Graeme Smith is becoming a disaster Area in Batting

 I've always been an admirer of Smith the Captain, Smith the man but never an admirer of his flawed technique which at this point is his undoing. I don't care whether he scores anothr ton down the track, his time is over, many thanks Graeme but it's time to move on.

 spot on guys, the Proteas are seriously struggling big time, its a nightmare.  I wonder how long will Philander last, du Plessis might survive for a little, but I'm afraid there's just too much work to be done, our top Batsman buckled and showed no zeal to fight to win this decider. 

 

s africa BATTING CARD

Batsman
R G.C. Smith c Haddin b Harris 5 A.N. Petersen c Haddin b Johnson 53 D. Elgar c Haddin b Pattinson 11 H.M. Amla b Harris 38 A.B. de Villiers c Clarke b Johnson 14 F. du Plessis Not out 53 J.P. Duminy c Haddin b Harris 4 V.D. Philander Not out 27 Extras 2nb, 6w, 4b, 3lb 15 Total 64.1 Overs 220 - 6

 Come on guys...
So he is having a bit of a bad run in tests.
Each and every leading batsman from Tendulkar, Kallis, Lara and Ponting, to Clarke have had a bad run.
You dont just go dropping one of your leading batsmen (who average close on 50) because of a slight dip in form.
Its such a "south african" way of thinking.

Give the guy a gap! He is a class and and will regain his form (like Tendulkar, Kallis, Lara, Ponting and Clarke did). Time in the middle is the only medication for a dip in form.

 And his stats dont lie either:
New Zealand 2012 - 56.40
England 2012 - 54.40
Australis 2012 - 42.50
New Zealand 2013 - 27.50
Pakistan 2013 - 25.80
Pakistan 2013 - 93.66
India 2014 - 62.00
Australis 2014 - 8.40

So he has had a shit series... but you don't just drop a guy with almost 10 000 runs under his belt for having a bad series. Think back to Kallis in England a few years ago.. he averaged about 15. Look how he bounced back against India and co over the next few years.

Smiths 'bad run' since the start of 2013 has yielded him a batting average of 43 (that include the current series).
Neither Elgar, Petersen nor de Kock would average that in a good year!
And add to that, he is a fantastic captain!

And would it be advisable to throw de Kock into the opening slot without Smith? Surely the responsible thing would be to blood him alongside one of the modern era's most successful openers in Smith, so he can LEARN from him!

Regardless of Smith's fate..suggesting de Kock should be playing ahead of Petersen is naive. 

 Moz.. I agree wholeheartedly!
You can't just shove him in to the opening slot, regardless of his precocious talent.
It would be easy to screw up a potentially world class cricket career by doing so.

I would most certainly stick with Petersen for now.
I'd prefer it if CSA groomed de Kock, similar to the way they groomed Kallis.
Remember, Kallis started out batting at 7 when he made his debut.

I see de Kock going a similar route.

Absolutely Flash....batting number 7 and relieving AB of the gloves as a next step makes sense.  

 Well Moz.. it all counts for bugger all now.
he has just announced his retirement.

It may be hard to accept, but you don't easily replace a Smith, Kallas or Steyn. As these chaps retire we will probably wander around in the wilderness for a while. Smith created himself through sheer will and a good eye. But the numbers say he was one of our best....good luck to him. He follows in a tradition of unselfish SA retirements, including those of Pollock and Kallas.