After the Proteas U19 team was thrashed by Afghanistan...thrashed by Bangladesh.... well beaten by the Windies and left languishing in the 7th place playoff game, at home! How the blue blazes can the right answer be a complete swing to youth.
Are they still playing cricket in school in South Africa?
Mozart
The total ignorant at work. All people on site criticized the Under 19 squad and gave good reasons for it. The fact is there are perhaps 2 to 3 players in the whole squad that could progress to higher levels in years to come.
Nobody wants all youngsters in the cricket squad and said that when performance is on par = preference should be given to younger players than to 30 years old and older. Comprehende?
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So okay....who are these youngsters who have proven they are ready for test cricket. I’m willing to learn.....please name them and tell me what they have done, against what opposition and what characteristics they display......that make a good case that they should replace Bavuma, van der Dussen and others.
I would not include Bavuna and Van der Dussen in the immediate replacement category, but with De Kock we have three remainers, That means we have to find tree others asap,
So who I think they should be replaced are -
* Janneman Malan
* Verreyne
* Anyone of the remaining players mentioned by Dave with Snyman being added as an opening batsman.
So I agree Janneman at 23 might have been a better bet than Pieter at 30. Dussen got into the one day team leading up to the WC, in which we had a shot....so choosing the best player for the tournament was reasonable.
Mozart
The honest thing to do is to look at performances of all existing players and when they fail constantly we should look at the reasons for their failure and chances of recovery of form/ In the case of older players recovering of form is rare since it relates to physical factors - for instance decrease of capacity in eye-hand co-ordination and slower reaction time.
The next issue is what chance has new players coming in at 29 to 30 year olds be able to build an international career? Is it not better to compare there provincial performances and i f there is no real differences bring in younger players with a real longer term career in international cricket?
The latter is apparently the approach in most countries bar South Africa, Look for instance at India and England in that regard. That is why a player like Verreyne should have been introduced earlier than he was - he is in the ODI squad already and should be used asap in giving him playing time, But the other part is that Verreyne is a wicket keeper as well and that could be important - since it would lighten the load on De Kock. It is becoming clear that the latter is the future captain of SA on test level - he is already the captain on the ODI and T20I level,
If there is on test level a problem in dropping both openers of the past season - Pieter Malan and Elgar - consideration should ne given to replacing them with Janneman Malan and Snyman - the latter being an opener who did very well against the same England bowlers the present openers struggled against.
Mozart
Just another question - was the Under 19 team any worse than the Proteas was om the senior WC?