Have SA selected too light in batting department for the crucial 3rd Test against England at St George’s Park?

It’s hard to tell with so many players on both sides new to Tests (and statistics never tell the full story) but England on paper have more runs in them than Proteas.

In light of SA losing by 189 runs in the 2nd Test in Cape Town, it looked then like they were short of runs during that defeat, even with bowling all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius in the side short on runs!

So why drop a bowling all-rounder who has a relatively strong first-class batting record (ave 37.50, with 5 tons) for a specialist bowler in Dane Paterson who is a really competitive fast bowler, but with a first-class batting average of just 12.19?

Select Paterson… but then leave out one of the other bowlers and replace the bowling all-rounder with a specialist batter.

The key to success in Test and first-class cricket… select just 4 specialist bowlers, have your best wicketkeeper (batting ability is a happy bonus) and 6 specialist batters.

Simple. The formula that gives you the best chance of success… partly because it makes all your players responsible for delivering on their key skill!

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