What the fuck has happened to our cricket side

Yes the pitches have been sub standard but come on. One would swear the Indians had a side full of Warne s. Their two spinners are good but we are doing a great job of making them look brilliant. 
How many more times are we going to be done by going back to a spinner pitching the ball up and being done by the straight one.
What a pathetic series. Have some serious work to do before we face England at home. Rossouw has to come into the side and it's a given that de Kock will replace the utterly useless Vilas 

 Just wait til you see our new look race based Bok side with Coetzee at the helm. Things could get nasty.

 Simple really.
Do you remember a chappie called Herschelle Gibbs? Sure you do.....well, he was never replaced...oh but he was replaced by Alvira Pietersen you say .....if my memory serves me right you never approved of him.....then we had another chappie called Graeme Smith...remember him?...sure you do, well we lost him as well, more or less at the same time as the irreplaceable great Jaques Kalliss .....and then lastly the loss of our best wickie since re-admission, Mark Boucher....remember him? Gibbs, Smith, Kalliss, Boucher left big shoes to fill....it's an insult to think that the above can be replaced overnite....and by one or two players.
There's a reason for the Proteas achieving the #1 status in test cricket, I somehow think we have the abovementioned to thank for getting them there.....undefeated in 9 years in away series is a mighty record only surpassed by the WI who were undefeated for 18 years in away test matches.
The Proteas were on top of the mountain, there cannot be a mountain without valleys, right now the Proteas are in the valleys.

 Amla and De Villiers managed through the most  mind numbingly dullllllll play one can imagine to score a run every 10 balls .300 balls to score 30 odd. Makes Boycott look dashing by comparison.

 Amla and De Villiers are doing what's necessary.

 SA 93/3 after 105 overs.................... Faf took 52 balls before he scored his first run .

Just heard an Indian comments man say that SA should've  chased the 480 run target, which he thought was very 'sporting ' .

 "... which he thought was very 'sporting ' ."...Someone should ask the C lown just how "sporting" are the Indian wickets.

 Killing test cricket this bizzo .

 I think the problem has two aspects to it, namely -
*   the fact that Amla is not a captain and should never have been appointed as such because the captaincy inevitably affected his own performances;
*    the playing of Van Zyl as an opener - he is not an opener and never has been;
*    the collapse in the performances of Du Plessis and Duminy - both was pathetic when they batted; 
*    Villas is not a test level player at all.  
De Kock must return as wicket keeper and I would find a place for Rillee Rossouw in that batting line-up.   I wish there was some local cricket to get Duminy and Du Plessis involved in so as to get to play themselves  into form - but there is none.     

 There are more than two aspects....
(1) Smith whom you've always disliked has never been replaced....neither has Herschelle Gibbs. So in a nutshell there are two rookies opening the batting.
(2) Amla comes in at first drop and is then forced into the role of opener. 
(3) Dale Steyn has been MIA with a hammie. 
(4) The absence of a creditable allrounder. The loss of JK is huge.
(5) Agreed Vilas isn't test level but neither is QDK.
(6) JP Duminy and Faf are past it and need to be replaced at test level....only.

The WC was not too long ago and considering the controversy over playing Philander in the final and AB who is probably the most popular and respected member of the squad almost leading a revolt, maybe it's partly a hangover from that. Just a suggestion, and maybe just a small part of the problem. Also, I think once a spinner gets in your head, whether he did so on a dust bowl or not, it's hard to get him out. Hence all the playing around straight ones. I think the bowlers did well. Anything nearing average batting performances could have seen the Proteas win the series. Unfortunately it was way below par. I'd say, put some faith in the same bowlers in the home series and lets see how they do. Still think the Proteas should have batted much more aggresively. Let 7 and 8 open and ask them for five an over. One of them hits a fast 50 and it's a different game. Amla needs to start using his feet more. A good trigger movement and fast hands isn't enough to get you by when you're over 30. In general the footwork was poor in my opinion. I think of Waugh, Gillie, Hayden and those guys and there is no way in hell they would have let themselves be put under that pressure. The Proteas match those guys for averages, AB is better than any of them. They would have used their feet much more, got to the pitch, played straight and forced the bowler to change his lines and lengths. I feel this was hugely missing from the Proteas this series. Crap mindset I guess. Agree about Rossouw Saffex.

Denny, we won't see a better skipper than Smith for many moons. We love to hate our best in SA. Played against him at school...haha my claim to fame. Was always a big fan.

 India Vs South Africa - India Home  TeamSpanMatWonLostTiedDrawW/LAveRPOInnsHSLSIndia1996-20151685031.60030.473.062864376

India vs Australia - India Home
TeamSpanMatWonLostTiedDrawW/LAveRPOInnsHSLSIndia2008-2013108002-45.313.5919613272

 Denny what you describe in our cricket....the massive hole created by legendary players retiring....is a taste of what is going to happen in our rugby.

 Yep. Take Kallis for example, sure he's special or maybe Smithy....it's going to take yonks to plug those gaps.....how long has Habana been around and still no sight of anyone remotely close to replacing him. It is a cycle all great teams seem to suffer....the Windies are still just an ordinary team after their dominance ended years ago....the Ozzies after their fall from the number 1 spot are going through a rebuilding phase so I guess that's what we're seeing with our cricket.....and will be with our rugby. I don't envy the new rugby coach.

Denny, the Aussies are certainly not in a rebuilding phase! They are in a kicking @ss phase! One Day world champs remember!

 I stand to be corrected but the Ozzies were #1 in test cricket.....and that's what we're talking about here...the Proteas took over that role. Ask any cricketer which format he prefers, Test or ODI ....the answer isn't rocket science. BTW the Ozzies are ranked 3 in test cricket, it wasn't that long ago when they were ranked 5.

Fair enough D, but I still think the Aussies are already there in tests! It takes time to climb the rankings! I can't se e us or the Indians beating them! 

 Really? You might want to have a look at how they fared against England....in England in their last series 2014. As for the Indians not beating the Ozzies? I refer you to my above post which clearly shows that the Ozzies have never won a Test series in India.

Another reason why I like the pink ball. Test are way too lopsided in favor of the home team. Hopefully the lights and dew can change this up a little.

I know the 5 day game is the holy grail of cricket, but after the series in India, I am starting to wonder why? People can say this or that about tests being the real measure of a cricketers ability, but all of the tests in this series were basically decided by the toss! 5 days, well potentially 5 days, is a long drawn out process to go through when the game has already been decided before the first ball has been bowled. If they don't bring back a fair competitive structure to tests soon, the 5 day game which is already looking vulnerable in terms of public interest, will be a thing of the past. Very sad!   

Just do away with the toss. The visiting captain should have the choice of batting or fielding.

This will do away with the luck of a coin toss, it will nullify the home ground advantage and - most importantly - it will force groundsmen to prepare pitches that are fair for both batting and bowling.

 "Uncapped Rilee Rossouw has been included in the Test squad as the extra batsman while Dane Piedt is the only spinner selected with both Simon Harmer and Imran Tahir dropping out from the squad that went to India."

There you go Saffex. Now lets hope a decent Bok coach is announced today and then we can all have a good weekend