Elgar and Bavuma captains

Not at all surprised but shocked that they did not make Bavuma captain of both the tests and ODI's.

The only reason is that his test place is in jeopardy I guess and no one else is stupid enough to want the test captaincy.

This is perhaps the only way Elgar can stay in the squad.

So much for Boucher's management and input.

Dave with respect I did not think Markram was a candidate.     However, the appointments now made by CSA is totally devoid of all thinking ability.    They have F#cked up royally wioh those two decisions. 

Elgar was part of he failed batting line-up for two years until the recent SriLanka tests - his average hovered around 37,5 and in those two tests it went up to just over 40.    It is after the Pakistani series down to 39,81.     That is NOT good enough for an international batsman,   In any event he is 34 and will only become worse as a batsman - almost as bad as the fielder he already is.    

In the case of ODI's and  T20's  the situation is that the Proteas will now have to keep a place for him in the team ahead of a real attacking batsman.   If the team was selected on merit Bavuma would not be anywhere near the team.   He thus far has only played in 6 ODI's and because he was not out in some of those  and  in one of those he made 113 runs against Ireland his stats on national level were inflated.    On first class level his stats shows that he played in 96 matches and his average is 31.90.     He obviously is not up to international standard and will never be.              

While I hoped for improvement in SA cricket when Smith  and Boucher was appointed  I am now severely disappointed in those two.   The SA grading in World Cricket will leave SA as a joke in bad taste.    I can only say heaven help SA cricket - those two will not.   They are as bad as De Villiers, Meyer and Coetzee were as Springbok coaches - if not worse. 

By the way in shorter versions of the game Linde is a better option as a spin bowler than either Maharaj or Shamsi - since he score runs as well.   Maharaj is also a 30 years old already and as captain he chucked his  side - the Dolphins - down the drain in the recent T20 series final.     

They are playing for a bit of extra time...it's obviously a very short term arrangement .

That is perhaps so -  there are no test matches before July/August  when SA goes to  Bangla Desh.   I do not know what else is scheduled to happen in the form of tests this year,    

As to shorter versions of the games - the Pakistani visit in April and the tour to Ireland in June is all what is known at present.     Elgar is not a shorter version selection  candidate - but Du Plessis  wants to play in the T20 WC in India and may be muddying the water when it comes to selection.    The other flop bound to let down the Proteas is Reeza Hendricks who plays well on locallevel - but then flops on international level.

Pretty funny...

8 years back we had five potential skippers in the side.

Now we have Bavuma and Elgar.

Poor old SA. 

Devolving into oblivion seems an inevitable fate.

Mike

I'd love to hear...

Who's your first choice for test captain?

After reading the article about the appointments I would rather say that -

*     the actual decision on the captaincy issue came from  Smit nd Boucher together woth Mpitsang; and

*      if I was in De Kock's position with the great earnings he can make in T20 series like the IPL and similar series  all over the cricketing world he should tell Boucher and Smith to go and stuff themselves and announce his retirement from international cricket,  

He does not need the  CSA  shit and can easily accumulate wealth like AB does without having to put up with misfits like  Smith nd Boucher.    They are f#cking up SA cricket royally by their crazy team and captaincy selections.    He is on contract with Mumbai Indians anyway and will likely tell the crazies he will honor that contract and not play in the upcoming Pakustani series arranged after he signed the Mumbai Contract.  

After more than a year  since their appointment Smith and Boucher has proved that they are as couching and management "expertise" as bad as De Villiers, Meyer and Coetzee used to be in the rugby set-up.    Another proof that top players often fail totally when it comes to  management positions in the sport they were playing.  .               

Chippo

I would have accepted  Markram or any of the younger players as captain - definitely not  Elgar who has an average of under 40  on test level.    A test captain should set a performance example - Elgar does not,        

I think the Proteas would start going down further in the rankings than they already are.   We are going to the Zimbabwe  level on international level,.     All that because of the  poor management and  coaching set-up calling the shots,    

I'd also have gone with Markram to he honest.

I am a bit perplexed by Elgar's selection.

The only consideration may have been that Markram didn't want it right now as he is just finding his form again.

Chippo, think about that statement for a second.

If you need to pick and choose when you'll lead then you're not a leader.

Exactly why I liked Ponting so much as a captain. No matter what his form was like, it never affected his captaincy. Always in your face, always thinking ahead and never even a glimpse of the role being too much for him. 

Aside from your speculation about Markram's willingness, I'd add another and more abstract point for consideration.

Attrition and will - With some captains, one is NOT perpetually aware of the skipper's influence. MS Dhoni and Root are two examples that spring to mind. 

Markram, I fear, might fall into that category. Quintie was very vocal at times but one often struggled to see the team exerting his will on the opposition. I t's not it's about noise either. Timing, strategy and understanding when and how to motivate individuals. I don't know if Markram has that in him and what makes it worse is that there isn't a good leadership team in the squad. And all this is probably compounded by them playing in Smith's shadow too.

As much as I disliked Ponting the man, Ponting the captain was a great player to watch. 

On paper, Markram is probably the correct pick but it does look like he'll have a lot of growing into the role to do and I don't know where his support will come from.

I have no hope for the cricket team what so ever. Looks like all those many years of choking has final caught up and imploded. I think we are even worse off than Zimbabwe at this stage. 

Ever since AB jump shipped, never been the same team. 

We just don't have the batsman. We still seem to have a decent set of fast bowlers but would you. 

Markram and De Kock are the only 2 decent batsman, but they are not the ones that can anchor a team like Kallis and Amla did or AB that can swing a game for you. 

Just looked back  at that Great  Aussie team and all of them were averaging 45 plus. Gilchrist, Hayden, Ponting etc. 

We also had Gibbs, Amla, Smith, Kallis, De Villiers. Boucher wasn't the best batsman but he sure could hang around with determination

Could be our local comp being watered down, most of our  best player are on Kolpak and probably some of the old farts hanging around too long. The  latter  was true of Aus

Give it time, but there are no great leaders in the team ATM...the captain will be stand-in until the next natural leader step up to the plate....oh for a young Biff to the fore right now...