Weakest South African side (all formats) since their readmission in 1991?

[Zinzan]

Agree with general consensus, there is no real top test side. Aus clearly a dominant ODI side, after that would argue that again the 2nd place team is pretty close between many. Would probably plump for NZ though.

T20, I feel like England are the best (I know the Windies won the WT20 and it is hard to argue against them) now we have added Mills. He adds that x-factor with 93 MPH yorkers and 70 mph slower balls.

Our record over our last 15 T20 internationals is pretty great as well.

In T20s I feel NZ and Eng are probably equal 2nd behind the Windies and very slightly ahead of India.

Still dark about that T20 WC semi when NZ were 91/1 after 10.2 overs before utterly capitulating in the 2nd half of their innings.

 

[91Jmay]

Reckon we are better than NZ just because of our batting. Not sure many of the Kiwi batsmen make it into the England side.

 

[Gob]

Reckon we are better than NZ just because of our batting. Not sure many of the Kiwi batsmen make it into the England side.

Wut?England have two proven batsmen in their top five

 

[OverratedSanity]

Wut?England have two proven batsmen in their top five

Better depth

 

[Gob]

Better depth

4sure but I assume that NZ 'batsmen' will be competing for England's top order spots if they are available for England's selection so KW and RT will easily make it and Latham wouldn't be far off either.

 

[91Jmay]

Wouldn't even have Williamson in our top 8 available T20 batsmen. Wouldn't think Taylor anywhere near either, then again if Morgan gets picked Taylor would ahead of him.

Latham? Is that a joke?

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

I think he means tests.

 

[Zinzan]

Reckon we are better than NZ just because of our batting. Not sure many of the Kiwi batsmen make it into the England side.

Sure, England have an edge in batting, although there's a good case for Guptill, Munro & possibly even Anderson making their T20 top 6 batting. But I think in Sodhi and Santner, NZ have the edge in T20 bowling, Sodhi in particular has been a revelation in this form.

And let's not forget although we played spinners in India, Boult is the no.1 ranked ODI bowler in the world, so in non-subcontinental conditions he and McClenaghan and Milne ( when fit is our 150+ km answer to Mills) are all a good short form bowlers. Lol we're well and truly off- topic now.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Yeah England's LO batting is firing in all cylinders now. The test batting, although looks thin on paper, is greatly benefited by the strong lower order of Bairstow, Stokes, Ali, Woakes.

 

[Zinzan]

I think he means tests.

No, we were talking T20Is..

My current combined NZ/Eng T20 side would look something like;

Roy
Guptill
Munro
Root
Anderson
Buttler+
Stokes
Santner
Willey
Milne/McClenaghan/Plunkett/Mills
Sodhi

Neither Williamson or Morgan make the side, Morgan isn't quite the clean hitter he was 5 or so years ago, and both equally struggled to impress in the IPL and only played 6 & 7 games respectfully for Hyderabad. Neither make the top 4, and for numbers 5 down I'd prefer the hitting power of Anderson, Buttler & Stokes.

My skipper would either be Guptill or Root


What's yours 91JMay?

 

[andruid]

When do South Africa go on tour next. Would be good time to know if they are really as weak as the ranking suggests

 

[StephenZA]

When do South Africa go on tour next. Would be good time to know if they are really as weak as the ranking suggests

SA have an arbitrary 2 test series against NZ in SA in Aug, then a 3 test series in Aus in Nov, followed by 3 tests against SL in Dec/Jan. And think we play against Eng next year (mid-year) sometime. Along with a whole bunch of silly LO stuff in-between...

 

[ImpatientLime]

batting buttler at 6 below munro and anderson?

jesus

 

[91Jmay]

No, we were talking T20Is..

My current combined NZ/Eng T20 side would look something like;

Roy
Guptill
Munro
Root
Anderson
Buttler+
Stokes
Santner
Willey
Milne/McClenaghan/Plunkett/Mills
Sodhi

Neither Williamson or Morgan make the side, Morgan isn't quite the clean hitter he was 5 or so years ago, and both equally struggled to impress in the IPL and only played 6 & 7 games respectfully for Hyderabad. Neither make the top 4, and for numbers 5 down I'd prefer the hitting power of Anderson, Buttler & Stokes.

My skipper would either be Guptill or Root


What's yours 91JMay?

I realise it is a bit stupid because England don't even play him but I can't describe how highly I rate Billings so he'd be in there probably for Anderson. Not seen him do much in T20 cricket for quite a while.

Hales/Roy is a difficult one, but I'd plump Roy just because of the batting depth of the rest of the team makes a consistent scorer at a lower rate less valuable.

Roy
Guptill
Root
Munro
Buttler+
Billings
Stokes
Santner
Willey
Jordan
Sodhi

Would be mine. Jordan is a legit very good T20 bowler now I reckon. Mills to be the best English T20 bowler within 12 months though, just need to see more of him in international cricket to be sure.

They are pretty even teams though, no doubt. 5 bowlers a bit of a risk but Root can turn his arm over for 1 if you need him to.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Roy
Guptill
Munro
Root
Anderson
Buttler+
Stokes
Santner
Willey
Milne/McClenaghan/Plunkett/Mills
Sodhi

quite interesting because I wouldn't think any of the bolded players above would probably even get close to getting picked in the Australian side, yet the Australian side which is full of stars can't win a game to save their lives

 

[Zinzan]

quite interesting because I wouldn't think any of the bolded players above would probably even get close to getting picked in the Australian side, yet the Australian side which is full of stars can't win a game to save their lives

Nah, you're just overrating your Australia T20 players, just as they tend to do in IPL auctions. Sodhi is a legit WC T20 bowler now who rarely gets collared. Roy, Sodhi, Willey and possibly Milne all make the Aust T20 side IMHO.

 

[Zinzan]

I realise it is a bit stupid because England don't even play him but I can't describe how highly I rate Billings so he'd be in there probably for Anderson. Not seen him do much in T20 cricket for quite a while.

Hales/Roy is a difficult one, but I'd plump Roy just because of the batting depth of the rest of the team makes a consistent scorer at a lower rate less valuable.

Roy
Guptill
Root
Munro
Buttler+
Billings
Stokes
Santner
Willey
Jordan
Sodhi

Would be mine. Jordan is a legit very good T20 bowler now I reckon. Mills to be the best English T20 bowler within 12 months though, just need to see more of him in international cricket to be sure.

They are pretty even teams though, no doubt. 5 bowlers a bit of a risk but Root can turn his arm over for 1 if you need him to.

Yeah I think Jordan is very overrated and he's nowhere near my side. Goes at nearly 9s in T20Is. Either way, there's very little in it between the two sides which is why I'm surprised you can categorically say one is clearly better.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Nah, you're just overrating your Australia T20 players, just as they tend to do in IPL auctions. Sodhi is a legit WC T20 bowler now who rarely gets collared. Roy, Sodhi, Willey and possibly Milne all make the Aust T20 side IMHO.

tbh imo you're strongly overrating the NZ players, but that's understandable, we're probably both doing it a little

 

[91Jmay]

Australia are **** at T20. Warner and Starc are world class players, the rest are much of a muchness.

Yeah there probably isn't that much difference between Eng/NZ. I do think we have more match winners with the bat though. Buttler, Roy, Root, Stokes capable of innings that Guptil and Munro probably only are for NZ.

Wasn't that England have like 11 better players than NZ just the players we do have that are better are match winners.

 

[Zinzan]

Agree England have the edge in batting, but NZ return the compliment with their T20 bowling resources.