South Africa team selection

[TT Boy]

I think Maharaj's batting going down the toilet makes Linde a far more attractive option in T20s. I would still pick Maharaj on bowling alone, and he and Linde could play together, but I think the batting is a real issue now.

 

[SeamUp]

For India/Pakistan we could get excitingly funky.

Markram
Rickelton
Bavuma
Stubbs
Pretorius (wk)
Brevis
C Bosch/Mulder
Muthusamy
M Jansen
Rabada
Maharaj

Obviously don't think it would happen as Bedders might still have some rope & Verreynne has scored 4 test match hundreds & I'm still thinking how we could fit him in.

 

[GRAB]

For India/Pakistan we could get excitingly funky.

Markram
Rickelton
Bavuma
Stubbs
Pretorius (wk)
Brevis
C Bosch/Mulder
Muthusamy
M Jansen
Rabada
Maharaj

Obviously don't think it would happen as Bedders might still have some rope & Verreynne has scored 4 test match hundreds & I'm still thinking how we could fit him in.

Isn't Rickelton a more regular keeper than Pretorius?

 

[SeamUp]

Isn't Rickelton a more regular keeper than Pretorius?

We need Rickelton to be an opener.

I need to see Lhu's keeping more but all word he is more than capable. It's why I said, I need to more than likely find a spot for Verreynne but the option above might be there.

Stubbs is the future. Probably our most likely future captain in 5+ years. Bedders is the one under the pump still, he needs to show more consistency at his age with the amount of FC cricket behind him.

 

[govinda indian fan]

For India/Pakistan we could get excitingly funky.

Markram
Rickelton
Bavuma
Stubbs
Pretorius (wk)
Brevis
C Bosch/Mulder
Muthusamy
M Jansen
Rabada
Maharaj

Obviously don't think it would happen as Bedders might still have some rope & Verreynne has scored 4 test match hundreds & I'm still thinking how we could fit him in.

You guys need to pick linde for sc. Imo he is better then kesh

 

[govinda indian fan]

Isn't Rickelton a more regular keeper than Pretorius?

No verreynne

 

[SeamUp]

You guys need to pick linde for sc. Imo he is better then kesh

Big fan of Linde but his red-ball bowling has dropped off massively. Probably the 2nd spinner at his Province now.

Only chance we will see him is white-ball cricket now as a package.

 

[govinda indian fan]

Big fan of Linde but his red-ball bowling has dropped off massively. Probably the 2nd spinner at his Province now.

Only chance we will see him is white-ball cricket now as a package.

Oh but kesh doesn't look threatening in sc anway if kg lifts his hand up might not need kesh

 

[SeamUp]

It's Peter Pollock's 84th Birthday today.

Plugging this great interview with Cricinfo's Cricket Monthly.

Not only a great fast bowler but an innovative chief selector with coach Bob Woolmer in the 1990s. How many great selections did he make & back with not much domestic performance behind them & they became legends.

'Successful sportsmen are wired to think they can do the job'

Peter Pollock talks about playing on the back lawn with his brother, South Africa's isolation from international sport, and a sweet victory at Trent Bridge

www.thecricketmonthly.com

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

We need Rickelton to be an opener.

I need to see Lhu's keeping more but all word he is more than capable. It's why I said, I need to more than likely find a spot for Verreynne but the option above might be there.

Stubbs is the future. Probably our most likely future captain in 5+ years. Bedders is the one under the pump still, he needs to show more consistency at his age with the amount of FC cricket behind him.

I wouldn't burden Pretorius with the gloves , long term I just don't seem him being a regular keeper with his size and frame .

 

[SeamUp]

I wouldn't burden Pretorius with the gloves , long term I just don't seem him being a regular keeper with his size and frame .

Agreed. Was just trying to get funky but Verreynne is the best wicket-keeper in the country by a country mile and has 4 test tons. He will defo play in Asia.

Lhu maybe as a back-up for white-ball. Long term test number #4.

 

[StephenZA]

The opening position could become stacked if J. Hermann has another good FC season...

 

[GRAB]

I've seen Qeshile pull off some amazing stunts, but his batting went off when EP pushed him up from 6/7...

 

[SeamUp]

Loved the content Proteas have been putting up on social media of late with handing out of tests caps and other things.

Polly's speech for Kesh getting to 200 test wickets.

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[SeamUp]

Since re-admission, first time Test centurion-makers for SA by year

1992: A Hudson, K Wessels, H Cronje
1993: J Rhodes, D Cullinan
1994: P Kirsten
1995: D Richardson, B McMillan, G Kirsten
1996:
1997: L Klusener, J Kallis
1998: P Symcox
1999: M Boucher, H Gibbs
2000: N McKenzie, B Dippenaar
2001: S Pollock
2002: G Smith
2003: J Rudolph
2004: A Hall
2005: AB De Villiers, A Prince
2006: H Amla
2007:
2008: JP Duminy
2009:
2010: A Petersen
2011:
2012: F du Plessis
2013: D Elgar
2014: S van Zyl
2015:
2016: T Bavuma, Q de Kock, S Cook
2017: A Markram
2018: T de Bruyn
2019:
2020:
2021:
2022: K Verreynne, S Erwee
2023:
2024: D Bedingham, T Stubbs, T de Zorzi, W Mulder, R Rickelton
2025: L Pretorius, C Bosch

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

Since re-admission, first time Test centurion-makers for SA by year

1992: A Hudson, K Wessels, H Cronje
1993: J Rhodes, D Cullinan
1994: P Kirsten
1995: D Richardson, B McMillan, G Kirsten
1996:
1997: L Klusener, J Kallis
1998: P Symcox
1999: M Boucher, H Gibbs
2000: N McKenzie, B Dippenaar
2001: S Pollock
2002: G Smith
2003: J Rudolph
2004: A Hall
2005: AB De Villiers, A Prince
2006: H Amla
2007:
2008: JP Duminy
2009:
2010: A Petersen
2011:
2012: F du Plessis
2013: D Elgar
2014: S van Zyl
2015:
2016: T Bavuma, Q de Kock, S Cook
2017: A Markram
2018: T de Bruyn
2019:
2020:
2021:
2022: K Verreynne, S Erwee
2023:
2024: D Bedingham, T Stubbs, T de Zorzi, W Mulder, R Rickelton
2025: L Pretorius, C Bosch

2019-2021 was a real drought !

 

[SeamUp]

2019-2021 was a real drought !

It certainly wasn't due to having a settled top 6

That period was arguably our most depressing since coming back.

 

[StephenZA]

It certainly wasn't due to having a settled top 6

That period was arguably our most depressing since coming back.

It started in 2017... Culminating in what we saw during that period.

 

[SeamUp]

South African test cricket captains with Keshav Maharaj to be the latest.

Matches captained/wins/draws/losses

Owen Dunell (1889) 1/0/0/1
William Milton (1889-92) 2/0/0/2
Alfred Richards (1896) 1/0/0/1
Barberton Halliwell (1896-1902) 3/0/0/3
Murray Bisset (1899) 2/0/0/2
Biddy Anderson (1902) 1/0/0/1
Henry Taberer (1902) 1/0/1/0
Percy Sherwell (1906-11) 13/5/2/6
Tip Snooke (1910) 5/3/0/2
Frank Mitchell (1912) 3/0/0/3
Louis Tancred (1912) 3/0/1/2

Herbie Taylor (1913-24) 18/1/7/10
Nummy Deane (1927-31) 12/2/6/4
Eiulf Buster Nupen (1930) 1/1/0/0
Jock Cameron (1931-32) 9/2/2/5
Herby Wade (1935-36) 10/1/5/4

Alan Melville (1938-47) 10/0/6/4
Dudley Nourse (1948-51) 15/1/5/9
Jack Cheetham (1952-55) 15/7/3/5
Jackie McGlew (1955-62) 14/4/4/6
Clive van Ryneveld (1956-58) 8/2/2/4
Trevor Goddard (1963-65) 13/1/10/2
Peter van der Merwe (1965-67) 8/4/3/1
Ali Bacher (1970) 4/4/0/0

Eddie Barlow
Barry Richards
Mike Procter
Peter Kirsten
Clive Rice
Jimmy Cook

Kepler Wessels (1992-94) 16/5/8/3
Hansie Cronje (1994-00) 53/27/15/11
Gary Kirsten (1998) 1/0/1/0
Shaun Pollock (2000-03) 26/14/7/5
Mark Boucher (2002) 4/2/0/2
Graeme Smith (2003/14) 108/53/27/28
Ashwell Prince (2006) 2/0/0/2
Jacques Kallis (2006-09) 2/1/0/1
Hashim Amla (2014-16) 14/4/6/4
AB De Villiers (2016-17) 3/2/0/1
Faf du Plessis (2016-20) 36/18/3/15
Dean Elgar (2017-24) 18/9/1/8
Quinton de Kock (2020-21) 4/2/0/2
Temba Bavuma (2023-25) 10/9/1/0
Aiden Markram (2024) 2/2/0/0
Neil Brand (2024) 2/0/0/2
Keshav Maharaj (2025)

Wiaan Mulder (2025)

6 different captains in our last 14 tests

Mulder one of our youngest post isolation.

Smith 22
Cronje 25
Boucher 26
Pollock & Mulder 27

 

[Stefan9]

Those kg with the new ball stats are just insane. Especially when we consider he didn't have much luck vs Sri Lanka and Pakistan last summer.