Under another thread I wrote the following:-
Mozart - you will never learn ever. The English played two warm up matches before the start of the test series and they drew both, So what happened in those two matches? The SA batsmen in both put up a much better and more competitive show than the Proteas team did in the test series, That showed how really poor the present test team is. Would the same happen in the ODI series as well? That will indicate where we are heading and where we need strengthening,
So let analyze the issue in respect of the batting performances in the pre-test matches and the tests itself:-
SA invitation side - 286 runs
SA "A" team - 326 runs
Test 1 - 284 and 272 runs
Test 2 - 223 and 248 runs
Test 3 - 209 and 237 runs
Test 4 - 183 and 274 runs
In not a single innings the Protea batsmen improved on the number of runs scored by the SA Invitation side and the nearest they got to the runs scored by the SA "A" side was 42 runs. Remember the scores were made against virtually the same bowlers as the English used in the tests, showing again how dismal the SA test batsmen were.
The analysis I made of the two games in Paal were done on the basis of whether the same tendency will happen in the upcoming ODI's and gather whether there should be lessons taken from what happened in the tests insofar as team selection is concerned.
This is maybe too high a level set for Mozart to comprehend.
So lets see what happens tomorrow - bearing in mind the scrappy SA Invitation side won the game on Saturday - helped by the D-L system applicable to shortened matches. The Invitation side had to score at more than 6 runs per over to win the match and they managed to do so,.