The Proteas WC squad...

is going to be announced tomorrow. I'll be pleasantly surprised if Amla is not part of the squad and I'm ready to bet that he will be part of the squad. Make no mistake that even without Amla it's the worst batting order ever to represent the Proteas at a WC, his inclusion only makes it worse. 

It's ironic that on the other end of the scale the bowling attack is the best ever to go to the WC. Three world class bowlers in Rabada, Ngidi and Steyn and added to that is the world class leggie, Tahir. One can't ask for much better.

It won't be enough though to win the WC. Pulling the side down are two ordinary allrounders, a franchise level opener in Hendricks and a club level spinner in Shamsi......and then of course there's Duminy.....eina !

One underestimated factor is Faf du Plessis, a captains captain, smart and influential, if anyone can make it happen it will be him.

I have a problem with the batting line-up as well - but there is one issue that is an improvement of the past few WC's - the only real hitter of top class performance was De Villiers - te others was not really interested other than protecting their wickets,   It always caused ultimate breakdown in performances in the final stages of competitions and we lost early when we got there.  

All the present proposed batsmen actually ensure that an acceptable run rate is maintained. 

Hope Amla is not in the squad - would rather see Morris than him in the squad as a batsman.  At least Morris can also bowl and is a good fielder.      

You make a solid point, there was a culture of self preservation at the crease. I think Faf is the one to thank for changing that culture.

Denny

I went to too many ODI's in the past when the actual run score of the Proteas was below 225 runs per match or even lower.   That caused losses because of the low batting  strike rate of the Proteas,

There were exceptions - but the core team was not making the runs needed to win matches,   In recent years the average was much higher - but it was largely due to efforts of players like De Villiers, Faf and De Kock,   Amla in his prime also had a high strike rate - but in the last 18 months he fell off the bus. 

In modern day ODI cricket unless players are capable of hitting 6's  after over 10 - when fours become  more difficult to hit - they are basically unable to meet the required  strike rate of above 100.

So who of the present batters can do that?   De Kock, Markram, Du Plessis, Van der Dussen and Miller can achieve that - hence my comments that the Proteas is really more difficult to beat than they were in the past.  The secret remains that some players get impatient too early and get out early as a result.