I have done an analysis on the issue iro the series against India and SA, the Australia - SA series and the present SA - Pakistan series.
There remains a problem that has as yet not being solved and the problem relates ibn the main to a reasonable strike rate being in the majority of cases being too low and the fact is that players are out before really establishing themselves in batting.
Once you actually analyze the results it is found that -
* if De Kock is out early - the chances of winning or being competitive is near to zero;
* the run-per-over rate of Amla starts off quickly and then deteriorates badly - there are numerous examples of those in all the three series mentioned;
* Hendricks is always a way to slow a batsman when it comes to RPO - in the Aussie series last year it was below 3.3 rpo;
* Markram had two poor innings against India in the first two ODI's - but afterwards in that series he did much better and same can be said about the Australia series. His RPO rate always was circa 5,7 rpo.
There is no way that top batsmen in a series can bat at a rpo rate of lower than 5 and without making a reasonable score. Amla is a bad problem as an example. In the latest ODI Amla scored 12 runs in over 3 - but in the rest of the game his RPO rate was 3,75 - which is way below what it should be, Another example was in the previous ODI - where his RPO rate in the time he made 50 runs of 52 balls and in the latter stage he made 52 runs of 67 balls, with the rpo rate being 4,65. That also is too low. That is where Mark Nicholas made a remark on the way the game was played. I think that it may be better to move Amla to bat at 6 - which may be enough to score at the run rate he scores initially for the full game.
It is a shame that Hendricks is selected to play ahead of Markram.- he is not fitting into th scheme. That relates to all three series mentioned.
I would say that the batting order should be as follows::-
Markram
De Kock
Van der Dussen
Du Plessis
Miller
Amla
I would also think that Hamz needs to come into the picture. I would seriously think that he could be played ahead of Miller or even Amla.
The age maniac refers to a return of AB as a solution. The last two ODI's AB made a total of 37 runs off 42 balls against the Indians. He after that series announced his retirement from international cricket, The first series he played in subsequently was the Mzanzi series - where he was rather average in performance. Everyone will welcome him back to the team - but I think AB lost interest in playing international cricket and that would influence his performances. He probably realized that he would rather play recreational cricket like in the IPL and other short series (and make plenty of money from it) - but I think he would flatly refuse to submit himself to the pressure that comes with playing on international level.
bluebok
Senior player
3737 posts
Why is it that the Proteas just can't get the balance right? When we have a strong batting line up, our bowlers are iffy, when we have a world class bowling line up, as we do now, our batsmen are iffy. If we could just align those two things we'd be unstoppable. It has been the same story since readmission.