This is hands down the worst South African team of all time.

[rkt.india]

9 minutes ago, Austin 3:!6 said:

Dude...he retired just a year before WC. He should have stuck around till world cup and then retire, like Sanga did. If his body needed rest, he should have skipped few low profile bilateral series in between. But to keep the team hanging and he is enjoying some tamasha leagues around the world is selfishness. Just look at Dale Steyn...body gave up but still continuing in LOIs keeping WC in mind. That is called commitment. I have zero respect for players like ABDV.

because he does not know how long his will allow him to play.  Imagine him getting his back got broken just before WC, how are SA then going to replace him?  He gave them ample time to find his replacement and Van Der Dussen who replaced him is doing well, averaging 93.  ABDV has a history of back issues.  regarding T20s, you have to spend 90 mins on the field, dont get to bat a lot too and he is playing till his back allows.  stop bringing patriotism in everything.

[rkt.india]

3 minutes ago, maniac said:

WTF. I thought colored meant non-white for which they had quotas. Not sepereare quotas for black or brown etc etc.

my point was pehlu and Rabada both are black but you ignored one of them in your post while pehlukwayo has not done badly with 50 wickets in 39 games at 30 and averaging 31 with the bat. Also winning SA a game in this series with the bat scoring 69 from a position of 80/5. He has done well for an alrounder.

[nikred]

WTF. I thought colored meant non-white for which they had quotas. Not sepereare quotas for black or brown etc etc.

I remember reading somewhere they have black quota within the colored quota.

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk

[Austin 3:!6]

Also why is Aiden Markrand not playing?

[sandeep]

57 minutes ago, maniac said:

Our top players don’t need to worry for financial security like other country players. It has nothing to do with patriotism.

Where do you see anything about patriotism in what I wrote?  You are disagreeing with me, by agreeing with me?

[maniac]

28 minutes ago, sandeep said:

Where do you see anything about patriotism in what I wrote?  You are disagreeing with me, by agreeing with me?

Not everything is a counter argument. Take it as a summary or an add on of what you said

[Vilander]

ABDV did a Sanga on SA. He should have shouldered the WC and not run away like this. 

[Vilander]

47 minutes ago, Austin 3:!6 said:

Also why is Aiden Markrand not playing?

lol yeah, where is Markham he is definitely captain material. 

[Gollum]

Every major team has gone through bad phases, including the Aussies in the 80s. It is a surprise that it took so long for RSA to have a dip in standards, a country that faced sporting boycott from 1970 to 1992, any other country's cricket system would have collapsed under those circumstances but to RSA's credit they still fielded world class teams. Also more surprising because RSA is closer to WI than Aus, Eng, NZ as far as economy, standard of living, socio-economic status, corruption etc are concerned, plus they don't have a huge population like South Asian countries and cricket was never their number 1 sport. 

 

Even in this bad phase they have done exceedingly well in home tests and won in NZ/Aus. For other teams bad phase means laughing stock....at least these guys aren't laughing stocks, they have 5-6 very good players in all formats that will attract attention of neutrals. They are ranked 2, 4, 5 in ,  and  formats respectively, not bad eh?

 

Regarding the 'white' problem, look at it the other way, 90% of their countrymen are blacks or coloured, so the talent pool must be much larger yet untapped for so many years. Right now they have their greatest ever spinner from Indian background, and a trio of Philander/Ngidi/Rabada is something most teams will die for. Again some good batting talent from those (historically oppressed) communities emerging, best one is Zubayr Hamza, watch out for that kid. Number of white RSA stars is reducing but they will always be there because of the country's strong school cricket system (like Lanka) which attracts the best white talents behind rugby. In their so called weak (white) era they still have Markram, Kock, Oliver from more or less the same age bracket...3 potential stars. Every team will have weak links, hell ATG WI and Aus had weak players in their legendary teams. All it takes to make a top team are 5 very good players and 6 so-so ones, to make an ATG team it should be a  8:3 or 9:2 combination.

 

Contrary to the perception here, popularity of cricket is increasing in the rainbow nation and it is set to surpass rugby very soon to become the number 2 sport behind football. Future generations will get inspired by the Rabadas, Amlas and Maharajs just like how Ntini paved the way for blacks in RSA cricket within a decade of end of apartheid. 

 

Now I may be totally wrong and @maniac garu may be right. But still give it some time, observe the trend over 10-15 years and then come to a conclusion. Right now they haven't plummeted to minnow level, those who saw Australia in the 80s would never have predicted what was to follow later. Similarly I see a stronger RSA emerging, but the engines will be different this time. Blacks will carry the fast bowling workload, Asians will take care of spin and batting stocks while there will be a few good/great white players in the mix. The team will represent the demography much better,will have a wider acceptance among the masses. Just like how India grew stronger in the last 10 years after breaking the urban-rural divide, RSA will get stronger after breaking the racial divide. 

Edited January 31, 2019 by Gollum

[gattaca]

Same was said about west indies and now about south africa. It will balance out in the end. 

[Laaloo]

Good jinx @maniac 

[R!TTER]

14 hours ago, Austin 3:!6 said:

Just goes to show how selfish AB Devilliers actually is. Kept his team hanging like this just before WC and playing in Bangla premier league

You can't blame him considering what they did to him the the last WC semi, the board basically forced a defeat down his throat by picking quota player philander over in form Kyle! Anyone would go bonkers with such blatant interference.