In the second of out feel good series. We look back on David Miller scoring a 35-ball hundred against Bangladesh. A look back on better times.
The last time Theunis de Bruyn was in the subcontinent, he scored a fourth innings hundred in Sri Lanka. A fourth innings ton in the subcontinent buys you a lot of time, especially in tours to the sub-continent. The reason is pretty simple, the fourth innings of a game is when the pitch is at it's most decrepit, Asian pitches generally take turn sooner than non-subcontinental pitches, so it does reason that if you score a ton in the fourth innings in Asia, you must by definition be some sort of genius level player of spin.
That is the only reason Theunis de Bruyn is on this tour. We would not be in favour of dropping him after just the one Test, but his dismissal in the first innings, a big booming cover drive against Ravindra Jadeja, with light fading and the day nearly done, was both reckless and unnecessary. Yes, batting is about scoring runs, and as such if balls are in slots which players identify as their strong zones, they should feel within their rights to have a go at it. But the risk-reward of getting a boundary at the tail end of the day vs getting dismissed and bringing in a nightwatchman is pretty uneven. Especially against Ravindra Jadeja, a left arm spinner, because then you will be playing against the turn. At the end of the day. For a boundary. Just A Boundary. Don't do it. Please for the love of god, do not do it.
South Africa's top 8 at the moment includes Vernon Philander, a bowler by trade, and Senuran Muthusamy, a debutant in the just completed Test. Theunis de Bruyn, has by more than 5 runs, the lowest average in the top eight. The list of players in Test cricket who get lengthy careers while averaging less than 20 with the bat, as specialised batsmen, is not particularly long. Obviously, it is also not particularly illustrious. It's less a who's who, and more a "who's he?". If Theunis de Bruyn doesn't kick into higher gear, he's not going to be a Protea for much longer. That ton in Sri Lanka, beautiful, gritty as it was, was also the only time he's crossed the 50 mark in Protea colours. In ten Tests. That is not bad, that is unconscionable. The clock in sport is less a ticking clock, and more a series of moments which tick past, until you are out of opportunities to stamp your mark on a moment. de Bruyn is surely running out of moments, and India is quite possibly the absollute worst place to have your final moments.
Proteas have ordinary spin bowlers it's that simple they picked 3 spinners in the last test yet conceded many runs between them and the colum wicket? Blank. It's quite the opposite with India
ReplyDeleteWhat a disaster. Get rid of de Bruyn and Bavuma. Unfortunately who do you pick in their places? I would take away the gloves from De Kock like they did with AB. Bat him at 4 or 5 and bring in a keeper like Klaassen to bat at 7. De kock is wasted at 7.
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