SeamUp
International Coach
It is going to be a strong debate moving forward. Batting to 7 is massively risky with our batting line-up. If we had an AB/Amla at peak then it will be fine.I definitely agree with you. He's shown that he has the ability to do it, but he needs to be more consistent.
Shamsi looks like he's benefitting from getting an extended run in the side and not coming in just when they want to give Tahir a break. But since batting is our concern, can we really afford to play Nortje, Ngidi, Rabada, and Shamsi together? If we want two spinners then should they be Linde and Maharaj given that Maharaj offers more with the bat than Shamsi?
The long tail isn't a new problem as none of our batsmen being able to bowl and none of our bowlers being able to bat has been an issue for quite some time. You might be able to get away with it if you have a stellar batting line-up that's almost always going to come off, but we're a long way from that.
Maybe on ocassions we can get away with it but we really do need to get fast bowlers who can contribute with the bat & Coetzee/Jansen/Ntini do look to have a bit of batting talent but they still need to hone it.
Of course we could just go the route of backing our bowling to win us games and choosing our strongest bowling line-up & the batting needs to work around that. I want to see if Shamsi can step up against the likes of India/England consistently now. Big period coming up for him. If he does , he will be a lock & then Linde is the better package to balance the team.
This is obviously 50-over cricket.
If it were me I would be getting AB, Morris back for the T20 WC because I don't think we have many youngsters ready for this format.