Taibu wants to Qualify for RSA

[Langeveldt]

Taibu has laid down his future for SA and wants to play for a franchise side..

I welcome the news, but to be honest I'd rather have de Villiers keeping in 5 years time, after all, hes a far superior batsman.. Although hopefully this move would completely edge out Tsolekile from ever playing again for SA

[TT Boy]

There is already quite a few decent wicket keeper batsman in South Africa but who knows in four years time, good luck to him however.

[Langeveldt]

Originally Posted by TT Boy

There is already quite a few decent wicket keeper batsman in South Africa but who knows in four years time, good luck to him however.

I'd love to have him playing for the warriors, and its nice to gain a good cricketer..

[Steulen]

Good wicket-keeper, Test and captaincy experience..he'd be a good successor to Boucher. Why not?

[Langeveldt]

Originally Posted by Steulen

Good wicket-keeper, Test and captaincy experience..he'd be a good successor to Boucher. Why not?

Because de Villiers is a better test batsman (I'm of the BATSMAN-keeper) argument..

But as a keeper, all round bloke, and leader, I can't fault him, and he's only in his only 20's.. I'd have him in my test team if AB wasn't about.. I'd also have him captain, it would be refreshing

[TT Boy]

Originally Posted by Steulen

Good wicket-keeper, Test and captaincy experience..he'd be a good successor to Boucher. Why not?

AB would be the next inline one would guess but then there is the likes of Morne van Wyk, Davey Jacobs, Heino Kuhn et cetera, very competent batsman/wicket keepers. Won’t be easy for Taibu but he does have a few things going for him.

[Loots]

I'm with Langeveldt. AB is a good keeper and will make more runs than Taibu. Having said that, Taibu would be a good option in the short-term - But if we want a long term solution to the problem of replacing Boucher, then AB is the man and we have to get him behind the stumps at much as possible.

Does ABdV keep wicket at a domestic level?

[TT Boy]

Originally Posted by Loots

I'm with Langeveldt. AB is a good keeper and will make more runs than Taibu. Having said that, Taibu would be a good option in the short-term - But if we want a long term solution to the problem of replacing Boucher, then AB is the man and we have to get him behind the stumps at much as possible.

Does ABdV keep wicket at a domestic level?

Only played a few games for the Titans last year but he did keep wicket yes.

[Steulen]

Originally Posted by Langeveldt

Because de Villiers is a better test batsman (I'm of the BATSMAN-keeper) argument..

But as a keeper, all round bloke, and leader, I can't fault him, and he's only in his only 20's.. I'd have him in my test team if AB wasn't about.. I'd also have him captain, it would be refreshing

Wouldn't SA be better off with AB playing as a specialist batsman? Haven't seen him keep, but normally he plays as a batsman with Boucher keeping, so if he's a worse keeper than Boucher why bother with AB behind the stumps?

[Langeveldt]

Originally Posted by Loots

I'm with Langeveldt. AB is a good keeper and will make more runs than Taibu. Having said that, Taibu would be a good option in the short-term - But if we want a long term solution to the problem of replacing Boucher, then AB is the man and we have to get him behind the stumps at much as possible.

Does ABdV keep wicket at a domestic level?

Welcome Loots, where do you hail in SA?

[Langeveldt]

Originally Posted by Steulen

Wouldn't SA be better off with AB playing as a specialist batsman? Haven't seen him keep, but normally he plays as a batsman with Boucher keeping, so if he's a worse keeper than Boucher why bother with AB behind the stumps?

Thinking about when Boucher retires

[Loots]

Originally Posted by Langeveldt

Welcome Loots, where do you hail in SA?

I don't live in South Africa, I've lived in England all my life but due to having some South African family who live in Cape Town, having watched South Africa play for a number of my first memories in cricket and some of my favourite players being South African (Donald, Hansie, etc...etc...) I've come to support them over the years.

[Langeveldt]

Originally Posted by Loots

I don't live in South Africa, I've lived in England all my life but due to having some South African family who live in Cape Town, having watched South Africa play for a number of my first memories in cricket and some of my favourite players being South African (Donald, Hansie, etc...etc...) I've come to support them over the years.

Donald is an absolute superhero of mine, favourite player by miles.. Nice to have another SA fan, pretty much doubles our contingent on here

[silentstriker]

Donald was a rubbish bowler.

[Goughy]

Originally Posted by Steulen

Good wicket-keeper, Test and captaincy experience..he'd be a good successor to Boucher. Why not?

Because there are better players available.

Even if he was available for South Africa now I would place him 5th on the list of keepers behind (in no particular order)
- Boucher
- De Villiers
- Morne Van Wyk
- Davey Jacobs

Add in the brown eyed boy, Thami Tsolekile and emerging talents such as Heino Kuhn and this move really does nothing for SA cricket.

He would probably only be a marginal upgrade over guys like Matthew Harris (Lions), Duncan Brown (Dolphins) and Arno Jacobs (Warriors).

Its a great idea for him, in terms of career and income, and good luck to him for that. However, from an SA perspective it adds nothing.

Also with the reduction to 6 franchises there are already limited opportunities for many players and chances are further reduced by the quota system. Given the small pool of players available for SA cricket the last thing need is older players past their best like Harvey (Cobras last year) and average overseas players like Blignaut and Taibu clogging up the system.

As I said, good luck to Taibu, as he needs to pay the morgage and put food on the table but from a cricketing POV it makes little sense and would give few franchises (if any) a major upgrade.