***Official*** Australia in South Africa

[The Sean]

Ha, nice work from Ashwell to be recalled AND made captain immediately. Maybe a question with an obvious answer, but why would Kallis not step in as skipper?

 

[Prince EWS]

The reason why Neil Mac was asked to open was that there wasn't any viable alternatives and there still isn't that many strong candiates around.

Domestically, Imraan Khan is the inform opener, scored a century against Australia in the warm-up and has had a good season with the bat for the Dolphins but I've seen a lot of him and his a pretty limited cricketer.

I would be more inclined to give Dean Elgar a go. He hasn't had a good season with the bat in first class cricket but his a good talent and there is shades of Justin Langer about him. It would be a bold move to get him into the mix but I'll take him over Khan anyday of the week. Aside from those two, I like Rilee Rossouw, only 19, can open but has made most of his runs this year in the middle order. He will play for South Africa in the future, just a matter of when...

I'd just play McKenzie. He's obviously not in good form but he looked really good when he first came into the team as opener and he's only failed against one opposition since his reselection. He's not awesome but I still think he's a Test standard batsman and no-one else in contention really seems to have the credentials to suggest they'd have a decent chance of being such.

Obviously it'd be different if Smith was fit, but I don't think McKenzie's going to go from "We're not even going to drop him to squeeze Ashwell Prince into the team" to "We must drop him now regardless of who the next best player is" in one game.

 

[TT Boy]

Ha, nice work from Ashwell to be recalled AND made captain immediately. Maybe a question with an obvious answer, but why would Kallis not step in as skipper?

Doesn't want to be captain and he resigned as vice-captain after being dropped from the 20/20 side. Bouch was captain during this test when Smith was off but he also doesn't want to be full-time captain.

 

[The Sean]

Fair enough, figured it must have been something like that. Thanks.

 

[Prince EWS]

but I don't think McKenzie's going to go from "We're not even going to drop him to squeeze Ashwell Prince into the team" to "We must drop him now regardless of who the next best player is" in one game.

Heh, way to be proven wrong before you press "post", Cribbage!

 

[TT Boy]

I'd just play McKenzie. He's obviously not in good form but he looked really good when he first came into the team as opener and he's only failed against one opposition since his reselection. He's not awesome but I still think he's a Test standard batsman and no-one else in contention really seems to have the credentials to suggest they'd have a decent chance of being such.

Obviously it'd be different if Smith was fit, but I don't think McKenzie's going to go from "We're not even going to drop him to squeeze Ashwell Prince into the team" to "We must drop him now regardless of who the next best player is" in one game.

Looked the business opening away in Bangladesh and India where he faced nothing fast bowlers on nothing tracks but he didn’t look all too great in England and he was cruelly exposed here. Sure it is just one opposition but his inability to score runs puts so much strain on the South African top order which over the past two years has performed only really when its openers have fired. Hashim Amla is a different player when he comes in after 15, 20 overs but his been exposed again coming in early.

But Imraan Khan, **** me. Good luck!

 

[Prince EWS]

Looked the business opening away in Bangladesh and India where he faced nothing fast bowlers on nothing tracks but he didn’t look all too great in England and he was cruelly exposed here. Sure it is just one opposition but his inability to score runs puts so much strain on the South African top order which over the past two years has performed only really when its openers have fired. Hashim Amla is a different player when he comes in after 15, 20 overs but his been exposed again coming in early.

But Imraan Khan, **** me. Good luck!

How's Puttick going this season? I haven't really followed his overall figures of late but he seems to be having a poor year from what I've taken in looking at the scorecards every so often. I would have assumed he'd get the gig over Khan in normal circumstances if they wanted to drop McKenzie though.

EDIT: Averaging 39, not terrible. Bagged a pair last start though; clearly not in awesome form.

 

[TT Boy]

How's Puttick going this season? I haven't really followed his overall figures of late but he seems to be having a poor year from what I've taken in looking at the scorecards every so often. I would have assumed he'd get the gig over Khan in normal circumstances if they wanted to drop McKenzie though.

Funny enough his just been dropped after not scoring a dime...

Had a good series for South Africa A against Sri Lanka A as well but his missed the boat. He tried to go Kolpak last year but had a Visa issue.

 

[Uppercut]

I'd just play McKenzie. He's obviously not in good form but he looked really good when he first came into the team as opener and he's only failed against one opposition since his reselection. He's not awesome but I still think he's a Test standard batsman and no-one else in contention really seems to have the credentials to suggest they'd have a decent chance of being such.

Obviously it'd be different if Smith was fit, but I don't think McKenzie's going to go from "We're not even going to drop him to squeeze Ashwell Prince into the team" to "We must drop him now regardless of who the next best player is" in one game.

Thing is, there's not a lot to gain by playing McKenzie. By the time they play another test, he'll be 34. Are they going to try to play him into form, knowing that:

a) He could just be over the hill and might never be as good as he was again.
and
b) He was never that good to begin with.

On the other hand, if they bring someone else into the side and he scores runs against Australia of all teams, it'll be a massive confidence boost. It's not often you get the opportunity to hand someone a test debut against a world-class attack while still knowing that it won't matter much in the context of the team if they fail.

As for which candidate to choose, i've no idea.

 

[TT Boy]

EDIT: Averaging 39, not terrible. Bagged a pair last start though; clearly not in awesome form.

Combination of poor form in the 20/20 has not helped his cause. He along with Philander and Kleinveldt were close to getting contract termination before JP, Captain Smith, Gibbs and Langeveldt took the Cobras to the 20/20 title.

 

[Prince EWS]

Funny enough his just been dropped after not scoring a dime...

Seems a bit of a reactionary dropping if so, after just looking up how he's gone.

His scores this season in franchise cricket:

9
23
88
30
1
59
79
105
40
72
0
0
0

Three ducks at the end obviously don't look good but seemed to be in decent touch just prior to that and he has a good record.

 

[Prince EWS]

Combination of poor form in the 20/20 has not helped his cause. He along with Philander and Kleinveldt were close to getting contract termination before JP, Captain Smith, Gibbs and Langeveldt took the Cobras to the 20/20 title.

I see. That answers the post I just made then, I guess. Much like your team announcement did on the last page.

 

[TT Boy]

Seems a bit of a reactionary dropping if so, after just looking up how he's gone.

His scores this season in franchise cricket:

9
23
88
30
1
59
79
105
40
72
0
0
0

Three ducks at the end obviously don't look good but seemed to be in decent touch just prior to that and he has a good record.

Almost a 3 month break in SuperSport (4 day cricket) for the MTN Championship and 20/20. He didn't too much there, so that as I said hasn't done him many favours.

 

[Prince EWS]

Almost a 3 month break in SuperSport (4 day cricket) for the MTN Championship and 20/20. He didn't too much there, so that as I said hasn't done him many favours.

Yeah, sorry for making you repeat your point; the timing of my posts has been really bad in the last hour or so.

 

[TT Boy]

Proteas vice captain Ashwell Prince, who was injured before the first test in Australia, giving JP Duminy the opportunity to cement his place in the team, returns to the Proteas team as captain. He will open the batting with Dolphins player Imraan Khan. Morkel has been replaced by Warriors fast bowler Wayne Parnell.

"It was a very tough decision to leave Neil and Morne out," said convenor of selectors Mike Procter. "Neil and Morne have done so well for South Africa as part of the team over the past 12, 16 months.

"Morne is very much part of our plans for the future, but we think it's time that he goes back to his franchise and plays some more SuperSport matches and maybe try and get it right. He doesn't get enough balls in the right place, but his potential is certainly there.

"Neil 'Mac' has done a wonderful job," continued Procter. "He came in as a makeshift opening bat, and he had a wonderful year last year.

It wasn't an easy decision to leave him out, but there does come a time when decisions have to be made."

Procter said that it had also been a difficult decision to select two new opening batsmen.

"We feel Ashwell (Prince) has the technique to play the new ball, although he hasn't opened before. Imraan Khan has done very well in the last two Supersport Series, and he has the advantage that he has played against Australia, and he has made a hundred against them."

Khan was part of the South African President's XI that drew the warm up match against Australia in Potchefstroom last month.

"Maybe it's a bit of a gamble to have two new guys up front, but we didn't want to disrupt three, four, five and six, who've been fantastic.

We didn't want to mess around with that, so we were left with little option."

South Africa Makes 3 Changes

Not good, 3-0 is a given unless the Aussies kick back. Parnell is too raw, Albie Morkel is not a good enough bowler for the 3rd seamer role, Ntini is finished and Khan to my mind is not very good. Hopefully he proves me wrong and Parnell steps up but it seems pretty strange that the rationale for dropping Morne is that his not consistent but Parnell isn't and is even more raw then Morne and he has an action which also sometimes goes tit ass.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Prince opening is stupid.

 

[Ikki]

Great piece:

Cricinfo - The 'Ponting Age' has truly begun

 

[readie]

Prince opening is stupid.

AWTA loving the decisions made just there. I would have thought it smarter to persevere with Mckenzie for even just another test so that one of the opening rookies (I know Prince is obviously experienced in the middle order) had someone who'd been there before to feed off I guess they are possibly using the game as a sort of way to gauge whether or not Prince can handle an opening gig given he is younger than McKenzie and that this would enable them to play Prince there now that Amla, Kallis, De Villiers and Duminy have cemented their middle order gigs. Or gauging whether Khan can handle the step up and he could also be used if Prince fails or one of the middle order loses touch in the future and Prince steps in there

 

[Slifer]

Always felt that the hubbub of the demise of Australian cricket was overblown. Do think they will come back to the field a bit. But once Lee and Clarke come back to full fitness, id expect Australia to run over all but the stronger teams (India and RSA) esp at home.

 

[oldmancraigy]

Not good, 3-0 is a given unless the Aussies kick back. Parnell is too raw, Albie Morkel is not a good enough bowler for the 3rd seamer role, Ntini is finished and Khan to my mind is not very good. Hopefully he proves me wrong and Parnell steps up but it seems pretty strange that the rationale for dropping Morne is that his not consistent but Parnell isn't and is even more raw then Morne and he has an action which also sometimes goes tit ass.

TTBoy - who do you think will be 12th man?

I don't know much about Khan or Parnell - but their first class stats aren't overly flattering.
I know Khan did well in the tour match - but that was on a slab of concrete right?

Is it possible that they take a leaf out of the Aussies book and Harris becomes 12th man? Duminy and Khan to handle the spinning duties?

Albertus at 7, Boucher at 8 and Parnell at 9 ought to give some batting depth....

To be frank, wickets were going to be a problem for the South Africans anyway unless Steyn fired anyway. So the pressure still remains on Steyn to take 10+ and hopefully the batsmen can score some runs and give the captain something to play with to apply pressure?