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*Official* England in South Africa 2020

theegyptian

theegyptian

International Vice-Captain
Root doing good. It made sense resting/dropping him from the t20 side the last few years, but with 2 t20 tournaments coming up in the next 2 years the temptation must be there to bring him back into the fold.

If he didn't bowl I think they wouldn't recall him. But the fact that Moeen is continuing to struggle means they are short on the spin bowling options, and they don't have batsman that can bowl either.

On the batting front England's default setting is just go hard as possible throughout, but certainly in India there is room for the more subtle approach, especially on some of the tougher wickets.

It'll be a hard decision imo. Not being selected in the t20 side likely prolongs his career in other formats, and reduces the chances of burnout. If they bring him back they have to be fairly sure that he will be selected and that he is going to add something to the team. Whom to drop from the current batting side?
 
Red_Ink_Squid

Red_Ink_Squid

Cricketer Of The Year
Root did well in the games he played in the Blast this year too iirc.

I guess at the moment the first choice T20 squad (excluding Root) would be:

1 Roy
2 Buttler
3 Malan
4 Bairstow
5 Morgan
6 Stokes
7 Moeen
8 Jordan
9 Archer
10 Wood
11 Rashid

Banton/Billings/SCurran/TCurran(/Topley/Stone?) reserves.

I think the only player in England's top 4 who is clearly a better T20 bat than Root is Buttler, but it's hard to argue that Root would be an obvious upgrade on the others, at least not while Malan can retain his crazy form. He would be an obvious improvement on Banton, but there's little point having him around to carry drinks.

His bowling is an interesting factor though. It would be great to bring SCurran into the side somehow and the obvious spot for him to take is Moeen's. Having Root as a back up spin option to Rashid makes it much easier to make that swap at #7, which probably would improve the team overall. I'd be tempted to bring him in to the fold if I thought he could handle the schedule.
 
theegyptian

theegyptian

International Vice-Captain
Might be better off picking Sam Curran than Stokes these days in T20. Offers more with the ball. Probably a better bet with the bat coming in the last few overs to slog a few these days- assuming the role is at 6 or 7. Stokes the better fielder and that's possibly quite important given a side with Malan, Moeen and Rashid is a little vulnerable on that front. Can't see it happening though.

More knocks like Curran's yesterday are certainly going to put Stokes and Ali's positions under pressure.
 
SeamUp

SeamUp

International Coach
Think 4 South African players have had to self isolate.

Haven't seen Miller and Smuts in training pics/videos.

Phehlukwayo & Klaasen possibly too.
 
Heboric

Heboric

International Debutant
Normally I would be bouncing up and down with excitement with the prospect of a team like England touring, but boy I feel flat. Its not just the covid empty stadium / fake crowd noises (even if we were allowed to attend I dont know if I would) but the goings on off the field has killed my interest, yes it doesnt help to read the tabloid queens rants, but I see George Dobell has also chimed in, granted I havent read it, but I am not in the mood anymore
 
SeamUp

SeamUp

International Coach
Dwaine Pretorius left the bubble the other day due to injury.

The 2 covid guys also not available for selection.
 
SeamUp

SeamUp

International Coach
Can't imagine our record in tosses whoever goes out has been any good for some time now. :laugh:
 
StephenZA

StephenZA

Hall of Fame Member
The squad is pretty bleh, but I don't think they could have picked a line-up I'm more disinterested in than that one...
 
SeamUp

SeamUp

International Coach
StephenZA said:
The squad is pretty bleh, but I don't think they could have picked a line-up I'm more disinterested in than that one...
Click to expand...
They just going to have to learn the hard way if they struggle. Senior campaigners. Now or never for some.

I suspect Verreynne will only be 50-overs. J.Malan lost out to Bavuma ?

Whilst hopefully Breetzke, van Tonder, Qeshile, Mulder, Coetzee, Ntanzi, Jansen are sharpening their games until their time comes. Obviously 1 or 2 like van Tonder are more suited to the longer versions.
 
Red_Ink_Squid

Red_Ink_Squid

Cricketer Of The Year
No Wood and Moeen from the team I predicted in the England selection thread. Both replaced by Currans. England bat crazy deep and have six legitimate bowling options, but it still seems oddly balanced with 5 quicks + Rashid.

I'm not familiar with Linde or van Biljon in the SA line up.
 
StephenZA

StephenZA

Hall of Fame Member
SeamUp said:
They just going to have to learn the hard way if they struggle. Senior campaigners. Now or never for some.

I suspect Verreynne will only be 50-overs. J.Malan lost out to Bavuma ?

Whilst hopefully Breetzke, van Tonder, Qeshile, Mulder, Coetzee, Ntanzi, Jansen are sharpening their games until their time comes. Obviously 1 or 2 like van Tonder are more suited to the longer versions.
Click to expand...
I am happy to see the more talented youngsters continue on at domestic cricket rather than play pointless T20's. My concern though is that if this is the way that Boucher and selectors wants to build a future SA side we going to have to wait another 2 years another WC and another coach for us to start getting it right. And I don't think SA cricket can afford that.
 
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