Who can stop South Africa?

[unam]

Both series were criminally short, South Africa really should be playing 5 match series against both sides.

If SA would play 5 match series,CSA would go broke, since they wouldn't have room for this money making machine called "T20".

 

[Rasimione]

The funny thing is that S.A only lost one series out of last 21, yet only a few people know about that. If India or Australia wins one series suddenly the whole world knows about it. No wonder S.A players like Kallis so underrated.

This. there is a lot more players who are good enough to play at the top. case in point Dane villas, Russow, De Lange, Van zyl. Morris. now no one is hyping those guys, but i assure you they are not bad players at all. as for those who are questioning Elgar, il remind them of hashim Amla. even kallis took a few tests to make it to the top.

 

[Rasimione]

Elgar has played one test on the one pitch in the world he was always ****ed on and Rudolph is easily better than some of the batsmen England have wheeled out. Finally dropping Bopara, Morgan and Patel doesn't absolve England of the fact they played them very recently and those guys are still most definitely on the fringes.

Gun post this.

 

[NasserFan207]

Sorry but Morgan >>>> Elgar or any other scrubs you have knocking around

 

[Xuhaib]

Elgar basing is so funny in this thread sure he might actually turn out to be really crap but a sample size of one game is never going to be enough to pass judgement on a player as someone mentioned earlier Amla did not even look First class standard in his first series and just look at him now.

 

[popepouri]

England still found serviceable replacements at short notice - Compton, Bairstow, Root etc.

You can't judge their depth by picking out the duffers. Every team has those. South Africa currently have Rudolph and Elgar in their Test squad for New Zealand.

Faf Du Plessis should be mentioned.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

So who are the neutrals supporting in the highly anticipated () series between Pakistan and RSA?

 

[GIMH]

Draw

 

[The Sean]

Lord Kitchener.

Only just catching up with this thread so a bit late on this one, but genuine LOL there.

 

[MrPrez]

Wow. Firstly, Rudolph has an immense fc record and was given a secind go on the back of a great revival in county and domestic cricket. He surely would have pushed bopara, morgan etc out of the no6 spot itbt.

Secondly, its just hilarious to naysay elgar after such a limited time. You cant say who is better depthwise between elgar,faf,rossouw etc and taylor, stokes etc until they all get a chance at tests.

 

[Burgey]

Only just catching up with this thread so a bit late on this one, but genuine LOL there.

Thank God someone here is well read.

 

[WindieWeathers]

So since i started this thread they've beaten NZ and Pak!!..things are getting serious now!! , for me these last two tests against Pak have shown that they aren't unbeatable, they can be rolled out cheaply, the problem is the opposition then seem to crumble when it's their turn to put up a decent score, also the way Ajmal has frightened them to death has been interesting, for me the last hope left is India at home, it pretty much has to be a series where the tracks suit spin more than pace so you can negate SA's main threat. and if Vernon doesn't cut it in Asian conditions either then thats another massive bonus aswell.

It's funny though because i'm a WI fan talking about other teams doing it but yet fate can work in mysterious ways and in the end it could well be us that gets the job done at home!! .

 

[Daemon]

Bangers have a better chance of doing it at home than the WI

 

[smash84]

Bangers have a better chance of doing it at home than the WI

SA come to the UAE to play Pakistan later in the year it seems

 

[WindieWeathers]

Bangers have a better chance of doing it at home than the WI

Yeah, losing to us 2-0 in November sent out a massive warning to the proteas!! .

 

[BeardofAmla]

Given South Africa's total lack of depth, Kallis retiring soon, and the fact that their batting is so reliant on 3-4 guys I would expect to see them randomly lose a series somewhere. In the past 2-4 years their random defeats have been spread out a bit so they've tended to get away with 1-1 or similar scorelines. Given they only really play short series it won't take much for them to lose a series somewhere.

Can you provide proof for all those points you made especially the depth part which I have trouble understanding especially if you consider winning 3 Series in a row with injuries to Philander, Morkel, Kallis, Dumminy to name a few. Why should Kallis retire soon when he is currently having a time of his life batting in the unchained role?

 

[hendrix]

I thought they were far more likely to lose against Pakistan in SA than India in India.

That said, some of their batsmen, whilst still scoring freely and making plenty of runs have been getting out to lazy/ambitious strokeplay. Amla and Kallis in particular, rather uncharacteristically. It's fine because it's a reflection of the dominant positions they've been in, but they wouldn't want to lose that ability to really grind an opposition. There might be a slight opening for india if they can produce a very very tight bowling performance and SA's batting fails to revert from an aggressive to a moderate approach.

 

[WindieWeathers]

I thought they were far more likely to lose against Pakistan in SA than India in India.

That said, some of their batsmen, whilst still scoring freely and making plenty of runs have been getting out to lazy/ambitious strokeplay. Amla and Kallis in particular, rather uncharacteristically. It's fine because it's a reflection of the dominant positions they've been in, but they wouldn't want to lose that ability to really grind an opposition. There might be a slight opening for india if they can produce a very very tight bowling performance and SA's batting fails to revert from an aggressive to a moderate approach.

Though they let themselves down in the England series i think Ohja and Ashwin could cause them problems, and considering SA haven't got any decent spinners to hit back with i can't help but think India would be in with a sniff.

 

[BeardofAmla]

So since i started this thread they've beaten NZ and Pak!!..things are getting serious now!! , for me these last two tests against Pak have shown that they aren't unbeatable, they can be rolled out cheaply, the problem is the opposition then seem to crumble when it's their turn to put up a decent score, also the way Ajmal has frightened them to death has been interesting, for me the last hope left is India at home, it pretty much has to be a series where the tracks suit spin more than pace so you can negate SA's main threat. and if Vernon doesn't cut it in Asian conditions either then thats another massive bonus aswell.

It's funny though because i'm a WI fan talking about other teams doing it but yet fate can work in mysterious ways and in the end it could well be us that gets the job done at home!! .

Ajmal didn't frighten anyone to death the track was turning like a washing machine. RP bowled Ajmal around his legs and he is a part time spinner! Yes we can get rolled over for cheaply on a track that favor the bowlers but we can roll out the opposition for cheaper considering we have AB de Villiers who is our keeper who provides the team with depth in the batting line up and batting deep down and one of the best 4th innings grafters in the game today with Smith.

So the team is balanced and have depth and after the 3rd test they are going to take a nice break from test cricket while the rest of the world is bowling their players into a pulp.

 

[GotSpin]

No way will India beat South Africa anywhere