Amla's resignation good for South Africa in the long run

The Proteas had worked hard to recover from being put to the sword by the England cricket team. After losing dismally in the first Test match in Durban, England added to the pressure by posting 629–6 declared in the first innings of the second Test in Cape Town. Something inspirational was needed to turn the four-Test series around. This came in the form of our Test captain, Hashim Amla, scoring 201 in reply. His innings revitalised our team, inspiring a comeback on the fourth and fifth days of the Test. We finished our innings on 627–7 declared, with Temba Bavuma scoring a maiden Test hundred. 

So encouraged were the Proteas by Amla's innings, that we declared two runs short of England's score, just so we would have more time to bowl them out. And, our bowlers did well. Wickets kept tumbling. England struggled to survive on the last day, only doing so thanks to wickets being disallowed due to no-balls, and missed chances by the South Africans. England finished the day on 159–6, having abandoned the game a few hours early due to bad light. Then came the shock of the series. Amla resigned as Proteas Test captain, saying that for the previous two weeks he had been thinking that someone else could be doing a better job than him as captain. He also wanted to work on his batting.

Hashim Amla has resigned as Test captain of the Proteas.

As One Day International captain, AB de Villiers brings his own captaincy style to the squad, and for T20 Internationals, Faf du Plessis does the same. While these two are different people, they grew up together, both playing cricket for their school – Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool. They are both hard-working, high-intensity players who rely on skill and labour to do the job. Yes they are intelligent, and know how to be patient while batting, or place a field for certain batsmen for the situation in the game. But for Amla, it was all methodical.

Amla once compared captaincy to a game of chess, where every decision had to be comprehensively thought out before implementation. One could see early on in his captaincy that his field placements were very intentional, much like Graeme Smith's once were. South Africa is going to lose this aspect to its Test game. Yet, I believe that this action will probably turn out better for South Africa in the long run.

AB de Villiers, who was vice-captain in Tests, will replace Amla as captain in the remaining Tests in the series, and hopefully, for the foreseeable future. AB de Villiers inspires players more than Amla does, and through his tenacious batting puts fear into the opposition more than any other batsman in the world. AB has shown that he can be captain and still bat well in the ODIs. With Quinton de Kock ensuring that AB does not have to keep wickets anymore, I think AB can replicate his success in Tests as well. He just needs to learn a few things and he will make a phenomenal Test captain.

Was the India tour a triumph or disaster?

A crushing 3–0 loss against India in the recent Test series would have left many South African cricket fans distraught, shaking their heads at how such a powerful batting line up had been easily brought to its knees. It would be very easy to forget that the Proteas won the T20 series 2–0 and the One Day International series 3–2 just weeks before.

One thing is certain: The 72-day tour was highly competitive, with both SA and India being hurt by the other side on several occasions. While the shorter format matches were closely contested, the Test series was one-sided. Batsmen scored freely, as the T20 and ODI series turned into a run contest between AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis for SA against Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli for India. The Test series dissolved into one-way traffic – South African batsmen toiling, struggling to survive as long as they could against lethal Indian spinners on pitches with nightmarish turn and bounce.

Proteas Test captain Hashim Amla will feel the heat after our Test series defeat to India.

But was the tour a victory or failure? I argue that it was both.

Before the tour, South Africa had not lost an overseas Test series since 2006. In this regard, the Test series loss was definitely a failure, especially as we fell so hard. Man of the series Ravichandran Ashwin was unplayable. The Indian spinner tore our batting line up apart with his intelligent bowling, and use of variety. Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra supported him well, ensuring that our batsmen had no room to breathe. The series showed that South African batsmen still do not know how to play great spinners on turning wickets. Our batsmen were bamboozled.

Having said this, the Test series did highlight a weak point for us. The Proteas coaching staff must identify it and correct it. India had not played a Test series at home in two years, so perhaps it was an honour to be selected to compete with them, whatever the result. Furthermore, how often does a team go to India and win two series? India is very strong at home, and several cricket captains such as Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith have alluded to this. Winning any series there is an accomplishment. Thus I feel that we also succeeded in India. Our T20 and ODI series wins showed the world that we have what it takes to also be successful in the limited overs format.

At the end of the day SA won five matches, and India won five matches. Both sides would have wanted more wins.

SA are unstoppable

I previously blogged how India would beat the Proteas in the T20 series, and the One Day International (ODI) series could go either way between the sides. I never expected SA to win both series convincingly (2–0, and 3–2 respectively). Who would have thought? India, the giants of limited overs cricket, and South Africa – while incredibly strong, are too often inconsistent. It was an awesome surprise. The ODI series win was our first in India.

Faf du Plessis is on fire. Photo from NT44NZblog photo from www.sports.ndtv.com.

With the phenomenal form South Africa is in, it must be hard being an Indian player with the prospect of a four-match Test series on the horizon, especially after losing two series at home, and as South Africa is ranked first in the world in Tests. Yes, JP Duminy, Morne Morkel and Rilee Rossouw were recently injured, but South Africa pulled together as a team and performed remarkably in all aspects of the game. Fielding was good, bowling was excellent, and batting was... Batting was out of this world.

Quinton de Kock clearly likes batting in India. He scored two centuries in the series, and out of his eight ODI centuries, five were against India. Faf du Plessis showed incredible consistency in his batting, and AB is on another level in limited overs cricket. Perhaps Chris Gayle is as destructive, but even he does not obliterate bowling attacks as often as AB does.

Dale Steyn is still striking, and now Kagiso Rabada is chipping in big time. In fact, Rabada has shown confidence and big-match temperament beyond his years. Steyn and Rabada each took 10 wickets in the ODI series. So much for spin dominating in India.

On the whole, South Africa are looking as good as I have ever seen them in limited overs. Who can stop us now? Let me know what you think.

Bangladesh – If it had not rained

Who would have won? If both Test matches between South Africa and Bangladesh were not washed out in their recent series, what would the result be?

The first match was subject to heavy, persistent rain and its final two days were rained out. If that was bad, only 88.1 overs were played in the second Test. Before this, the Proteas won the T20 series 2–0, while the Tigers won the ODI series 2–1. Yet I think South Africa would have won the Test series. Here is why:

Faf du Plessis probably would have liked to know how the Test series could have turned out.
Image from httpwww.mid-day.com

While the momentum was with Bangladesh, South Africa's Test team has learned how to make remarkeable comebacks. Yes, AB de Villiers was missing, while his wife was giving birth to his son (also named AB), but captain Hashim Amla has potential to inspire his team to success. A fiercely determined batsman, whilst very respectful and experienced, he would have led the team – particularly the batsmen – to perform well. Likewise, Dale Steyn would have led the bowling attack with ferocity, after taking his 400th Test wicket.

Yes Bangladesh have great quality in batting and bowling at the moment, but they would not have beaten South Africa over 10 days. South Africa are far more experienced in Test cricket. The tables would have turned on the home side eventually.

It is hard being a Proteas fan

The first thing a colleague said to me after the Proteas lost in the semi final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to New Zealand, was, "There they choke again. They are chokers." It is an opinion held by many South African cricket fans, and the issue is addressed by the Proteas players and staff themselves. The Proteas have never progressed past the semi final stage at a world cup, and are perceived to play below par in must-win world cup matches.

Proteas ODI Captain AB de Villiers will be distraught after losing in the world cup semi final to New Zealand.

Thus it is exasperating being a Proteas fan. Every time a world cup comes round, and even a T20 world cup, we all get excited that maybe this could be our time. Without fail, we are disappointed. Am I saying that the Proteas' chokers label is accurate? I do not know. All I can say is that, although New Zealand have a very skillful and hard working team this time round, we batted and bowled very well but our fielding in the last overs almost certainly cost us the match.

Du Plessis had called for a catch he could not reach, even when Hashim Amla was ready nearby. The ball landed between them. Then, Farhaan Behardien was poised for a catch when JP Duminy came out of nowhere and dived into him. It appeared that Behardien had already dropped the ball before Duminy arrived, but when a player is approaching like that it can distract you as a fielder. 

It was New Zealand who also ended our world cup dreams in 2011. For them, this is an opportunity to be rugby and cricket world champions at the same time. What a dream come true. With regards to the Proteas, foolish fans such as myself will have to wait another four years. We will wait, as time builds up our hope again.

Number 1 still, and a look at team selection

The Proteas beat Australia with class by 309 runs, helping them retain their number one test ranking. 

The Proteas after winning the test series against Australia 1 - 0 on the day of Ricky Ponting's international retirement, holding on to their number one ranking. Picture taken from http://sports.ndtv.com

With so  many good players being available for test selection, the choices regarding selection are hard. This is a very good thing. Duminy got injured, so du Plessis played for him, and he played brilliantly. The Proteas have immense depth in batting. Even if Duminy does not play for a long time the squad still includes Elgar, Duplessis and Rudolph to choose from. I think David Miller and Richard Levi deserve a look at for test cricket.



All three of our fast bowlers did well in the last test. However, the Proteas should look at the reserves. Rory Kleinveldt is obviously a good player. However, he didn't impress me when he played in the second test match. Ryan McLaren is also good, but I think the selectors should try find a better bowler than either of these two. I think McLaren should stay as a back-up all rounder in case there is an injury, but it would be nice to have another good fast bowler in reserve, Marchant de Lange perhaps, or Parnell. 

AB Devilliers is doing well with the gloves, but prudently, we still have Thami Tsolekile as back-up. This is perfect. But maybe some work should be done by selectors to look for young keepers who we could call on in the future.

Selecting a spinner has always been hard for South Africa. Between Robin Peterson and Imran Tahir it is hard to pick a favourite. Tahir has done better in domestic cricket but has not done as well as Peterson internationally. For me they are both almost equally good spinners. I think though that because Peterson is better with the bat and in the field, he should play more in tests. Of course, I also think younger spinners should be looked at. Dane Piedt of the Cobras is possibly a future option for SA.

Hero

Faf Duplessis (28 years old). Picture taken from IOL sport

I have to eat my words.

In my last post I said that Dean Elgar or David Miller should replace JP Duminy ahead of Faf du Plessis in the second test match between Australia and South Africa. Not that Elgar is a lesser batsman, but du Plessis was selected, and ended up playing two brilliant innings. The second innings was nothing short of heroic.

He made 78 (159) and 110* (376) saving the test match and proving his mettle. His second innings reminded me of one Neil McKenzie played against England at Lords when he scored 138 off 446 balls to help SA to a draw after finding themselves in an incredibly poor position.

Like I did with AB de Villiers and Graeme Smith, I wrote du Plessis off after a few international shortcomings, only to be proven immensely wrong of the existence of tremendous batting talent and ability. I hope he is selected again in future test matches and ODIs.

Who should replace Duminy?

The first test match between South Africa and Australia ended in a draw with neither side dominating the other. Michael Clarke's 259 not out off 398 balls was brilliant. The Proteas need to work on their bowling against the Australian Batsmen. An even more pressing matter though is with whom they should replace JP Duminy with.

There are two test matches left, the next one only starting on the 22nd of November. For me Rory Kleinveldt is not a great test bowler, he didn't prove it either in the match. The Proteas should replace him with a spinner. Maybe Imran Tahir, or another person perhaps.

I am certain that selectors will consider Francois du Plessis and Dean Elgar as suitable replacements for Duminy. They are both good batsmen and can bowl part-time spin. However for me, du Plessis has failed too many times in the international arena and I think he should not be given another chance. Elgar is definitely a good option. 

According to espncricinfo.com he has scored 5326 runs in first class cricket at an average of 44.75. So he's quite good.

Dean Elgar (25) Picture taken from the Gauteng Cricket Board website

For me though. I think David Miller should be given a chance. He's proven he can play very well in limited over competitions and has done so in international games. He was brilliant in the Hong Kong sixes, which the  South African team actually won this year. He outshone captain Colin Ingram in a few of the HK6s games. 
Though his statistics are not as impressive, they are ever improving and I think he is becoming one of the best batsment in south africa.

David Miller (23) Picture taken from the Gauteng Cricket Board website