Pietersen - enigma?

[marc71178]

As others have said, Amla's FC performances merited a callup,

So much so that he wasn't picked for the 1st Test but was told he'd play the 2nd one before the 1st even started?

Seems a little doubtful as to how strong his claim for a call-up was.

 

[Swervy]

As for that - yes, annoying, isn't it! When people try to make-up for wrongs done to those who're long-gone by creating more wrongs for the current lot in the inverse of the original wrongs.
Had the same argument with a female friend of mine about the feminine-dominated society of the current age and how it's not right or poetic-justice - because it won't help the women who had to put-up with whatever in the last 6000 years or so.

erm..are you sure about that????

 

[Scaly piscine]

The quota system is a reality, but it is clear that if you are good enough, you will make the team, no matter what. Look at the current one-day squad. Adam Bacher and Justin Kemp got call-ups due to good form in the domestic competition, skin colour clearly had nothing to do with it. Out of the four non-white guys in the squad, three are there definitely on merit (Ntini, Langeveldt and Gibbs), and while Prince is probably not world-class, he has been in good form in the domestic comp, and has a decentish record in the limited number of games he has played.

Langeveldt & Gibbs are non-white?

 

[BoyBrumby]

Langeveldt & Gibbs are non-white?

Yes, they'd both be defined as "coloured" (vile expression, but the one used in Apartheid SA) under the former racial classifications.

In Gibbs's case it's patently a nonsense; he may have black antecedents but he looks (again, for want of a better expression) "white". Langeveldt is more obviously mixed-race.

 

[wpdavid]

So much so that he wasn't picked for the 1st Test but was told he'd play the 2nd one before the 1st even started?

Seems a little doubtful as to how strong his claim for a call-up was.

Was he really told that?

Given Amla's FC stats and the fairly mediocre test performances of middle order batters such as van Jaarsfeld & Dippenaar, why do you think he didn't have a decent claim for call-up?

 

[Langeveldt]

I've spoken enough about Pity-son on here.. Ill sum it up by saying I wouldn't give him the time of day..

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I've spoken enough about Pity-son on here.. Ill sum it up by saying I wouldn't give him the time of day..

I'm sure the feeling would be mutual....if he cared

 

[marc71178]

Was he really told that?

Given Amla's FC stats and the fairly mediocre test performances of middle order batters such as van Jaarsfeld & Dippenaar, why do you think he didn't have a decent claim for call-up?

It was made known before the series started that he'd play at Durban because of the nature of the Durban population.

By that token, why did they not pick him for the First Test as well?

 

[Galactic_Soap]

As a South African it hurts me to see the likes of Pieterson, and that treacherous ******* Rathbone plying their trade else where. A lot of people try and justify their positions by pointing out the number of South African expats there are living all over the world, and highliting that the position taken up by those two is no different, but there is a difference, and that lies in the fact that these are national sports personalities who have the power and talent to really take the new South Africa to the rest of the world. Admittedly I’d love to think I have that potential to do the same, but I doubt there are any struggling law students plying their trade on the international stage at the moment. But at the end of the day, the decisions they make are their decisions, they effect their own lively hoods, and that eliminates any need they may have to justify their decisions to the South African public. If Pieterson thinks he was hard done by, fair enough, if wants to play for England, fair enough, no problems here, but what gets me is his most recent slice of wit, his comment regarding the majority of those who sledge him and call him a traitor can barely speak English really riles me up. How dare he say that, frankly its showing a complete disregard of the pain and suffering our people suffered, there’s a reason half of them can hardly speak English, if he were to look into the history of the country that bares his blood line he might be a bit more educated. Good luck to him.

 

[Richard]

It was made known before the series started that he'd play at Durban because of the nature of the Durban population.

By that token, why did they not pick him for the First Test as well?

Which doesn't change the fact that he'd merited playing some Test, somewhere.

 

[Richard]

I've spoken enough about Pity-son on here.. Ill sum it up by saying I wouldn't give him the time of day..

Mercifully we may have seen the last of him at international level... at least for a while...
Not sure if you are, but it sure sounds like it - hardly fair to blame him for it! He's not exactly going to turn-down the call-up!

 

[Richard]

erm..are you sure about that????

If you think otherwise you're delusional.
All right, it's not as bad as it was in the inverse for most of the time before Emily Davison and her extraordinary bravery, but there's no disputing whatsoever that females get what they want (especially at my age and just below) far more often than males do in the current British society.

 

[Richard]

The quota system is a reality, but it is clear that if you are good enough, you will make the team, no matter what. Look at the current one-day squad. Adam Bacher and Justin Kemp got call-ups due to good form in the domestic competition, skin colour clearly had nothing to do with it. Out of the four non-white guys in the squad, three are there definitely on merit (Ntini, Langeveldt and Gibbs), and while Prince is probably not world-class, he has been in good form in the domestic comp, and has a decentish record in the limited number of games he has played.

I'd say Prince is darn unlucky not to have played a bit more, coming into this series with an average of 106!
I don't really think he's ODI-class either, but to leave-out someone who's started like that is plain folly, especially when you're picking people who are underachieving so badly that you lose 15 out of 19.

 

[Richard]

Prior to that, you have Ontong's 2 or 3 tests and, more arguably, Ashwell Prince and that's about it. I'm afraid the blaming of quotas for SA's ills at test level, which we read a lot of elsewhere, is fiction.

Prince certainly merited his go at Test-level. He even looked OK in his maiden innings (got to 49 and made Gillespie look extremely ordinary much of the time during possibly the worst Test in history - certainly my most hated one), but since then I don't really think he's given himself a great chance of another go.

 

[Alan B]

The common "desire for a new challenge". Some people (inexplicably for me - but there you go!) just don't do "settled".
He did fall-out with Notts in 2003\04 but he played in 2004 without any regrets and in the end there wasn't anything acrimonious about his departure.
As for is he a good team player - if he scores runs for the team, he's a good team player!

I don't agree. You need 11 players to make a team - look what happens with football prima-donners. An obsessive individual does not achieve harmony.

 

[Richard]

Not quite the same in cricket - especially in the First-Class game, it's incredibly hard to do the well for yourself while not doing well for your team. And for someone like Pietersen it's kinda hard to do well for yourself and not the team in ODers, too.
If you score runs \ get good bowling-figures the chances are you'll be a popular guy in the dressing-room unless you court unpopularity.

 

[marc71178]

Not quite the same in cricket - especially in the First-Class game, it's incredibly hard to do the well for yourself while not doing well for your team.

2 words:

Prosper Utseya.

 

[Richard]

Because Utseya has done such a fantastic job in the First-Class game, hasn't he?
And I'd really like to see how, as far as ODIs are concerned, he'd be more valuable to the team if he was going for 4.5-an-over like most of the other mediocrities going around ATM.