South Africa won SriLanka series 2-0

After losing the previous series losing against SL when they visited in 2019 by 2-0.

So what is on the cards next?   A visit to Pakistan for -

*    a two match test series starting on 26 January 2021; and

*    three T20I's immediately thereafter

After that there is a three test series in SA against Australia starting the end of February 2021.

The near to immediate problem is the squad selection for the Pakistan tour,  Due to the coronavirus issue the team will have to leave by 13 January 2021 so we can expect the squad announcement soon,  

There is a problem in squad selection since only a few players played and succeeded in the sub-continent conditions,   The only players with extensive experience on sub-continent conditions have been involved in the IPL and those seems to be certainties in the squad:-

*    De Kock was opening batsman for the victorious Mumbai Indians for the past two years and in 2020 scored the 5th most runs in that series,  ,

*    Rabada was the top bowler in the IPL in 2020

*    Nortje has been the 5th ranked bowler in the IPL and was a threat against especially the top batsmen in opposition teams like Smith and Warner.

*    Du Plessis started the IPL on a good note and then vanished from sight - with his team ending bottom of the log due to lack of contribution by him, Dhoni and Watson.

*    Ngidi was in the same squad with Du Plessis and was basically unusable playing in only 2 of the 14 games of the franchise in the series,

*    Hendriks was one of the squads for a few years - but was dropped because he was useless,

A very short list - so who else is to be considered for the squad taking into account the sub-continent conditions:-

1   Elgar has a spotty history playing in India and is likely to fail in Pakistan,

2   Markram - same as Elgar

3   Van der Dussen playing spin on sub-continent pitches - a guaranteed failure

4   Bavuma failed badly in India previously/

5   Erwee. Van Tonder and Verreinne no experience on top level in India,

6   Mulder as all=rounder is likely to be good in Sub-continent conditions, 

The batsmen are weak and are problematic,   

The bowlers is also a problem - since both Ngidi and Hendriks failed in IPL  So who should be added        

It is likely that there will be three spinners  in the squad and the certainty is Maharaj with Linde and Shamsi also  in the squad, 

That leaves four bowler positions and the question is who should it be.  I would say Sipamla and - leaving Ngidi and Hendriks out of contention, because of their recent records in IPL.

Batsmen

De Kock

Du Plessis

Elgar?

Markram?

Van der Dussen????

Bavuma??????

Others to consider are -

*   Hamsa - did well in India before

*   Van Tonder, Verreinne, Janneman Malan

All Rounders

Mulder

M Pretorius

Bowlers

Rabada

Nortje

Spin

Maharaj

Shamsi

Linde

Fast Bowlers

Sipamla

Ngidi?????

They are likely to limit fast bowling to three in tests and two spinners and the same apply to T20I games, That means the real bowlers in both tests and the T20I's would be 2 spinners and Rabada, Nortje and Mulder.     

Some of the players will not fit into the  T20I format and under normal circumstances  two separate squads would have been selected - but with the Covid 19 problems the squad will be bigger to cater for both formats of the game,

"The batsmen looks are weak and could be are problematic, "

Correct, it's the same batsmen who struggled to score 300 runs in the last home series. 

I'm surprised anyone gives a shit about politiball...er, I mean cricket anymore.

There's no problem with the bowlers from the bit I've seen, the problem is with the batsmen. I'm going to rule a line through the current series and say that the batting lineup is not good enough to make the top six test teams. As for the 600 runs they scored, all the saffa bats scored runs because the Sri Lankan bowling was crap.

Agree.

Who to make captain though?

Dave

The Indians know their cricket and if they do not use a player like Ngidi in the IPL there is a good reason for it,   He was good in the first year he played for Chennai Super Kings and retained by them.   In the next year he was basically not playing because of injury and last year he became  a liability and did squat in the whole series.    In fact he was unplayable and factually he will not be invited to play in the upcoming series at all.   

Inaccurate bowlers bowling at an average pace of 132 kph  is not acceptable to them and the question marks stemmed from the last IPL.   At least  Sipamla bowls at an average pace of 5 kph faster than Ngidi.   

If Rabada and Nortje play there will  only be 2 spots for spinners and one other bowler available and for playing in tests and T20I's so the latter position will go to Mulder.   

Incidentally I agree with you about the rest of the batsmen other than De KLock amnd Markram,

The fact is that Du Plessis was a flop in the 2020 IPL and playing Elgar, Van der Dussen and Bavuma on sub-continent pitches will be a total disaster,   So Boucher will inherit a shit batting line-up that will not succeed.

So if he is world class as you state - why does he not show it regularly?   I am now convinced  that Sipamla is a better bowler than Ngidi.   Why was the wicket taking by Ngidi in the SL series lower than Nortje, Sipamla and Mulder?   

You can say what you want about IPL - but outside of T20I's it is the premier T20 competition on the world in which virtually all top cricketers participate.    If you fail in that competition you are not likely to be world class,         

When did he do that in tests - he did not do it against SL when eh had the opportunity and was the bowler with the weakest wicket taking in the latest series.   He was not only poor in T20I's, but has not shown enough in ODI's either.  An inaccurate bowler that will be punished more and more by top batsmen - and the SL batsmen does not feature in the top batsmen category anyway,       

Dave

Thanks for the f-all - but I at least watch the game with an open mind and to be quote frank Ngidi in the series was the worst of the four main bowlers used,   He is clearly off form and not bowling accurately at all - his only accurate and threatening balls was bowling at circa 127 kph - the rest was not of any real value.   As to two of the  w ickets taken in the second innings of the second Ngidi bowled two very poor balls and the SL batsmen  got themselves out by trying to benefit from the poor deliveries,   A better batsmen would hit a six from each of the two   balls and not get out the way the SL batsmen did.   

The way Ngidi is going he would soon be out of contention for selection to play for the Proteas and he would then use politics to be retained as a quota player,

I look at what he delivers and was not impressed,   In the end I changed my mind about Sipamla - after believing he had negatives - but he was a champion bowler compared to Ngidi.   I have no prejudice against Ngidi.   If and when he up his performances I would support hiss election.  

The difference  between Sipamla and Ngidi in the recent series was  -

*   Sipamla started off poorly and improved drastically;

*   Ngidi started of poorly and improved marginally to average.  

Sorry I was too harsh when it comes to my assessment above  I have indicated with regard to Ngidi,