Can Imran Tahir make SA No.1?

[BlazeDragon]

He just started so who knows.

 

[vcs]

I'm actually going to have the cake and eat it here by claiming SA's performances in 07-08 are still relevant but England's are much less so, because it's important to think of what you perceive to be the "current" team.

I've explained before that I think the current England side only really took shape when Flintoff retired.

South Africa, however, really did assume what it is now in 2007-08 when Steyn, Morkel, Amla and De Villiers all started to come into their own. Smith also embarked on a brilliant run of form.

Since late 2008, the only changes to the side have really been Smith losing his way a bit, wondering what to do with Prince and Duminy, and struggling to replace Ntini. Those I would consider fairly minor and it's largely the same team that brought their run of success a couple of years ago. Meanwhile, they've struggled to win big series but they've still only lost one series in that time too.

Yep, agree with this. They really need to play more Test cricket.

 

[smash84]

I don't know what to make of Tahir. When is he making his test debut. Looked decent as an ODI bowler in the WC.

 

[Howe_zat]

Presumably he'll make his debut against Australia in October.

 

[akilana]

SA and India are the top two teams. England is in fine form but unproven in lot of conditions and hardly played any strong sides in the last 20 months.

 

[Furball]

SA and India are the top two teams. England is in fine form but unproven in lot of conditions and hardly played any strong sides in the last 20 months.

wat

 

[Howe_zat]

SA and India are the top two teams. England is in fine form but unproven in lot of conditions and hardly played any strong sides in the last 20 months.

No need for such length. In future, please use the patented Bashing-England-Via-Circular-Thinking-O-Matic:

 

[superkingdave]

Will be interesting to see how Tahir goes, take nothing away from him, but he's not been unplayable in county cricket. I don't see he him being the game changer against SA's main competitors (India generally great players of spin, England, seen a fair bit of him, possibly would struggle in spin friendly conditions but unlikely to see a lot of them in Eng-SA and probably have a pretty good record against less than ATG spinners on unfriendly wickets.)

 

[akilana]

wat

wut not?

 

[akilana]

No need for such length. In future, please use the patented Bashing-England-Via-Circular-Thinking-O-Matic:

u ok?

 

[Woodster]

There is a lot to admire in the current SA side. The batting looks solid, reliable and powerful and very capable in most conditions. Maybe question marks over who should play as Smith's partner, but Petersen has been relatively impressive so far, while the decent battle for the number six spot continues with some talented contenders. The bowling's a good unit and will be improved with an attacking and match winning spinner, if Imran Tahir can prove his effectiveness at the highest level.

Of course like many have already said, it's far too early to know whether he will trouble the very best sides, he's not a big spinner of the ball, but does have a decent googly. Is not as expensive as a lot of leg spinners due to his very good control, so should be able to build the kind of pressure Harris does, if he's required to play that role, but carries more wicket-taking menace than the slow left-armer.

I would be surprised if his inclusion alone is enough to carry SA to the top of the tree, but I do think it's likely that he'll strengthen the side.

 

[Prince EWS]

No need for such length. In future, please use the patented Bashing-England-Via-Circular-Thinking-O-Matic:

I love it.

 

[centurymaker]

No need for such length. In future, please use the patented Bashing-England-Via-Circular-Thinking-O-Matic:

Nice!
Can someone post that flat track bully one?

 

[AlwaysProteas]

Problems with SA are that we don't have a good first change bowler and a good spinner. Moreover, our batting apart from Amla, Kallis and DeVilliers is quite fragile. In this day and age, you need at least five of your top 7 batsmen who can bat consistently.

The reason we failed miserably against India last series was because we relied heavily on Steyn/Morkel and our batting collapsed far too often.

People are skipping over South Africa because they've been crap since winning in Australia.

Totally agree. After that tremendous run, where we toured around the world and beat most of the teams, everyone was whispering of a new era of Proteas where they dominate world cricket, too bad it all fell apart so quickly.

 

[subshakerz]

People are skipping over South Africa because they've been crap since winning in Australia.

They've been disappointing, but crap suggests that they've lost a bunch of series.

They lost against Australia, when Johnson was in inspired form that he's failed to replicate since.

They drew against England, but really looked the better side in 3/4 tests.

They drew against India in India, which no other team in the world is capable of at the moment.

They beat WI, and drew against Pakistan on dead wickets. Then they drew against India at home.

My reasoning for this disappointment is the over reliance on Steyn. If Tahir can manage to take wickets on the other end, I think it will be different.

 

[Cevno]

Have liked what i have seen of Tahir so far.
Will certainly improve the South African team, but very much doubt he is good enough to alone make them number 1 in the world.

 

[centurymaker]

Have liked what i have seen of Tahir so far.
Will certainly improve the South African team, but very much doubt he is good enough to alone make them number 1 in the world.

more than their bowlers, it's their batsmen that keep underperforming every now and then.
this is mainly because they are carrying 3 out of form batsmen...

 

[Borges]

> Can Imran Tahir make SA No.1?

With Tahir, they have the best test bowling attack in the world. And in Amla and Kallis, two of the best batsmen in the world. If they play a sufficient number of tests, and if they can find just one more batsman for their late middle order, their climbing to the number one spot in the ICC rankings would just be a matter of time.

 

[smash84]

so Imran Tahir being hyped as the new Shane Warne (or even better, as the new Imran Khan )

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Problems with SA are that we don't have a good first change bowler and a good spinner. Moreover, our batting apart from Amla, Kallis and DeVilliers is quite fragile. In this day and age, you need at least five of your top 7 batsmen who can bat consistently.

The reason we failed miserably against India last series was because we relied heavily on Steyn/Morkel and our batting collapsed far too often.

What has happened to Parnell, he looked a very good young prospect a couple of years ago and i thought he'd become a great change bowler to back up the big guns.