How long will South Africa be no.1 for?

[Salamuddin]

I think Sa will stay at number 1 for longer than England and India.

THey look a better balanced team than either of their predecessors.
They also have an outsanding coach in Gary Kirsten - in my view he has made a real difference to the squad.
The next 2-3 years could be quite special for SA - the only cloud on the horizon for them is the fact that most of their players are at peak age so it's unlikely they will establish a dynasty in the way that AUstralia did
When Australia won the Frank Worrell Trophy in 1995, Mcgrath was 25 and Warne only 26.
Kirsten is very smart - he's contracted through to World cup 2015 - it's the guy who succeeds him who will have to deal with rebuilding an ageing SA squad.

Australia will be SA's main threat simply because they still have the best system - I think the Aussies still have to cope with Pointing's and Hussey's retirements but they probably have the best fast bowling talent in the world and history has shown that teams with strong pace attacks are succesful.

Sa's next challenge is going to be to consistently get the better of Australia - they have only beasten them once since readmission and then promptly lost teh next series after that to them. I think the series down under later this year will tell us a lot of things about the makeup of this SA team - Australia will be tougher than England.

 

[Daemon]

CW is always wrong, so we can rest assured it won't be between 8 months and 2 years.

 

[vic_orthdox]

If you scan past the Kohli picture quickly, it looks like Mario.

As in the video game, not Balotelli.

 

[Jono]

 

[uvelocity]

 

[smash84]

 

[benchmark00]

Did someone hack jono's account? A funny post.

 

[Xuhaib]

more likely he's finally spending some quality time with Benchy.

 

[benchmark00]

All time spent with me is quality tbf.

 

[G.I.Joe]

 

[r3alist]

Relative to england and Australia I think sa will remain stronger.

England may well see their best batsman and/or captain both gone, that will hurt them, and I think India will get revenge.

Not seen too much of aus recently but they don't look as good on paper, tip sa to win that.

So if sa beat aus, and India beat England I think sa will have a good period of easy opposition after that, and a nice gap will develop between sa and the rest.

As long as Kallis is still around for Australia nothing stopping them from beating the rest IMO.

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

What interests me is how SA will balance their bowling attack when Kallis goes. Tahir is, no doubt in my mind, the right option for SA with a five man attack, but will the fingerspinners come back into pay when Kallis goes? Or will the security of JP Duminy's offspinners mean that Tahir will be persevered with?

With Tahir I don't even think it's about him bowling ****... I think it's more that his tactics are all wrong, possibly a Smith booboo. IIRC he didn't bowl a single ball over the wicket on the last day at Lord's. Which is how leg spinners are supposed to get their wickets. He was used ultra defensively around the wicket to try and frustrate Eng and make them play out of the rough. Which I've always been against as a style of play and think it's just silly. Maybe if he gets a proper chance to not bowl like a ****** then he might get some wickuts.

 

[smash84]

With Tahir I don't even think it's about him bowling ****... I think it's more that his tactics are all wrong, possibly a Smith booboo. IIRC he didn't bowl a single ball over the wicket on the last day at Lord's. Which is how leg spinners are supposed to get their wickets. He was used ultra defensively around the wicket to try and frustrate Eng and make them play out of the rough. Which I've always been against as a style of play and think it's just silly. Maybe if he gets a proper chance to not bowl like a ****** then he might get some wickuts.

impossible

 

[Prince EWS]

What interests me is how SA will balance their bowling attack when Kallis goes. Tahir is, no doubt in my mind, the right option for SA with a five man attack, but will the fingerspinners come back into pay when Kallis goes? Or will the security of JP Duminy's offspinners mean that Tahir will be persevered with?

I think Tahir will have to improve his bowling to hold his place post-Kallis, personally. I agree that he's unquestionably the right call when Kallis is still there, but as much as I think Duminy's bowling is sometimes under-used he's not really a reliable containing bowler either, so Tahir will need to tighten himself up to hold his spot.

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

What interests me is how SA will balance their bowling attack when Kallis goes. Tahir is, no doubt in my mind, the right option for SA with a five man attack, but will the fingerspinners come back into pay when Kallis goes? Or will the security of JP Duminy's offspinners mean that Tahir will be persevered with?

Ryan McLaren

 

[subshakerz]

SA will keep the No.1 longer than England and India, or at least I hope. They have the best and most balanced side in the world, the most in-form middle order, the best pace attack, the best all-rounder. They should have been no.1 since beating Australia in 2008 to be honest but underachieved at home.

For the next year, all I believe they have to do is beat (or possibly draw) against Australia and beat Pakistan at home. History suggests they should do that (they havent lost an away series in six years) and they are a much stronger side now.

 

[uvelocity]

we will towel them up like the inferior southern hemispherians they are

 

[Michaelf7777777]

imo South Africa will be #1 until another country has a higher number of ranking points than them.

 

[Prince EWS]

imo South Africa will be #1 until another country has a higher number of ranking points than them.

Controversial.