa as they need more colored players coming through.

Sadly for South Africa Markram and Dussen haven't really looked like good test players. Markram has been very average, if you are in the system for 4 years and yet haven't cemented your place in the side, then you are not good enough.

Bavuma will remain there because he is now a senior but the truth is that he averages 33-34 after 46 tests with a lone century. He is not even the equivalent of JP or Ashwell, those two were better.

Verreynne, as much as I like him, is wasting opportunities. I'm not just talking about this series, but even in the earlier chances that he has got, he had often wasted them.

South Africa will desperately want some young players to really come through. As of now, there ain't enough. There might be potential but seriously they aren't doing enough.

They are in JP Duminy standard BUT I think you've forgotten how good Ashwell Prince was. No batsmen in the current SA side is anywhere near Ashwell Prince's standard as a test batsman. I agree, its time for SA to bite the bullet and purge themselves of most of these underperforming batsmen, keep Elgar and try the SA youngsters who are doing well in at domestic and SA A level. They cant do any worse!!

Ashwell had an incredible fighting spirit. He was good, no doubt about it. Unlike JP who played all formats, Ashwell was a test specialist, I think that makes the fans think that JP had more impact on South African cricket.

sloandog wrote: ↑Wed Jan 12, 2022 7:43 pm

It burns my eyes to read people saying there aren't any young batters coming through. The system is littered with them. Verreyne, jansen, Peterston, Muelder, Markram and Van Tonder are the future. I've said it once, I'll say it again. Batting in South africa is the hardest in the world, hence why Elgar is a gun

The standards set by their predessors are very high solan. Kallis, Smith, Hashim, AB, Gibbs, Kristen never complained of 'tough' pitches, they scored on these very wickets.

I can understand players coming through from an average cricketing nation being given leniency but South Africa, the kind of cricketers they have produced, the current lot leaves a lot to be desired.

Jeez Keegan Petersen is playing well, technically almost perfect. Both seam attacks are pretty even and KP looks the best batsman on the park, doesn't remotely look like going out against a serious seam attack. I'd like to think he's almost won them the game, but there's a few twists yet. Bloody excellent viewing.

I don't know how they let Pant get 100?? They should have just kept bowling at his chest, let him off lightly in my opinion. Without that 100 that would be a sorry scorecard.

Ya Keegan has looked class apart. Such a good prospect he looks.

This game is far from over, there could be several twists still. This has ended in pretty much the same state as the 2nd test after day 3.. almost identical.

See my point on Markram folks, he never fails to dissapoint. 4 years and he is still struggling.

A lot depends on Dussen, Temba and Verreynne now... Even if one of them gets a 50, they can win the series for South Africa.

Tinah09 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 12, 2022 11:45 pm

Rajkumar Sharma wrote: ↑Wed Jan 12, 2022 1:42 pm

Keegan Petersen an ideal replacement of Hashim Amla.Hope he also plays one day cricket. A star in making.

Oh hell no!!! come on now! No batsmen in the Proteas team is anywhere comparable to Hashim Amla, its not even close!!

If this is KP's start he's going to become legendary. Amla had some really lean spells because of his technique, when he was in form he was amazing, but when out of nick he looked really ordinary with his strange backlift and very limited foot movement. His signature was big hundreds, made up for some patchy stuff. I am a huge Amla fan, love his mental attitude and just the fact that he sounds like a real quality guy, but in KP I think they've found a gem.

sam_ahm wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:20 pm

Ya Keegan has looked class apart. Such a good prospect he looks.

This game is far from over, there could be several twists still. This has ended in pretty much the same state as the 2nd test after day 3.. almost identical.

See my point on Markram folks, he never fails to dissapoint. 4 years and he is still struggling.

A lot depends on Dussen, Temba and Verreynne now... Even if one of them gets a 50, they can win the series for South Africa.

Then they should bat him at 5 or 6. Who's replacing him?

Amla is averaging 78 for Surrey in red ball. Everyone complains about tough English batting conditions but that's a helluva average, helped by a big 178.

Googly wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:31 pm

sam_ahm wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:20 pm

Ya Keegan has looked class apart. Such a good prospect he looks.

This game is far from over, there could be several twists still. This has ended in pretty much the same state as the 2nd test after day 3.. almost identical.

See my point on Markram folks, he never fails to dissapoint. 4 years and he is still struggling.

A lot depends on Dussen, Temba and Verreynne now... Even if one of them gets a 50, they can win the series for South Africa.

Then they should bat him at 5 or 6. Who's replacing him?

Janneman Malan or Zubayr Hamza I would say. Malan being the 1st option.