andruid
Cricketer Of The Year
That batting order is something I had bewn meaning to ask about. I assumed Petersen was returning to bat at 3 not behind Bavuma
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*Official* West Indies in South Africa 2022/23
- Thread starter G. S. Kohli
- Start date
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
It really should not be that complicated. Find a second opener with Elgar, KPet 3, Markram 4, Bavuma 5.
Had one of those squad warmup matches beforehand.
StephenZA
Hall of Fame Member
Elgar needs to go. De Zorzi is an opener. Rickelton needs to come in at 5. If Markam stays as opener then van Tonder/Petersen at 3/4 else van Tonder opens and Markram at 4. Big question is who plays at 7. And that is probably the most important question SA needs answered.
StephenZA
Hall of Fame Member
A pure 4 bowler option is probably not a long term solution. Need to find a genuine batting all rounder. Now is the time to experiment and try see who stands up.
I'd swop munsamy for mulder and rickleton and maharaj for klaasen and gerald.
TT Boy
Hall of Fame Member
Muthusamy must be one of the worst selections South Africa have made in recent years. A stroke less number 7 that averages the same as Linde with the bat but isn’t half the bowler, so, why not just play Linde or a batsman and ask Markram to bowl on the Highveld? Rabada and Nortje are two of the fittest quicks around and Jansen and Coetzee look like proper dogs as well, there’s no Ngidi blowing out their ass after a couple overs, and no disrespect to the West Indies, the wickets are too spicy for them to get to a spinner anyhow.
Bahseph
State Captain
As mentioned before, there seems to be another issue with Linde that's non-cricketing. Many of us SA fans have been advocating for him across all formats for some time. I suppose if Shukri Conrad is looking for one spin bowling allrounder to rotate with Mulder then it's between Muthusamy and Fortuin. Out of those two Fortuin has a less impressive franchise batting record (I don't have figures to back this up,so please correct me if I'm wrong).
I think it's incredibly tough on Maharaj either way. It seems like the feeling is we are going to play four 140+ quicks whenever we can. When we play in Durban,PE or Cape Town then Keshav has to play. Which means Muthusamy must sit out and Mulder should play even though those are the venues he will probably be most useful as he is good against spin and his bowling will come into it more. I think the rotation should just stop, give Mulder a long uninterrupted run and if he doesn't do his job THEN look elsewhere. No more single tests here and there.
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StephenZA
Hall of Fame Member
Not even close... at least you can understand what they trying to do, whereas most of the other recent selections had no long term purpose in trying to rebuild a squad and team. I don't think either Muthusamy or Linde should be in the squad. Neither are actually good enough with the bat to truly be an international no 7 with the bat. And if you need extra spinning options, then it should be Harmer and Subrayen.
I`ve come around to thinking that Sean Whitehead deserves a better shot at the 1st div level... he needs to be tested more and see if he can start bringing his good results to that level.
I would prefer us play Mulder at 7 for a good few tests, along with Maharaj and rotate the fast bowlers (Jansen, Nortje, Rabada, Ngidi, Coetzee) based on injury and workload.
I was an advocate for a 7/4 split for a long time, but you need those extra overs from a 5th bowler. Maybe if you go for a rotation policy for the fast bowlers can play the extra pure bat. But it is risky, maybe less risky with the current injury replacement allowed?
Nintendo
Cricketer Of The Year
Mulder's batting has come a long way in the past year and I don't think anyone ever doubted that his bowling was 5th bowler level at test right? Just play your 3 best pacers+mulder+spinner and you have an attack that's good enough to take 20 wickets in SENA. Give mulder a run of 5-10 straight tests and if he ****s up bin him.
Bahseph
State Captain
Whilst I appreciate that it's nice to actually understand why a coach/selectors are doing something, I honestly do not like the idea of continuous rotation at 7. So you played Muthusamy at 7,he didn't do anything with the bat(but neither did anyone bar Markram and Elgar in the first dig) and bowled just 8 overs. If you bin him after one Test what have you learnt? We have seen the same scenario play out with Mulder before and it has hampered his growth imo.
Dendarii
International Debutant
Agreed. I don't think it's a good selection policy to drop players after one test as it puts way too much pressure on them. So I'd be OK with Muthusamy getting another chance to prove whether he can do anything the bat. And in defence of his bowling, he was the most economical of the bowlers, which was all you would realistically expect from him at Centurion.
I'm actually on board with what Conrad's trying to do with Muthusamy and Mulder i.e. pick the best four specialist bowlers for the conditions and then the appropriate allrounder. The question is whether we have the personnel to do that, and more specifically the spin allrounder as everyone here would agree on Mulder's credentials.
Muthusamy and Linde on paper are the leading candidates, but are they good enough with the bat? They are at least a step up from the previous regime's idea of playing Jansen or Harmer at 7, but replacing an utterly terrible idea with one that's still a little questionable isn't the way to go.
The other options I can think of - Bjorn Fortuin, Kyle Simmonds, Diego Rosier - are even weaker batsmen, so aren't really options. Maybe Bryce Parsons down the line, but it's still a bit early to pick him.
StephenZA
Hall of Fame Member
I’m just commenting on the overall selection. I think giving Muthusamy a chance to prove himself is right in this circumstance. Caveat though, we (SA selection/coach) must not hold on to players out of a sense of rightness and loyalty if they are not good enough. Or if there is clearly better options.
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
If he was dropped for Linde I think that'd be too harsh (even though I rate Linde higher) but I think there's a difference between a straight dropping like that and rethinking the balance of the side.
You can still effectively leave him in his position as "#1 spin-bowling allrounder" without picking that type of player in every match. I'd go with Mulder and Maharaj in for Muthusamy and Coetzee.
You can still effectively leave him in his position as "#1 spin-bowling allrounder" without picking that type of player in every match. I'd go with Mulder and Maharaj in for Muthusamy and Coetzee.
Dendarii
International Debutant
I think he only really plays on pace-friendly wickets, like the two in this series. Maharaj is unlikely to be any more effective, so it's four quicks and Muthusamy.
On more regular wickets which will give something for the spinner Maharaj comes in and Mulder is the allrounder. If two spinners are needed they should be Maharaj and Harmer, with Mulder the allrounder there as well.
Nortje to miss Wanderers Test
Proteas fast bowler Anrich Nortje has been released from the squad for the second Test against the West Indies at the Wanderers, which starts on Wednesday.
