State of SA

[Tinah09]

* Not the team per ser but the batsmen. The seam bowlers are world class

[slcricfan1]

This critique will be valid if he was the worst batsman in the SA team, based on either career average or the ongoing test match, he is not. In fact Elgar is the only batsman who has outperformed him. When I hear the degrading term “quota player” I expect to see an underserving, pathetic black cricket surrounded by white cricketing excellence, letting the team down, putting up the worst performances in the team. I’m no Themba fan, but he not that, he’s one of two SA cricketers that has managed to score 50+ in the ongoing test. The likes of van Dussen, Mulder haven’t done anything of note, yet for some reason Themba is the undeserving one?? How does that work?

I thought you were just calling him a failure and average? I'm not sure I follow whether you are attacking or defending him?

He's good enough to not be a quota player. But at the end of the day, he is one. He knows it. That's why he's never reached his potential.

If race wasn't a thing he'd have had to fight much harder to get into the team in the first place and to retain his place amongst very tough competition. And I think he is talented enough to be able to. He's got really good ability to have genuinely won a place in the team.

But he's never had to fight. So he muddles along and relaxes. Because of the quota.

I'm praising Temba. I'm criticising the system.

I said he is not a very good player (ie average at best) and people making excuses for him are deluding themselves. But due to the fact that he’s playing for arguably the worst SA team in decades, he fits in well. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. If Themba was in the Proteas team during the Kallis, Amla, AB, Smith, Prince etc era, then he would stick out like a sore thumb and a case could be made for calling him a transformation/quota player. But in this current proteas team who can’t score a century at home to save their lives, he’s the AB de Villiers of the team. Which is an indictment on how shitty this Proteas team is

Fair enough honestly. What I dont understand is how Temba with such a low first class average does similarly to his contemporaries who have higher averages

[sam_ahm]

My point on Maharaj making it for 'Transformation' was only in relation to this particular game against India. Overall he absolutely deserves to be in the team and is a much better option than George Linde.

[CholeZimbo]

Anyone with a link to watch?

[slcricfan1]

search up crichd, crictime or webcric. One of them should work hopefully for you. I`m using kayo right now though

[ZIMDOGGY]

I thought you were just calling him a failure and average? I'm not sure I follow whether you are attacking or defending him?

He's good enough to not be a quota player. But at the end of the day, he is one. He knows it. That's why he's never reached his potential.

If race wasn't a thing he'd have had to fight much harder to get into the team in the first place and to retain his place amongst very tough competition. And I think he is talented enough to be able to. He's got really good ability to have genuinely won a place in the team.

But he's never had to fight. So he muddles along and relaxes. Because of the quota.

I'm praising Temba. I'm criticising the system.

I said he is not a very good player (ie average at best) and people making excuses for him are deluding themselves. But due to the fact that he’s playing for arguably the worst SA team in decades, he fits in well. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. If Themba was in the Proteas team during the Kallis, Amla, AB, Smith, Prince etc era, then he would stick out like a sore thumb and a case could be made for calling him a transformation/quota player. But in this current proteas team who can’t score a century at home to save their lives, he’s the AB de Villiers of the team. Which is an indictment on how shitty this Proteas team is

Fair enough honestly. What I dont understand is how Temba with such a low first class average does similarly to his contemporaries who have higher averages

Without researching it, it’s probably the same reason Craig Ervine rarely fires.
When you’re cemented in the national team, domestic is a big step below and becomes a practice run they don’t get gee’d up for.
Couple that with his likely acceleration into the national team as a quota player, if he performed ok internationally and felt safe then I can see why he would be a fail at the level below.

[slcricfan1]

I said he is not a very good player (ie average at best) and people making excuses for him are deluding themselves. But due to the fact that he’s playing for arguably the worst SA team in decades, he fits in well. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. If Themba was in the Proteas team during the Kallis, Amla, AB, Smith, Prince etc era, then he would stick out like a sore thumb and a case could be made for calling him a transformation/quota player. But in this current proteas team who can’t score a century at home to save their lives, he’s the AB de Villiers of the team. Which is an indictment on how shitty this Proteas team is

Fair enough honestly. What I dont understand is how Temba with such a low first class average does similarly to his contemporaries who have higher averages

Without researching it, it’s probably the same reason Craig Ervine rarely fires.
When you’re cemented in the national team, domestic is a big step below and becomes a practice run they don’t get gee’d up for.
Couple that with his likely acceleration into the national team as a quota player, if he performed ok internationally and felt safe then I can see why he would be a fail at the level below.

Thats an intresting reason yeah

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Wanderers pitch gets better after Day 3. Poor batting from India and Siraj's injury costed the game

[sam_ahm]

This will go down as one of South Africa's best wins. Sensational stuff. Elgar has played so well in this series, he has raised his game for the big series.

Some of my friends are gutted, they didn't see this coming, although I'm hardly surprised, RSA have always been a tough side to beat at home and they should be fully respected.

[Googly]

Indeed, that was a good win. That short spell by Rabada was the turning point. Interesting that Elgar said they had to fire him up, but how would remain a secret

There was some needle in this game. Other teams have been a bit careful not to sledge the Indians for a while in case they fuck up their IPL chances but that went out the window. The next game will be good viewing, can't wait.