Despite the fact that it is not a rugby-rlated issue - I am pissed off and am going top post it anyway

If you want to make absolutely certain that you lose a cricket ODI or an ODI series  - then select Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis to play in the team.   After buggering up comprehensively in both batting and fielding in the first ODI - Smith today made 1 run from 7 balls.   Kallis made a reasonable number of runs in the first ODI (50) but at a rate equal to what he would have made in a test - not an ODI.     Today he made 6 runs from 12 balls.

When the required run rate to win the game is 5,85 runs per over - you cannot have these two making 7 runs from 19 balls (2,26 rpo) and hope to get anywhere at all.   They are very good test players - but in ODI's they are bloody useless.   If we want to do anything in the upcoming series against India - best advice is to drop those two completely.

The Proteas won't go any higher up in the ODI ratings with those two around.   Insofar as cricket is concerned they are the equivalent of useless Morne and Slot h Alberts in rugby - resulting that the ratings will remain way below where we should be.     

Wardad

All formats of cricket have different dynamics.  I like to watch all formats of cricket on TV - but would not watch tests in full - it can be a very long time to watch tests over a five day period.  Therefore I watch tests in  it in patches only.

ODI's I watch normally the full game and look out for exiting bowlers and batters especially.  Same with T20 - even though it is like you say "a bash after a braai".

In ODI's the object  should be to try and equal 5+ runs per over throughout the game - in T20's it should be 6+ rpo.  The above rates would win any team more wins than losses.   The most exciting ODI ever was at the Wanderers in Johannesburg - where Australia made 434 run batting first and SA won by scoring 438 runs with a 4 from the last ball.  

As you say - it is a case of horses for courses.   IN the shortened version of the game the batters must try and hit every ball for a run or runs.   The problem is that some batters have excellent hand-eye co-ordination - an ability which is reduced as they get older.   Most exceptional batting cricketers before retirement continues to play test cricket long after retirement from the shortened versions of the game.   Both Kallis and Smith can avoid playing at most balls in test cricket - in the shortened versions of the game they can't - so they mess up big time in the shortened versions.  From a bowler perspective - the opposite is true - older bowlers can bowl short spells - but not last through full tests effectively.

In the recent ODI's against Pakistan in Dubai - SA won the first ODI by one run - with Smith messing up badly and a very low score being needed by Pakistan - the bowlers won the game for SA.   The second one was lost by SA by a much bigger margin.  Smith played in both and messed up  big time in both - scoring a total of 35 runs from 59 balls.  With Smith out - SA thereafter won the next three ODI's easily.   The reason was there are less pressure on lower order batters than with him on top.  Take for instance the youngster Quinton De Kock - he replaced Smith and in the rest of the ODI's he averaged 63 runs in each of the 3 ODI's at a rate of faster than 5 rpo. 

Yesterday SA lost by 1 run - after the mess made by Smith and Kallis - which shows that even if they could manage 4 rpo each - we would have won.

Like in rugby - whenever anybody says anything negative of Carter and McCaw - there are howls of protest from virtually everyone.  In cricket the same applies to Kallis - by some distance  statistically proven the best all round cricketer the world have ever seen - and Smith.   Yet they are buggering up badly in shortened versions of the game.  It is time for them to concentrate for the remainder of their careers on test cricket and forget about playing in the shortened versions of the game.

Wardad

Geoff Boycott was a good batsman on test level - but there was no test on TV here while he was playing.    I suppose the TV station did not want viewers to fall asleep while watching sport.  Agree - he would cause the most avid cricket lovers to fall asleep.    

Wardad

Geoff Boycott was a good batsman on test level - but there was no test on TV here while he was playing.   I suppose the TV station did not want viewers to fall asleep while watching sport.  Agree - he would cause the most avid cricket lovers to fall asleep.    

Ceradyne 

There was no DSTV those days and the sports channels coverage was limited - they showed tests and ODI's involving SA mostly - virtually nothing otherwise.   I said I never saw him batting in any game on TV - and that is a fact.  

I know about Boycott those days and recently he was in SA and did comments for DSTV in a number of games - knows the game - but he still was on record an extremely slow batter.

However, that is not the point here - it is about Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis and the advisability to keep on using them in ODI's.     

 Saffex

Nobody disputes the fact that Kallis and Smith are class acts - but thy fail time and again in the shorter versions of the game.   When they play in ODI's  the Proteas are guaranteed to lose - because of a slow batting tempo - accompanied by low scores - resulting on pressure on the lower order batters.

I agree Adams is no good and I do not know why Elgar or Rossouw is not in the squad. 

Test Cricket is absolutely the pinnacle of this sport and anyone who cant appreciate the ebbs and flows of this is really not a true cricket lover...

The ashes series at the moment is the most interesting spectacle in modern cricket history EASILY more than any ODI or 20/20 could ever even hope to achieve. The POMs sooked it so hard after they were flogged in Brisbane that Adelaide will be very very interesting....

There is no doubt that slow scoring is boring but much of that comes down to pitch preparation and bowling attack.

Mitch Johnson is on absolute FIRE this year and cant wait to see the POMs ducking and weaving in Perth!!!!! ahahahahahahahah lol

Cmon aussie cmon cmon

If Australia cannot beat that POM side - they would be no good.  Unfortunately the tests starts at 02:00 in the morning in SA times and that is the time I normally go to bed at night - so watching the series is about only when I wake up at about 08:00 in the morning.

The real test for the Aussies will be when they come to SA in February - March next year.   Remember SA beat England with ease away - so the Aussies will have a heard time against SA at home.

I have always rated Mitchell Johnson highly as a bowler - so it is not surprising to see him bowling well. 

Australia went through a period being poor in all forms of cricket and they are on the up again.   They played players too long after they became inadequate and that is always a problem in all sporting codes.    All players have a "sell-by date" and it is unfortunate that most sportsmen do not know when to leave while they are on top of their performances and really overstay their welcome.  

Saffex

Everybody will accept a run rate of 5 runs per over by Smith and Kallis - they never get beyond 3,6 and that is the problem.   The last ODI is a typical example.   Smith scored 1 run from 7 balls and Kallis 6 runs from 12 balls.   If Smith scored 5 runs and Kallis 10 runs from the balls they received - I would not complain.   7 runs from 19 balls is just not good enough.

It would have been OK if it was a first time.   Smith in Dubai played in 2 ODI's and although he made 35 runs in the two games the rate was 3,6 rpo.   Kallis has not played in ODI's for close on a year - but he stopped playing in the shorter version of the game because of continuous low scores - nothing else. 

T his is a continuous trend - not based on one game - and is the reason why we struggle so much in the shorter versions of the game when those two play.   Gibbs was 100% correct when he said Kallis should not cherry pick which games he wants to play in and which not.   To my mind at this stage of his career he should stick to test cricket and both he and Smith should leave the ODI and 20Twenty stuff to other players.    

Doubters keep doubting... we like it that way...

You're right though SA will be a good challenge next year I rate steyn / morkel as the best quick bowlers in the test arena atm -

Often in cricket your bats are a reflection of the bowlers as these are they guys they're facing in the nets... amla (AKA the terrorist) is a class act... but what is it with you guys - POMs getting all the Saffas in their team and SAffas getting all the pakis????

Mitch has got the POMs on the ropes big time and Saffex lets have friendly sportsman's wager re this series then.... the aussies are on the mend and we have got some serious depth in the pipe in batting and the bowling stocks even looking ok too... so bring it Poms - 

Adelaide is better batting pitch these days a lot of runs scored there this domestic season... could be high scoring affair - but new drop in pitch which means not as predictably spinners track day 4/5....