South Africa Thread

[Goughy]

I suspect this will probably be SA's WC X1

Graeme Smith
AB De Villiers
Jacques Kallis
Herschelle Gibbs
Ashwell Prince
Mark Boucher
Justin Kemp
Shaun Pollock
Andrew Hall
Andre Nel
Makhaya Ntini

I hope so. However, there is a good chance that either Robbie P will come in for Hall or Bosman for either Kemp or de Villiers. TBH, if there are slow tracks and potential uneven bounce Id far rather Dippenaar opened than de Villiers as dV prefers it coming on. But hey, I hope Im wrong and the squad isnt going to change now. I'd have de Villiers in the squad but if the tracks are a little slow or variable, I dont see him scoring bag fulls of runs.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Not Robbie P.I'm sure Dippanare isn't in the squad but I might be wrong.

 

[Prince EWS]

Without wanting target/quotas brought up for the umpteenth time.

I am seriously hoping SAs selection decisions do not derail what I think is their best chance to win the World Cup. They have a great core of an ODI side, its just that the peripheral players are a little dubious.

Starting with Dippenaar. Would any other team in the world leave a player at home (behind Bosman etc) that is still under 30 yrs old, has played in over 100 ODIs and averages over 40 with the bat in them?

Its even more curious when you consider that the last ODI series SA played in WI, Dippenaar was Man of the Series and he also has more ODI hundreds than De Villiers, Bosman, Prince and Kemp combined (he has 4 they have 1 (Kemp)).

Then the spinner selection. In a recent poll Peterson finished a distant 4th out of 4 in the "Spinner that SA Should Send to WC" stakes. Not only cant he play, everyone knows he cant. As mentioned in the CW review of the SA selection, he has 16 wickets in 33 games at an average of virtually 60.

Then the final seamers decision. I wouldnt have taken Steyn, but there are other options that are better than Telemachus. Never more than a journeyman seamer, he will be 34 by the time of the World Cup. Im not van der Wath's biggest fan (there are many that are) but I would see him as a better option.

This post isnt about the politics of selection. More that I really hope the selection policy doesnt damage what I think is a great chance of winning the World Cup.

Its a shame that a squad has been selected that few, if any, would consider close to the strongest possible.

Great post. South Africa could have potentially damaged their chances of winning the World Cup with these ridiculous selections.

 

[Prince EWS]

I hope so. However, there is a good chance that either Robbie P will come in for Hall or Bosman for either Kemp or de Villiers. TBH, if there are slow tracks and potential uneven bounce Id far rather Dippenaar opened than de Villiers as dV prefers it coming on. But hey, I hope Im wrong and the squad isnt going to change now. I'd have de Villiers in the squad but if the tracks are a little slow or variable, I dont see him scoring bag fulls of runs.

In a perfect world, Dippenaar and De Villiers would both play and Prince would drop out. Dippenaar's non-selection is a disgrace.

 

[Richard]

Only if you don't believe in the meeting of targets.

 

[Radical Roo]

Prince

Despite Prince's recent rise to eminence in the SA test battling line up, im a little dubious of his selection at no.5 in the ODI line up. The way i see it is zat no.5 is one of the more important positions in the ODI, it's the one zat glues the top and low order together. So you need someone zat can battle out an inning against quality attack as well as slogging the ball at will. So for a player like Mike Hussey would be the perfect no.5 in ODI. For SA, i believe we should place Boucher here at no.5. We just cant have two anchor players in one team at ODI (Kallis + Prince).

 

[Richard]

Jacobus Andreas Rudolph would IMO be far better.

 

[jot1]

Jacobus Andreas Rudolph would IMO be far better.

He's playing for an English County at the moment.

 

[Richard]

He's playing for an English County at the moment.

Unfortunately.

Yet I just wonder whether he'd have an abrupt mind-change were he to be a star of SA's victorious Cup campaign...

 

[Corli]

I don't you if anyone's seen this...from the March-April issue of the SA Cricket magazine:

Allan Donald's first XI -

Smith, De Villiers, Kallis, Gibbs, Prince, Kemp, Pollock, Peterson, Nel, Langeveldt, Ntini

Now why on earth would he leave out Boucher and let the tail start at 8? It's a complete mystery to me..

 

[Richard]

Robin Peterson ahead of Boucher...?

Wonder what Mr. B has done to upset Mr. D of late...

 

[Perm]

Poor work there White Lightning, Boucher should be in there instead of Robbie P and I don't know why he picked Langeveldt over Andrew Hall.

 

[Craig]

Loots Bosman, cricket's greatest freeloader?

 

[Craig]

I don't you if anyone's seen this...from the March-April issue of the SA Cricket magazine:

Allan Donald's first XI -

Smith, De Villiers, Kallis, Gibbs, Prince, Kemp, Pollock, Peterson, Nel, Langeveldt, Ntini

Now why on earth would he leave out Boucher and let the tail start at 8? It's a complete mystery to me..

Great bowler but...

Was he drunk? It's farcial when team's drop a specialist 'keeper and play a part-timer to get an extra batsman or bowler. What a vote of no-confidence.

 

[Richard]

Well he's normally not the worst cricket-understander, either, but... I wonder what's addled his brains when making that selection?

 

[Corli]

I'm glad to see that you agree with me that Allan Donald was a bit strange with that selection, I thought the fact that Boucher is one of my favourite players might have skewed my perspective.

Loots Bosman, cricket's greatest freeloader?

Well, in his defense, he is a pretty good Pro20 player...Oh, wait, this is an ODI tournament. Yes, agree with you.

 

[Richard]

I thought the fact that Boucher is one of my favourite players might have skewed my perspective.

I doubt it, I'd imagine most people just think a SA team without Boucher is like a moon without the crescent. I know I certainly do.

 

[Langeveldt]

Wow, Allan Donald, I'm disappointed

I'd have Langeveldt over Hall though

 

[Swervy]

I doubt it, I'd imagine most people just think a SA team without Boucher is like a moon without the crescent. I know I certainly do.

what about a full moon???

Lets hope Boucher has a better world cup this time round, coz he was awful in the last one I seem to recall

 

[Corli]

Lets hope Boucher has a better world cup this time round, coz he was awful in the last one I seem to recall

He wasn't that bad, scored 49, 10, 21 and 45*. It's probably because he was batting when the rain/calculations/tie fiasco occured that he's not fondly remembered.But I do hope he has a good tournament, he's in the batting form of his life.