State of SA

[slcricfan1]

Do you think Temba is good enough at test level Solan? I know he is getting some runs here but he has got 1 century in 46 games, that is enough to convince me that he is not as good as even say JP Duminy or Ashwell Prince.

Amongst colored players, esp Black players, who do you see as coming through ? That is actually more important.

I like Bavuma, he`s a fighter from what I`ve seen

[jaybro]

I find it amusing that the Bavum fan boys on Twitter are blaming his batting position for his lack of big scores, apparently it’s hard to bat @5 in test cricket because he always runs out of partners.

They also like to defer blame to Markram as a way of deflecting criticism of Bavuma, by saying that he’s lucky to come at the beginning of the innings so he has lots of time to score!!!

Oh where is Hhm when you need him

[sam_ahm]

This test match is very evenly poised and very entertaining to watch. South Africa have done well to get where they are, but you just can’t trust their batting at the moment (I can’t believe how inexperienced their side is atm).

I don’t know why they picked Maharaj? Was it a quota pick? They have 4 black players but he’s the only other coloured guy so I guess they’re one short of their target?

Playing a spinner on a pitch like this against India and not bowling him bat one over is the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen in a while.
Another batsman would have been real handy right about now & im sure that along with the incredible amount of extras they have away will come back to haunt them.

Maharaj is almost certainly a transformation pick for this match. George Linde is a much better batter and could have easily been picked for this game just in case they wanted a spinning option. Else could have played Rickelton as a proper batsman.

[Tinah09]

I find it amusing that the Bavum fan boys on Twitter are blaming his batting position for his lack of big scores, apparently it’s hard to bat @5 in test cricket because he always runs out of partners.

They also like to defer blame to Markram as a way of deflecting criticism of Bavuma, by saying that he’s lucky to come at the beginning of the innings so he has lots of time to score!!!

Oh where is Hhm when you need him

Nothing grinds my gears like watching a cricketer who has had every opportunity to succeed thrown at him, fails and have asinine excuses made for him. Bavuma has had several tests, some as captain , batting comfortably in the middle-order. People should just accept that he is average at best, he would never had got a look-in in the classic SA teams of a decade ago. However, unfortunately he fits well in this largely uninspiring Proteas team

[secretzimbo]

I find it amusing that the Bavum fan boys on Twitter are blaming his batting position for his lack of big scores, apparently it’s hard to bat @5 in test cricket because he always runs out of partners.

They also like to defer blame to Markram as a way of deflecting criticism of Bavuma, by saying that he’s lucky to come at the beginning of the innings so he has lots of time to score!!!

Oh where is Hhm when you need him

Nothing grinds my gears like watching a cricketer who has had every opportunity to succeed thrown at him, fails and have asinine excuses made for him. Bavuma has had several tests, some as captain , batting comfortably in the middle-order. People should just accept that he is average at best, he would never had got a look-in in the classic SA teams of a decade ago. However, unfortunately he fits well in this largely uninspiring Proteas team

I think Bavuma is very very talented. When he's really on it (quite rare) he is a joy to watch. He's extremely capable.

The problem of course is that he has had virtually no competition for his place his entire career and is unlikely to have any. Quotas ensure he is guaranteed of his place and thus he has never had to really fight his way in. A half century here and there and thats all he needs. He's picked by default.

If he had been competing for a place in the side on an equal footing with everyone else then he probably would have become a much better player than he is now. That's the problem.

[Tinah09]

I find it amusing that the Bavum fan boys on Twitter are blaming his batting position for his lack of big scores, apparently it’s hard to bat @5 in test cricket because he always runs out of partners.

They also like to defer blame to Markram as a way of deflecting criticism of Bavuma, by saying that he’s lucky to come at the beginning of the innings so he has lots of time to score!!!

Oh where is Hhm when you need him

Nothing grinds my gears like watching a cricketer who has had every opportunity to succeed thrown at him, fails and have asinine excuses made for him. Bavuma has had several tests, some as captain , batting comfortably in the middle-order. People should just accept that he is average at best, he would never had got a look-in in the classic SA teams of a decade ago. However, unfortunately he fits well in this largely uninspiring Proteas team

I think Bavuma is very very talented. When he's really on it (quite rare) he is a joy to watch. He's extremely capable.

The problem of course is that he has had virtually no competition for his place his entire career and is unlikely to have any. Quotas ensure he is guaranteed of his place and thus he has never had to really fight his way in. A half century here and there and thats all he needs. He's picked by default.

If he had been competing for a place in the side on an equal footing with everyone else then he probably would have become a much better player than he is now. That's the problem.

This critique will be valid if he was the worst batsman in the SA team, based on either career average or the ongoing test match, he is not. In fact Elgar is the only batsman who has outperformed him. When I hear the degrading term “quota player” I expect to see an underserving, pathetic black cricketer surrounded by white cricketing excellence, letting the team down, putting up the worst performances in the team. I’m no Themba fan, but he not that, he’s one of two SA cricketers that has managed to score 50+ in the ongoing test. The likes of van Dussen, Mulder haven’t done anything of note, yet for some reason Themba is the undeserving one?? How does that work?

[Tinah09]

This test match is very evenly poised and very entertaining to watch. South Africa have done well to get where they are, but you just can’t trust their batting at the moment (I can’t believe how inexperienced their side is atm).

I don’t know why they picked Maharaj? Was it a quota pick? They have 4 black players but he’s the only other coloured guy so I guess they’re one short of their target?

Playing a spinner on a pitch like this against India and not bowling him bat one over is the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen in a while.
Another batsman would have been real handy right about now & im sure that along with the incredible amount of extras they have away will come back to haunt them.

Maharaj is almost certainly a transformation pick for this match. George Linde is a much better batter and could have easily been picked for this game just in case they wanted a spinning option. Else could have played Rickelton as a proper batsman.

Don’t assume that any of these domestic superstars will become stats on the international stage. Plus SA plays tons of SA A games, if these guys are not scoring centuries and double centuries and taking 5 ford and 10 wicket hauls against Namibia select and “Emerging Zimbabwe”, then I think we should tamper down the premature coronation of these players as the next big international superstars

[Tinah09]

SA has never had a top calibre spin bowler in the vein of Ray Price, Warne, Murali,Ashton, only a few promising ones who did not really amount to much. At times SA did away with the pretence of having specialist spinners and stuck 4 seamers in the team. So Maharaj fits in right well with the legacy of SA spinners

[secretzimbo]

Nothing grinds my gears like watching a cricketer who has had every opportunity to succeed thrown at him, fails and have asinine excuses made for him. Bavuma has had several tests, some as captain , batting comfortably in the middle-order. People should just accept that he is average at best, he would never had got a look-in in the classic SA teams of a decade ago. However, unfortunately he fits well in this largely uninspiring Proteas team

I think Bavuma is very very talented. When he's really on it (quite rare) he is a joy to watch. He's extremely capable.

The problem of course is that he has had virtually no competition for his place his entire career and is unlikely to have any. Quotas ensure he is guaranteed of his place and thus he has never had to really fight his way in. A half century here and there and thats all he needs. He's picked by default.

If he had been competing for a place in the side on an equal footing with everyone else then he probably would have become a much better player than he is now. That's the problem.

This critique will be valid if he was the worst batsman in the SA team, based on either career average or the ongoing test match, he is not. In fact Elgar is the only batsman who has outperformed him. When I hear the degrading term “quota player” I expect to see an underserving, pathetic black cricket surrounded by white cricketing excellence, letting the team down, putting up the worst performances in the team. I’m no Themba fan, but he not that, he’s one of two SA cricketers that has managed to score 50+ in the ongoing test. The likes of van Dussen, Mulder haven’t done anything of note, yet for some reason Themba is the undeserving one?? How does that work?

I thought you were just calling him a failure and average? I'm not sure I follow whether you are attacking or defending him?

He's good enough to not be a quota player. But at the end of the day, he is one. He knows it. That's why he's never reached his potential.

If race wasn't a thing he'd have had to fight much harder to get into the team in the first place and to retain his place amongst very tough competition. And I think he is talented enough to be able to. He's got really good ability to have genuinely won a place in the team.

But he's never had to fight. So he muddles along and relaxes. Because of the quota.

I'm praising Temba. I'm criticising the system.

[Tinah09]

I think Bavuma is very very talented. When he's really on it (quite rare) he is a joy to watch. He's extremely capable.

The problem of course is that he has had virtually no competition for his place his entire career and is unlikely to have any. Quotas ensure he is guaranteed of his place and thus he has never had to really fight his way in. A half century here and there and thats all he needs. He's picked by default.

If he had been competing for a place in the side on an equal footing with everyone else then he probably would have become a much better player than he is now. That's the problem.

This critique will be valid if he was the worst batsman in the SA team, based on either career average or the ongoing test match, he is not. In fact Elgar is the only batsman who has outperformed him. When I hear the degrading term “quota player” I expect to see an underserving, pathetic black cricket surrounded by white cricketing excellence, letting the team down, putting up the worst performances in the team. I’m no Themba fan, but he not that, he’s one of two SA cricketers that has managed to score 50+ in the ongoing test. The likes of van Dussen, Mulder haven’t done anything of note, yet for some reason Themba is the undeserving one?? How does that work?

I thought you were just calling him a failure and average? I'm not sure I follow whether you are attacking or defending him?

He's good enough to not be a quota player. But at the end of the day, he is one. He knows it. That's why he's never reached his potential.

If race wasn't a thing he'd have had to fight much harder to get into the team in the first place and to retain his place amongst very tough competition. And I think he is talented enough to be able to. He's got really good ability to have genuinely won a place in the team.

But he's never had to fight. So he muddles along and relaxes. Because of the quota.

I'm praising Temba. I'm criticising the system.

I said he is not a very good player (ie average at best) and people making excuses for him are deluding themselves. But due to the fact that he’s playing for arguably the worst SA team in decades, he fits in well. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. If Themba was in the Proteas team during the Kallis, Amla, AB, Smith, Prince etc era, then he would stick out like a sore thumb and a case could be made for calling him a transformation/quota player. But in this current proteas team who can’t score a century at home to save their lives, he’s the AB de Villiers of the team. Which is an indictment on how shitty this Proteas team is