Proteas tour to Zimbabwe: Aug-Sep 2014

S

SinghDude

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Good win. . . still not too sure of the balance when playing in Aus. 2 spinners will get murdered on those tracks .
 
Creag

Creag

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Faf man of the series; Steyn man of the match for me.
 
Z

ZCFOutkast

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Strange how such middling form is what led to Gibbs being discarded, or now Alviro being questioned. Double standards anyone? What do I know, I'm a troll apparently.
 
Z

ZCFOutkast

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Convenient to ignore the links so I'l lspell it out for you. No one is dipusting present day world rankings. Having said that, no one should dispute that Boeta, McKenzie, Alviro and now young Quinton de Kock are comparable or superior to AB against the new ball.

PROTEAS TEST OPENERS SINCE 2005
Player Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 0
GC Smith 85 147 9 6581 234 47.68 20 28 6
ND McKenzie 17 29 3 1225 226 47.11 3 3 3
AB de Villiers 19 33 0 1223 178 37.06 3 6 0
AN Petersen 33 59 3 1991 182 35.55 5 8 2
HH Gibbs 14 25 0 717 161 28.68 1 5 5
(minimum 15 innings)

PROTEAS ODI OPENERS SINCE 2005
Player Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave 100 50
HM Amla 91 90 6 4596 150 54.71 15 25
HH Dippenaar 24 24 4 978 125* 48.9 3 6
Q de Kock 24 24 0 1106 135 46.08 5 3
GC Smith 140 138 8 4994 141 38.41 10 32
HH Gibbs 35 35 0 1285 119 36.71 5 5
AB de Villiers 33 32 3 934 146 32.2 1 6
(minimum 15 innings)

The question is, would AB have been as highly ranked or as good a batsman as he is regarded to be today had he continued opening? The answer is a resounding no! All the more reason why he refuses to even get anywhere near there and bat at 3! Get back to me once he mans up, and leave me to pay attention to the 50 odd averages at 5/6 from the greenhorns like Root, Smith and Mathews. Stating facts and trolling are two very different things.

Overstating AB's abilities is not enough to discount the fact that Amla is multiple times a better batsmen than AB is. At the end of the day that's what all this masking amounts to. Not being comfortable to give Amla his dues. I doubt very much that the Pakistanis would ever go to the point of comparing Younis Khan and Misbah. I, and inded many other people, could come up with countless theories as to why it's seen fit to raise AB to Amla's level.
 
Seriously

Seriously

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Z

ZCFOutkast

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OGroteKoning said:
Just 2 questions:
1. Is it true that you were chased away from some forum or column or paper or something and if so why?
2. Are you indian?
Click to expand...

Hahaha! Indian? Xhosa. I volunteered that information long ago, check the history of the thread.

Batting for Amla doesn't mean I'm Indian. If I'm not mistaken quite a number of Indians like AB due to his IPL exploits. Him&Kohli are in the same franchise but a lot of CSK look forward to AB coming to the crease more is what I sense.

Stick to the facts of the matter. Amla is of Indian descent but, no matter how much deserving, he was never going to be bestowed "King Kallis" status now was he, for obvious non-cricketing reasons of course. Relatively similar age means Amla will never get to equal matches with AB, but it's an open secret the stats&class chasm that would exist between the two were that to happen.

I'm purely talking byproducts of cricket here - and in no other cricket nation would a failed opener rehabilitated as a middle order batsman be ranked higher than a champion at first drop. Try saying Mike Hussey ahead of Ponting and some would say you've gone bonkers.
 
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Seriously

Seriously

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ZCFOutkast said:
Hahaha! Indian? Xhosa. I volunteered that information long ago, check the history of the thread.

Batting for Amla doesn't mean I'm Indian. If I'm not mistaken quite a number of Indians like AB due to his IPL exploits. Him&Kohli are in the same franchise but a lot of CSK look forward to AB coming to the crease more is what I sense.

Stick to the facts of the matter. Amla is of Indian descent but, no matter how much deserving, he was never going to be bestowed "King Kallis" status now was he, for obvious non-cricketing reasons of course. Relatively similar age means Amla will never get to equal matches with AB, but it's an open secret the stats&class chasm that would exist between the two were that to happen.

I'm purely talking byproducts of cricket here - and in no other cricket nation would a failed opener rehabilitated as a middle order batsman be ranked higher than a champion at first drop. Try saying Mike Hussey ahead of Ponting and some would say you've gone bonkers.
Click to expand...

you've gone bonkers, I agree.
 
SaiyanZ

SaiyanZ

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Who cares whether AB opens or not? As long as he makes runs for the team then he is good in my books and he has been making lots of runs which the rankings show.
 
sand_man

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ZCFOutkast said:
I agree regarding AB de Villiers. Stats don't lie!

He can continue hiding down there!
Click to expand...

Hiding?

You know there's a 2nd new ball in test cricket at 80 overs?

You don't think, after keeping wicket for anything from 70-120 overs, AB would need to rest a bit before batting?

You think batting on the sub continent, on a turning pitch on day 5 of a test facing the worlds best spinners, is easy?

Other than your opening batsman, are all the worlds cricketers, from 3-11 hiding? Did Donald Bradman "hide" batting no higher than 3 his entire career?

What about Jacque Kallis? Also hiding?

How about Sachin Tendulkar? He batted 4th for most his career. Definitely hiding...?

Sorry dude, but your argument is born out of a combination of ignorance and prejudice more than anything substantial.
 
Z

ZCFOutkast

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SaiyanZ said:
Who cares whether AB opens or not? As long as he makes runs for the team then he is good in my books and he has been making lots of runs which the rankings show.
Click to expand...
Now that's what I call a proper response!

No attempting to sidestep his obvious weakness, or hurling empty "insults" to mask a glaring point, but basic acknowledgement - as long as he makes runs elsewhere because rankings couldn't be bothered if you're Sangakkara/Amla/Warner(batting in tougher top 3) or Clarke/Chanderpaul/Mathews(batting easy #5), amount of runs can get you to the top of the rankings.

I think it's a perfect argument, but it's only valid until an Angelo Mathews or Sakib al Hasan gets to #1 Test batsman, then the comments come out - but you can't compare them to Amla or Warner because ...

That's all I'm saying. Ok for some but no ok for others.
 
Mike Hoxbig

Mike Hoxbig

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sand_man said:
Hiding?

You know there's a 2nd new ball in test cricket at 80 overs?

You don't think, after keeping wicket for anything from 70-120 overs, AB would need to rest a bit before batting?

You think batting on the sub continent, on a turning pitch on day 5 of a test facing the worlds best spinners, is easy?

Other than your opening batsman, are all the worlds cricketers, from 3-11 hiding? Did Donald Bradman "hide" batting no higher than 3 his entire career?

What about Jacque Kallis? Also hiding?

How about Sachin Tendulkar? He batted 4th for most his career. Definitely hiding...?

Sorry dude, but your argument is born out of a combination of ignorance and prejudice more than anything substantial.
Click to expand...

Don't feed it...
 
Z

ZCFOutkast

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sand_man said:
You know there's a 2nd new ball in test cricket at 80 overs?
Click to expand...
Yes, and bowlers who are 80 overs old too!

You don't think, after keeping wicket for anything from 70-120 overs, AB would need to rest a bit before batting?
Click to expand...
Yes, like Sangakkara, Andy Flower&Gilly. Between Boucher & QdK he had a bfief period which Thami could've covered but AB and that prick Hudson thought otherwise.

You think batting on the sub continent, on a turning pitch on day 5 of a test facing the worlds best spinners, is easy?
Click to expand...
Nope, but this youngster seems to think so.

Other than your opening batsman, are all the worlds cricketers, from 3-11 hiding? Did Donald Bradman "hide" batting no higher than 3 his entire career?
Click to expand...
I generally never consider those batting outside the top 3 in any greatest batsman shortlist, so Dravid is greater than Sachin in my eyes.

Fact remains every Proteas article on Cricinfo is flooded with questions "Why doesn't AB open?", "Why isn't he at 3 intead of Faf", "Why didn't he replace Kallis at 4?" etc. Only two answers - he's a coward or he's not good enough to succeed there! No shame in acknowleding that fact. Aussies do about Clarke. At least they don't throw around the team strategy/safety net excuse.
 
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