2nd test vs Pakistan

And by the way....that’s exactly how he went in the first innings....through a huge gap between bat and pad.

Hopefully Ockie comes in tomorrow and attacks the bowling and gets lucky.

Now remind us in the first innings which batsmen did not do better than Elgar, Van der Dussen and Du Plessis.    so why are they protected by you on site?     There is still some hope for Van der Dussen - but on average his performances were much better than those of either Elgar and Du Plessis.    

Actually Mike I agree Faf seems diminished....ever since he never supported AB’s participation in the WC actually. Tomorrow is particularly important for him.

Faf failed again.

Luckily Bavuma's eye has remained in from the first innings. 160 to go.

Might be a close finish.

I'm officially on the drop Faf and Elgar bus.

The boys are holding up.

137 to go with 7 wickets in the bank + batting has gotten easier in the afternoon session.

It's interesting watching Bavuma bat.

By virtue of his stature, bowling has to be more accurate to him...a smaller danger zone. He can really punish bad lengths by getting onto the back foot more quickly than taller players and hit square where others wouldn't.

I think less accurate bowlers are probably better off targeting the pads/stumps to get him out.

Damn...2 wickets in 2 balls!..Golden Duck for Kokkie.

Oh for the love of all that is holy Quintie!!!

First ball! A goldie?

I'm starting to feel that Quintie is a fair-weather pro. He only seems to do well when he doesn't need to. When last has his bat pulled us out of the mire or even just been reliable?

Unbelievable. 

Bavuma gone too. We still need more than a ton.

Failed by batting again.

Pakistan scored less than 600 runs across 2 innings in this test. Meaning our bowlers came to the party.

A first-innings 350 and a second-innings 250 are not unreasonable asks from a Proteas batting line-up. 

We can probably/hopefully expect changes.

So the Proteas lost the test series against Pakistan and he question is why did it happen:-

Batting

The question remains we are supposed  to have international level batsmen and that si where the team failed the worst:-

De Kock             -        46 runs                            =   11,50  average

Du Plessis          -         55 runs                            =   13,75  average

Elgar                  -        119 runs                           =   29,75 average

Van der Dussen  -       134 runs                           =   31,70  average

Bavuma              -        161 runs                         =    40,25 average

Markram            -       224 runs                           =    56.00 average

The first four batsmen should share the blame for the loss between themselves.   Any average below 35 in a two test series is unacceptable.  

Poor fielding

The fielding was atrocious and the 7 missed catches costa at least another 100 runs being scored by the  Pakistanis/   The worst offenders were Bavuma and Elgar - but Du Plessis and De Kock is also guilty,

What should be done to stop the rot?    

*    De Kock is  talented batsman  - but I think that he should get advice from a sport psychologist - something is not right in his top storey, He knows that the present team is going downhill fast and is personally seemingly disinterested in doing very little to correct the balance in the team,

*    Du Plessis, Elgar and Van der Dussen should be sent packing and an overdue rebuilding program should be initiated in the team as part and parcel of a  re-building program  

.   

Really...

what the hell did I just witness!

Faf... looks tired and really needs to be put to rest.

Elgar needs to be kicked up the ass. He has a few technical issues which can be worked on.

Bavuma... we are stuck with him... but he isn't embarrassing.

Rabada also looks tired. Dont know why though. Maybe just gatvol.

FD

The problem is that  Elgar is 33 years old  and  if you refer to his defective batting technique  after playing for the Proteas for years - he will not at that age correct anything,    

Everybody rave about his and Faf's batting against the SriLanans - but the team attack was so weak and injury-impaired  that any club player would do well against them,    Fact is that both were substandard  for the past two years and  at their age nothing for the better would happen.   Both suffer acutely from the 1:6 syndrome. - ie 1 good  game out of seven played and then they must be retained according to some.   

Aldo the provincial record of players like Elgar, Du Plessis  and  Van der Dussen is boit all that good when compared with some of the youngsters coming through,  is not all that good  compared to the  better provincial level  players - If they are average on provincial level - hiow can anything better be expected from them on international level?   

Elgar and Faf must go...Rassie on short time too. We need some bold decisions...