Gotta say, I am enjoying this little debate. You make great points. Did you play cricket at any semi-pro level?
No, my athletic ability did not allow for me to play cricket at any serious sort of level, the mind was willing, the body was not, even when I was young
.I have a good friend that umpired at a semi-pro level. Lets just say that I am a student of the game (like most here on CW I`m guessing) for many years.
I am guessing it might be to RSA's advantage if Morkel Steyn Tahir Philander and Duminy happen to be their bowling attack. They gain a batsman and a better bowling attack. I do agree with Sunny Gavaskar that AB and Hash should both be batting a number higher. Faf can try and do the Laxman job at 5. But maybe they feel Faf is better against pace and hence they want him in as early as possible. But this is going to be the best side RSA can put out this tour if Steyn is passed fit, and their best chance to hit back.
Morkel, Steyn, Philander, Tahir would now seem to be the best choice, playing Tahir rather than Harmer, still makes me nervous. Whether we go in with both Harmer and Tahir would depend how much they trust Duminy and Elgar to do a job and the pitch on the morning! The problem with Tahir is if he has a bad day and we end up relying on Duminy and Elgar, who while not bad are still only part timers, in India trouble can happen very quickly. But if we play Harmer instead we get more reliable bowling but to much of the same in the spin bowling and that`s not good either...
This whole thing of moving Amla and AB up one in the order does not work, Faf is not being hidden at 3 because of spin its because Amla moved down one from 3 after Kallis and Smith retired and he was made captain (simultaneously almost). AB has always batted at 5 for us. When Kallis retired Faf was made no.4 and when Smith retired Amla swapped with Faf to take some pressure off, with the captaincy on his shoulders. Gavaskar made his comment after one match where he saw AB running out of "partners" having come in late... two things: it is highly unusual to see a SA side nowadays being bowled out for less than 350+ in the first innings, secondly we normally are playing Duminy and 4 bowlers (which we should stick with) that means AB normally has two other batting partners to follow him, not just one.
The only way I see the batting order changing at this stage is if they decide they need a left/right opening combination and then I can see Faf opening and everybody moving up one and van Vyl in at 5. But I don`t think this is likely. Another even further left field idea would be AB to keep and both Duminy and Bavuma in, you would get good odds on that one!
SA Team: van Zyl, Elgar, Faf, Amla, AB, Duminy, Vilas, Philander, Steyn, Morkel, Tahir. if Steyn is injured don't be surprised if Harmer gets a nod ahead of Rabada. I dont see us going in with only 5 specialist batsmen again.... this series (or ever really).
. There is hardly any interpretation youuuuu can make or whoever else thinks like you - say that, don't tell that's what I was trying to say when I just said it wasn't - what is wrong with you
