Lets say you where the SA Cricket Coach

[Lament]

i have been a cricket fanatic for years, and each and every series i get mad as hell coz they don't select the best 11 in my opinion, they don't select the best bowlers, they select out of form batsmen, they guys looks out of shape, well, if i was in the SA Coach position, with the quota system, this is what i would have done, i will through all the currant protea players back to the domestic league for a season, at the end of the season i will select my the best two openers, currently 1.I.Khan 2.H.Amla, after that i will select any three other batsmen who has scored consistently through the season, currently 3.C.Inram 4.S.Cook 5.J.Rudolph, then i will select the best wicketkeeper, keeping in mind he must be a very good batsmen as well, with a fist class average above 40, currently 6.H.Khun, now we will have to select a combination of strike bowlers and consistent bowlers, and keeping in mind they must know how to swing the bat, 7.W.Parnell (a tough choice, he is expense, but our only true left hand bowler) 8.M.Morkel (fastest bowler in SA, faster than steyn, all batsmen fear him at 150km+) 9.D.Steyn (can you say reverse swing at 148km) 10.R.Theron (SA's new Shaun Pollock, he takes wickets, and he can bowl at the depth), and last but not least, i will select a spinner who can actually spin the ball, 11.I.Tahir, i am pretty sure this team i have put together above would have preformed much better than our currant SA team, what did prince and duminy do the whole tour????, both these guys failed on 7 separate occasions, how many time do they still have to fail before you give someone who actually deserves a spot in the SA team a chance? Albie Morkel cant bat to save his life, not to mention his poor bowling, Greame smith, im so sick and tired of him always getting out LBW, he might make my team batting at nr5, but he is defnintly not a opener, Gibbs = INCONSISTANT, AB de Villiers, well, he has to prove himself again, i would really like to see him with the keeper gloves, but i believe he must first keep for his doestic team for at least 2 seasons for him to get the feeling

well. i would love to hear your opinions?

[Mamajyot]

Imran khan is useless against quality seemers. He wont do any better than duminy...

[killadoob]

Imran khan is useless against quality seemers. He wont do any better than duminy...

Dude a 16 year old kid playing out his backyard could score more runs than duminy at the moment :D. He may get off the mark while duminy i always think will go first ball.

[cr@zydude]

If I "where" the SA coach I'm not too sure exactly what would happen to me. ;)

As for selections you need to remember that the MTN 40 is not ODI level and SS series in nowhere near test level. I agree that JP and AB are way out of form and should be dropped. Ashwell I'm not sure, he is not an opener, but I think that he should play in th emiddle order. Also, where the hell is Kallis, SA's best player?

[Esea]

you dumbass your selection is based on the current Sa domestic season that most of the SA Squad has not playin in or at most played 1 game here and there

[Tarantula]

If I "where" the SA coach I'm not too sure exactly what would happen to me. ;)

As for selections you need to remember that the MTN 40 is not ODI level and SS series in nowhere near test level. I agree that JP and AB are way out of form and should be dropped. Ashwell I'm not sure, he is not an opener, but I think that he should play in th emiddle order. Also, where the hell is Kallis, SA's best player?

JP needs to go that is for sure. But AB???? Did you guys not watch the last two one day internationals against India? Two hundreds, and one of them off 59 balls. AB is a quality bat and definitely needs to be there.

Smith is also a great player and needs stay in the side. Not only is he a quality bat, but his captaincy is excellent.

Albie Morkel needs to go. He is the biggest problem in our one day squad, along with quotas.

[Lament]

Dude a 16 year old kid playing out his backyard could score more runs than duminy at the moment :D. He may get off the mark while duminy i always think will go first ball.

i agree!!!!, Duminy cant bat to save his life, we could have put an allrounder in his place, or somebody wo actually preformed in the domestic league, S.Cook scored something like 360 in a match, breaking all SA records, Duminy broke the SA record for going out 7 times in a row to a LBW under 10 runs.....do the math....

[Lament]

you dumbass your selection is based on the current Sa domestic season that most of the SA Squad has not playin in or at most played 1 game here and there

yeah, DUMBASS and what exactly would the currant SA squad have done in the domestic league??????, go and have a look at the first class averages on cricinfo.com before you dazzle us with your cricket wisdom

[Lament]

Don't get me wrong, i like AB, he has the skills, but his form in the test series was not all that great, i think Smith would have done better if he does not have to face the new ball

[cr@zydude]

JP needs to go that is for sure. But AB???? Did you guys not watch the last two one day internationals against India? Two hundreds, and one of them off 59 balls. AB is a quality bat and definitely needs to be there.

Smith is also a great player and needs stay in the side. Not only is he a quality bat, but his captaincy is excellent.

Albie Morkel needs to go. He is the biggest problem in our one day squad, along with quotas.

You're right that AB did well in the last 2 ODI's but overall it was a bad tour for him. Luckily he has the IPL and World T20 before the next test series, hopefully he's back to his brilliant self by then.

[superskully]

AB is a world class batsmen. But he does not do well under pressure - when we need him the most, he fails (most of the time anyway).
I hope though with experience, he will get better.
Duminy is another top batsmen, but bowlers have worked him out. He needs to go back to domestic and we will see if he can make it back.
Our one day squad really misses Pollock and maybe Theron could be the answer. No use havin Steyn, Parnell and Morkey taking wickets but giving away runs while van der merve and botha (no ****ra) - batsmen have worked them out as well.

[Esea]

couldnt care less the coach works whit who ever the selectors give him :p what you do need to do is make sure the players know that if they dont perform they get replaced We tend to "play" people back into form. O and GIVE RUSTY

[Lament]

the bowlers i selected was actually for the TEST series, the thing is we don't really have any good ODI bowlers, the only one is Rusty and they don't wanna give him a chance, Ntini is looking better since he has been playing domestic, i also don't know what to think of Plaatjies, his records looks good, but when you see this guy in action you wont select him , what would your ODI bowling line up look like?

[Mr Natural]

AB???? Did you guys not watch the last two one day internationals against India? Two hundreds, and one of them off 59 balls. AB is a quality bat and definitely needs to be there.

Thanks god. Reading all these "AB's out of form" -posts, I thought I was going crazy. Drop JP, drop [-]Duminy[/-] Prince - those guys will be back to form at some stage, but let's keep what we've got that's working.

Tahir is not eligble. I forget when he does become eligible, but I don't feel too bad about that because CSA have also forgotten.

[akescpt]

i would get rid of the 'burger king' captain for a start...its become the 'greame smith eleven' and not the proteas....he has too much power and that is never good...someone needs to smack that big mac out of his hand and tell him to do a few laps!!

i have always maintained that duminy's rise has been too fast...he hasnt learnt his craft yet...when prince got fit he should have been dropped immediately to the bench..if abie doesnt want to stand wicketkeeper he should go...this team is accomodating too many players...abie is more than a decent wicketkeeper..if he takes over we can play an extra batting or bowling specialist....

this is why the australians are so ruthless..if you not performing u gone..plain and simple...and that has to be admired...if you on form you get your chance...

[Mr Natural]

Why don't people give Boucher the recognition he deserves? That guy is the best wicket keeper in the world at the moment and is batting well too. And you want to replace him with a part-timer??


this is why the australians are so ruthless..if you now performing u gone..palin and simple...and that has to be admired...if you on form you get your chance...
Oh, like the way they kept Hayden in the team so we could get a free wicket per innings for that entire series?

Selection is a lot more tricky when you have to get out of your armchair.

[Lament]

i would get rid of the 'burger king' captain for a start...its become the 'greame smith eleven' and not the proteas....he has too much power and that is never good...someone needs to smack that big mac out of his hand and tell him to do a few laps!!

i have always maintained that duminy's rise has been too fast...he hasnt learnt his craft yet...when prince got fit he should have been dropped immediately to the bench..if abie doesnt want to stand wicketkeeper he should go...this team is accomodating too many players...abie is more than a decent wicketkeeper..if he takes over we can play an extra batting or bowling specialist....

this is why the Australians are so ruthless..if you not performing u gone..plain and simple...and that has to be admired...if you on form you get your chance...

funny how the Aussies stay number 1, even when they are not no1 on the rankings, 2 years ago they where on a rebuilding phase, look at them now, SA has been on a rebuilding phase for 8 to 9 years now, with no success, we are only able to beat teams with extremely bad form, and then we think its coz we are so good, there are only 2 gr8 cricket teams, and that India and Australia, even England swept the floor with us in the ODI's

[Lament]

Why don't people give Boucher the recognition he deserves? That guy is the best wicket keeper in the world at the moment and is batting well too. And you want to replace him with a part-timer??


Oh, like the way they kept Hayden in the team so we could get a free wicket per innings for that entire series?

Selection is a lot more tricky when you have to get out of your armchair.

i disagree, boucher is good, but not the best in the world, these days your wicky needs to be a specialized batsmen as well, if it was only for wicket keeping then boucher for sure, but in the new age of cricket, you cant take that chance.....

[graviti]

Being a cricket coach myself, I don't necessarily agree with many peoples opinions. Try looking at a persons performance over a season and it can paint a pretty picture. Ashwell Prince is proof of the hug gap between local and international standards. Quacking out regularly for the Proteas, he walks into the local leagues and scores freely. Gets called back up, and still can't get off the mark. I agree, he needs more domestic time. JP Duminy is definitely out of touch, and needs some local time to rebuild his confidence. He is invaluable as a player, but needs to get back into the right mindframe. As for the dumbass's who keep picking on Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers, try doing a little homework. In the last 13 tests, Smith is averaging over 50 (52,94) (AS AN OPENER!!! SHOCK HORROR GASP), including 4 hundreds and 4 fifties. Only 6 times less than 10. So surely that cannot be considered a failure as opening batsman.

AB de Villiers last 13 tests, avg of 39, 3 hundreds, 7 50's. 6 innings less than 10. Again, not shabby.

Gibbs is pushing on in years, is still athletic and scoring the odd runs (last century in 2005), but maybe needs to be giving way for someone younger for long term plans. Mark Boucher may be old, but is still the worlds best keeper. In this regards, the stats don't lie. Look at the Aussie unit of 5 years ago. Why were they the best. Because they didn't chop and change their squad. Neither did Mickey Arthur, and hence the fact we got to Number 1 in both forms of the game. A bad start to the season has never been recovered from, and chopping the side is not the best idea. You are not really giving the team a chance to develop the skill of pulling themselves out of trouble. We keep trying quick fixes, which generally means finding in form players from domestic leagues, only to watch them suffer at the top level. Rather than claim to be a brilliant strategist and calling the current selectors dorks, lets just worry about doing what WE do best. Support our countries cricket side.

just my 2c

[Mr Natural]

funny how the Aussies stay number 1, even when they are not no1 on the rankings, 2 years ago they where on a rebuilding phase, look at them now

Sure, they're able to clobber Pak and WI, never the world's most stable teams, and now two losses down to NZ who are not really the best team in the world.

[Stephen]

funny how the Aussies stay number 1, even when they are not no1 on the rankings, 2 years ago they where on a rebuilding phase, look at them now, SA has been on a rebuilding phase for 8 to 9 years now, with no success, we are only able to beat teams with extremely bad form, and then we think its coz we are so good, there are only 2 gr8 cricket teams, and that India and Australia, even England swept the floor with us in the ODI's

Ah another from the school of "Proteas are lucky when they win and the opponents are out of form" - :sick::sick:

It doesnt say much for other teams that can go so quickly out of form when facing the Proteas. Maybe South Africa should just quit cricket altogether seeing as we are so awful :rolleyes:

[phoneJunky]

Dude, I would easily give the title of greatest team of the decade to Australia, but I think we have done much better than India in recent years and we only play them in India these days. We will see their real worth when they come touring here

[Lament]

Being a cricket coach myself, I don't necessarily agree with many peoples opinions. Try looking at a persons performance over a season and it can paint a pretty picture. Ashwell Prince is proof of the hug gap between local and international standards. Quacking out regularly for the Proteas, he walks into the local leagues and scores freely. Gets called back up, and still can't get off the mark. I agree, he needs more domestic time. JP Duminy is definitely out of touch, and needs some local time to rebuild his confidence. He is invaluable as a player, but needs to get back into the right mindframe. As for the dumbass's who keep picking on Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers, try doing a little homework. In the last 13 tests, Smith is averaging over 50 (52,94) (AS AN OPENER!!! SHOCK HORROR GASP), including 4 hundreds and 4 fifties. Only 6 times less than 10. So surely that cannot be considered a failure as opening batsman.

AB de Villiers last 13 tests, avg of 39, 3 hundreds, 7 50's. 6 innings less than 10. Again, not shabby.

Gibbs is pushing on in years, is still athletic and scoring the odd runs (last century in 2005), but maybe needs to be giving way for someone younger for long term plans. Mark Boucher may be old, but is still the worlds best keeper. In this regards, the stats don't lie. Look at the Aussie unit of 5 years ago. Why were they the best. Because they didn't chop and change their squad. Neither did Mickey Arthur, and hence the fact we got to Number 1 in both forms of the game. A bad start to the season has never been recovered from, and chopping the side is not the best idea. You are not really giving the team a chance to develop the skill of pulling themselves out of trouble. We keep trying quick fixes, which generally means finding in form players from domestic leagues, only to watch them suffer at the top level. Rather than claim to be a brilliant strategist and calling the current selectors dorks, lets just worry about doing what WE do best. Support our countries cricket side.

just my 2c

So in other words New Zealand that has been playing the same team for years now should be the best in the world??, and AB's average of 39 not to shabby???, its pathetic for a international player, not a all rounder, not a wicky, but a specialized batsmen.... 39 simply is not good enough, you are inspiring poor players to simply stay in the team regardless of there form, and player in the domestic league that is preforming is not allowed to get a chance?, whats the use then of playing good domestic cricket if you know the golden 11 will never be dropped?, in Australia if you don't preform you get dropped, as easy as that, everybody get there off days, but really, 7 matches in a row??, and Boucher best in the world?????, that's actually quite humorous, he has the least stampings off all wicket keepers in the world, his batting average is way down there, and greame smith, have a look at his last 10 matches
62, 75 vs aus
30, 3 vs aus
0, 69 vs aus
2, absent vs aus
0, 12 vs eng
75, 22 vs eng
30, 183 vs eng
105 - vs eng
6, - vs eng
4, 20 vs eng

at an avarage of 34,9 SHOCK HORROR GASP if it was not for that 183 vs england his avarage also would not have looked that good,SHOCK HORROR GASP and dont even get me started on his ODI stats, thats even worse than his test averages.....

[Mr Natural]

neliobaas, quit while you're behind.

Boucher has the most dismissals of any wicketkeeper - granted, that's a function of his longevity more than anything else, but it's not something to be thrown away. He doesn't get too many stumpings because he's spent most of his career keeping to bowlers like Donald, Pollock, Kallis, Ntini, Steyn, and Morkel. Good luck to anyone standing up to them :D

(And btw, only Gilchrist and Akmal have more stumpings in the last 10 years (http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;keeper=1;orderb y=dismissals;spanmax1=04+Mar+2010;spanmin1=04+Mar+ 2000;spanval1=span;template=results;type=fielding) - and look who they're keeping to.)

[Lament]

neliobaas, quit while you're behind.

Boucher has the most dismissals of any wicketkeeper - granted, that's a function of his longevity more than anything else, but it's not something to be thrown away. He doesn't get too many stumpings because he's spent most of his career keeping to bowlers like Donald, Pollock, Kallis, Ntini, Steyn, and Morkel. Good luck to anyone standing up to them :D

(And btw, only Gilchrist and Akmal have more stumpings in the last 10 years (http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;keeper=1;orderb y=dismissals;spanmax1=04+Mar+2010;spanmin1=04+Mar+ 2000;spanval1=span;template=results;type=fielding) - and look who they're keeping to.)

nobody is throwing him away, but he cant play for ever, some of you are just die hard fans who cant let go, Donald also probably never should have retired....and Pollock probably also still has a few good years in him

[Mr Natural]

I never said he could play forever. :confused:

Fwiw, I'm worried about what we do post-Boucher. I don't think AB is the solution there, though he was an adequate stopgap in an emergency.

[manesan]

I never said he could play forever. :confused:

Fwiw, I'm worried about what we do post-Boucher. I don't think AB is the solution there, though he was an adequate stopgap in an emergency.

If I remember correctly he used to be a full time keeper for the titans, and quite a decent keeper.

[alf101]

If I was coach, I'd make people use paragraphs.
Then I'd read their stories.

[stefan9]

couldnt care less the coach works whit who ever the selectors give him :p what you do need to do is make sure the players know that if they dont perform they get replaced We tend to "play" people back into form. O and GIVE RUSTY

Except the coach and captain are now selectors. With the reshuffiling of the structures the new selection panel are the coach,captain,high performance guy and govener of selectors.


i agree!!!!, Duminy cant bat to save his life, we could have put an allrounder in his place, or somebody wo actually preformed in the domestic league, S.Cook scored something like 360 in a match, breaking all SA records, Duminy broke the SA record for going out 7 times in a row to a LBW under 10 runs.....do the math....

Cook had one magical game and din't score any hundred in the rest of the games. If you want to select a batsman from domestic level then its dean elgar. 4 hundreds in the ss series this season and only 8 runs short of hashim's domestic record, should break it when the ss resumes.

As for the rest you don't drop your best players. Smith and AB are some of our best players. I suppose we should have dropped kallis we he went a year average 37.

And as for the aussies dropping players who have a slight dip in form. Didn't see them dropping ponting after he had a horror of an aussie summer this year.

There is nothing much wrong with our current test lineup. JP needs to regain form or they need to drop him and try prince again at number or looking for another number 6. Harris is till our best spinner unless tahir qualifies but the rest of the side is fine. Will see if pietersen is the right guy to open for now he deserves his spot, if he fails elgar is the guy.

[Guantanamo]

If I was coach, First thing I would do is get in Sheryl Calder no matter how much she wants. She is the person who turned Habana and De Villiers in to intercept machines and the only person to ever win two consecutive world cups, albeit with different teams.

I would then have Jonty Rhodes come in for fielding, Fanie De Villiers and/or Alan Donald for bowling and would have two batting coaches, Lance Kluesner for the big hitting lower order all rounders and Jimmy Cook/Kepler Wessels working with the top 5.

As for spinners I would get in people on a part time basis for eg Shane Warne or Anil Kumble.

I would select a 15 man high performance squad and an extra 5 man development squad.

HPS:

Graeme Smith(C)
Hashim Amla
Jaque Kallis
AB De Villiers
Jaques Rudolph
Ryan McClaren
JP Duminy
Albie Morkel
Morne Morkel
Wayne Parnell
Dale Steyn
Johan Botha
Roelof Van de Merwe
Heino Khun
Mark Boucher

Development Squad:

Imrahn Tahir(If elligable)
Faf Du Plessis
Blake Snijman
Loots Bosman
Alviro Peterson

[Lament]

If I was coach, First thing I would do is get in Sheryl Calder no matter how much she wants. She is the person who turned Habana and De Villiers in to intercept machines and the only person to ever win two consecutive world cups, albeit with different teams.

I would then have Jonty Rhodes come in for fielding, Fanie De Villiers and/or Alan Donald for bowling and would have two batting coaches, Lance Kluesner for the big hitting lower order all rounders and Jimmy Cook/Kepler Wessels working with the top 5.

As for spinners I would get in people on a part time basis for eg Shane Warne or Anil Kumble.

I would select a 15 man high performance squad and an extra 5 man development squad.

HPS:

Graeme Smith(C)
Hashim Amla
Jaque Kallis
AB De Villiers
Jaques Rudolph
Ryan McClaren
JP Duminy
Albie Morkel
Morne Morkel
Wayne Parnell
Dale Steyn
Johan Botha
Roelof Van de Merwe
Heino Khun
Mark Boucher

Development Squad:

Imrahn Tahir(If elligable)
Faf Du Plessis
Blake Snijman
Loots Bosman
Alviro Peterson

i tend to disagree with you on a few points, i would have apoineted someone like Brain Lara as the batting coach, (Darryl Cullinan if you wan to stay SA), Wasim Akram or Wakar Younis as the bowling coach (Shaun Pollock is you want to stay SA), Rhodes as the fielding Coach, Kepler Wessels as the Technical Adviser and my head coach would be Ray Jennings, as for your high preformace team

Graeme Smith(C)
Hashim Amla
Jaque Kallis
AB De Villiers
Jaques Rudolph
Ryan McClaren (he is okay, but he wont get my nod just yet)
JP Duminy (this guy will never ever ever be in any team of mine)
Albie Morkel (if there is one player i dislike more than Duminy its Morkel, NO NO NO TALENT)
Morne Morkel
Wayne Parnell
Dale Steyn
Johan Botha (he has to little varaity since he is only allowed to bowl one delivery)
Roelof Van de Merwe (you have got to be kidding me)
Heino Khun
Mark Boucher (bye bye)

here is my high Preformance team

Specialised batsmen
G.Smith
H.Amla
C.Ingram
J.Rudolph
R.Levi
D.Elgar
Allrounders
J.Kallis
W.Parnell
Specialised Bowlers
D.Steyn
M.Morkel
R.Theron
I.Tahir
Q.Friend
Wicket Keepers
H.Khun
AB.de Villiers

[stefan9]

Levi?? You have got to be kidding. If you don't want duminy then you have to at least pick someone with close to the same amount of talent and levi is no where close. Rossouw,Vandiar and Miller are miles ahead of levi.

For guys who have written duminy of here is a very good article from cricinfo on him and why he will succeed in the long run.


Duminy's talent will out

First he needs to unclutter his mind and go back to playing his naturally aggressive game. And hopefully he'll have Kepler Wessels to help him on his way back

Telford Vice

March 5, 2010
Comments: 29 | Text size: A | A
JP Duminy is disconsolate after edging the first ball of Graeme Swann's spell, 4th Test, South Africa v England, Johannesburg, 16 January, 2010
What happened to the star unearthed in Australia? © PA Photos
Related Links
News : Wessels keeps faith in Duminy
Features : Duminy gets a reality check
Players/Officials: Jean-Paul Duminy
Teams: South Africa

It's not that South Africans look down on precocious talent. Instead, you might say it puzzles them. Certainly, they don't trust the stuff further than they can spit.

Give them a grizzled, blood-in-the-boots, over-my-dead-body, who-the-hell-do-you-think-you-are type of player, and they will love and respect him forever. Put some gifted young git in front of them and they're going to look past him to see where that other fella went.

"There's a feeling in our country that young players need to serve their time before they're given a chance," said Mike Procter, who made his Test debut a few months after his 20th birthday. "I don't believe that should be the case. In other countries, young players are picked all the time." Indeed, as Freddie Mercury told us, "Talent will out, my dears." Which means South Africans are simply going to have to put up with the stuff.

They know this, of course, because every generation or so the cricketing gods curse South Africa by bequeathing them a true talent, sometimes more than one: Procter, Graeme Pollock and Barry Richards, for instance. Or Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock.

In this generation, Jacques Kallis. And JP Duminy. Bugger. It's happening again. What to do?

But as the gods give, so they take away. Duminy, he of the icy confidence and uncomplicated approach, has melted into a puddle of messy mortality. Once, he played strokes that would get no further than the wilder imaginings of other batsmen. Now he flays clumsily at the ball from an unsteady pair of feet that would seem to have been fashioned from Table Mountain's granite.

Duminy fired a shot across the bows of every current Test bowler in his debut series in 2008-09, when he scored 246 runs at 61.50 and made certain of his place in history as a star in the first South African team to win a Test rubber in Australia.

Perhaps it could only go downhill from there. Three series later, his average has plummeted to 28.77. He scraped together 15 runs in the three Test innings he played against India in February, and by the look of him, he felt lucky to get that many. That's a far cry from the young gun who triumphed over Australia's finest and immediately inspired predictions of future greatness. Duminy made Procter, then the convenor of selectors, who saw in him something more than the occasional ODI player he had been, look like a visionary.

"He always looked a classy player and he should have been playing Test cricket much earlier," Procter said. "But he never got a chance because the South African top six was quite settled. Then Ashwell Prince suffered an unfortunate injury, and Duminy was given his opportunity."

Procter is as perturbed by Duminy's troubles as any other cricket-minded South African, but he reckons he'll be back. "To lose form as badly as he has done is concerning. But it's not totally different to what happens to a lot of players as they build their careers. You can see the class is there, and you can't take that away from him."

The route to Duminy's return to form on the international stage, Procter said, needs to wind its way through the wings of lesser cricket. "He's playing in the domestic competitions now, where the bowling isn't of the same standard as at international level. Then he's off the IPL, where it's all about giving the ball a good whack. Hopefully that will help his confidence, because your form is all about your mind. It reaches a stage where you don't know where your next run is coming from."



"To lose form as badly as he has done is concerning. But... you can see the class is there, and you can't take that away from him" Mike Procter



Duminy surely knows of whence Procter speaks. The good news is that his rehabilitation is in the hands of Kepler Wessels, South Africa's batting coach on the tour to India. At first glance, all that could possibly connect Duminy and Wessels is the fact that they are both bat left-handed. Duminy's instinct is to shoot at boundaries far and wide. Wessels' bread-and-butter stroke was the nurdle to third man. As a Test captain in an era when South Africa were veritable toddlers among T-Rex, Wessels was duty-bound to ensure he couldn't lose a match before he tried to win it. Duminy plays for a South African team that likes to believe it is the finest in the game. But no one knows more about keeping a clear, focused head, about discipline and sheer hard work, about the kind of invisible strength that scares some people, which leaps mental boundaries, than Wessels. Assuming he continues to work with the team, what is he going to do with Duminy?

"There are a couple of small technical things we've identified that need to be worked on. He has a problem against offspinners, for instance," Wessels said. "But the main issue is that there is too much clutter in his mind. Too much information has been put there over the course of the last 12 months.

"He needs to get back to playing his naturally positive, aggressive game. Sometimes the opposition gets a handle on you, and the challenge for you is to come back from that."

As someone who scored 162 on Test debut, and followed that with a half-century and two more centuries in his next 11 innings, Wessels seems eminently qualified to guide Duminy through the minefield. When the precociously talented Duminy reaches safe ground - and he will - he should find plenty of love and respect waiting to welcome him.

Telford Vice is a freelance cricket writer in South Africa
RSS Feeds: Telford Vice


http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/450788.html

[Lament]

Levi?? You have got to be kidding. If you don't want duminy then you have to at least pick someone with close to the same amount of talent and levi is no where close. Rossouw,Vandiar and are miles ahead of levi.

For guys who have written duminy of here is a very good article from cricinfo on him and why he will succeed in the long run.



http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/450788.html

lets have a look (on cricinfo)

R.Levi stats : (first class)
Matches :25 innings : 40 not out : 5 Runs:1426 High score 150* Average : 40.74
R.Rossouw :
Matches : 24 innings: 44 not out : 1 runs: 1689 High score: 139 ave : 39.27
Vandiar :
matches 19 innings: 31 not out : 3 runs: 1060 high score : 172* ave: 37.85
Miller :
matches :20 innings: 30 not out: 4 runs : 776 High score : 108* ave: 29.84


it seems like your cricket knowledge/facts are "miles" from anything to go by.....

[stefan9]

Exclude their amateur stats and you get the real picture.

Levi averages 29 at franchise level. http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/73/73690/f_Batting_by_Team.html
Vandiar averages 44.50 at franchise level for the lions. http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/168/168777/f_Batting_by_Team.html
Rossouw averages 42.58 for the eagles at franchise level. http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/236/236961/f_Batting_by_Team.html

Miller I may have been wrong on since he averages only 29.86 for the dolphins http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/260/260912/f_Batting_by_Team.html.
Still like what I have seen more than levi.


But for the other two I think the stats tell there own story. Franchise level they are way ahead of levi who's first class average is hugely inflated by ameteur cricket. For those who don't know in SA the ameteur performances are counted as first class level even though its a level below franchise level.

[Sarakael]

Everybody seems to be in agreement that Kuhn is the keeper waiting in the wings (unless you count those who say it should be de villiers) but surely the current form keeper is Davey Jacobs?
His batting average is higher than Kuhn on both t20 and one day games (taking into account only franchise level games), and I dont think there is much difference in their keeping ability.

Thoughts?

[stefan9]

Everybody seems to be in agreement that Kuhn is the keeper waiting in the wings (unless you count those who say it should be de villiers) but surely the current form keeper is Davey Jacobs?
His batting average is higher than Kuhn on both t20 and one day games (taking into account only franchise level games), and I dont think there is much difference in their keeping ability.

Thoughts?

From what I know he is more of a part time keeper like puttick at the cobras. I think kuhn is the better keeper between the two. Morne van wyk is also an option if we want a short term keeper once bouch goes.

[Lament]

Exclude their amateur stats and you get the real picture.

Levi averages 29 at franchise level. http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/73/73690/f_Batting_by_Team.html
Vandiar averages 44.50 at franchise level for the lions. http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/168/168777/f_Batting_by_Team.html
Rossouw averages 42.58 for the eagles at franchise level. http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/236/236961/f_Batting_by_Team.html

Miller I may have been wrong on since he averages only 29.86 for the dolphins http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/260/260912/f_Batting_by_Team.html.
Still like what I have seen more than levi.


But for the other two I think the stats tell there own story. Franchise level they are way ahead of levi who's first class average is hugely inflated by ameteur cricket. For those who don't know in SA the ameteur performances are counted as first class level even though its a level below franchise level.

dude really, then vandiar averaged 20 for the dolphins (franchise level), Rilee Rossouw averaged 26 on amatuere level.... do you see where im coming from, there is nothing wrong with Richard Levi, he is stil young and has got the talent to make it big, same as the 2 players you mentioned

[Lament]

Everybody seems to be in agreement that Kuhn is the keeper waiting in the wings (unless you count those who say it should be de villiers) but surely the current form keeper is Davey Jacobs?
His batting average is higher than Kuhn on both t20 and one day games (taking into account only franchise level games), and I dont think there is much difference in their keeping ability.

Thoughts?

Davey Jacobs is a part time keeper, not a really good one at that, the best keeper we have (since loosing Keiswetter) will be Heino Khun, no question, and by the way, he is a much better batsmen than Davey Jacobs...