Quintin asked:
Richard Levi or Grame Smit for the ODI’s looking to the future?
Ken answered:
Well I think Graeme Smith has bought himself quite a lot of time with his century in the last ODI. He's only 31 so he could still be a force at the next World Cup.
I would, however, like to see how Levi goes at international level - preferably in T20 first.
yazeed asked:
Dammit , Boucher the hopeless is still in the team. When are they going to drop thim?
Ken answered:
Boucher has just scored a crucial century in a top-of-the-log SuperSport Series game so I don't think he's hopeless.
As the world record breaking wicketkeeper, he deserves some respect and we'll need an experienced wicketkeeper for the England tour.
Boucher has indicated that he will retire after that.
Ivan asked:
Hi Ken,
I know you are most likely sick taliking about this by now, but don''t you think it would have bein wise to take a second wk on tour with us for the tests? I''m thinking, if it so happens that we go 2 nul up, then we could have tried to give someone like a Heino Kuhn shot. And then I want to know with guys like Sangakara (nearly 10 000 runs at over 50 ave) ,Andy Flower(nearly 5000 runs at over 50 ave) and so on ( Dhoni, Gilchrist) all proved that you kan be a major batsman in your team whilst being a wk, why do we have this mindset that AB can''t be our keeper batsman. He is already batting at 5, so he sould have more than enough time to rest out before batting?
Ken answered:
Hi Ivan
It certainly has been The Issue of the last few months!
I agree with you about the second wicketkeeper being taken on tour, it was an ideal opportunity. But all our eggs are now in the Boucher basket for the England tour, and we just have to hope the great man will perform!
The difference with AB keeping wicket is that he is reluctant to do it in Tests, he has a history of back problems, and, in the long-term, he will have the added responsibility of replacing Kallis at number four as our batting lynchpin and captaining the side.
Yas asked:
Do you think Prince international career is officially over?Isnt unfair to a player who has a decent average (mid 40s) who constantly have to fight for his position because he doesnt look pretty on the pitch?
Ken answered:
I think Prince's international days are over, unless he dominates to an extraordinary degree in domestic cricket. Sure, his average is good, but his average has dropped to 22 in the last year and he has scored just three half-centuries in his last 23 innings.
His doggedness at the crease was highly valued, but his attitude recently has also not won him many friends. The breaking point came when he turned his back on Hashim Amla and caused him to be run out in Durban.
john asked:
Hi Ken ,
Have you heard anything about the politics within the team ie..... Botha and Prince? Is Gary part of the player issues?
Ken answered:
Hi John
I know Prince was starting to annoy people and the Amla run out incident in Durban was the last straw.
But as for Botha & Kirsten, I haven't heard anything.
Wayne asked:
Do you think our selectors are too conservative in selecting our ODI teams? Like opting for a batsman''s average instead of strike rate.
Ken answered:
No I don't think so.
Average is also important because it's a measure of consistency.
Strike-rate is more a measure of potential because conditions/match situation can vary so much - there are times when you'd prefer someone with a strike-rate of 80 but an average of 40 at the crease!
Terrence asked:
There is a lot of mention about Peterson, though it seems Botha has been taken out of the frame in ODI''s. Considering his improvement with the bat and the averaging difference as well as economy favouring Botha, why wasnt he given a game in the recent ODIs? Also why is Tahir not considered for the ODI''s, is it just because of the lack of control they see, cause the best controller is actually Botha then, but Tahir can actually turn the ball unlike the rest. Your thoughts on our contingent of spin?
Ken answered:
I'm not sure why Botha didn't play in the ODIs ... I can only assume they felt a slow left-armer (Peterson) would be more effective against the Sri Lankan batsmen.
I'm sure Tahir will still play a role in the ODI team when conditions suit having an attacking spinner - i.e. in last year's World Cup.
Hansie asked:
Will Vilander and Tsotsobe play together in a test.Both are on the moment better than Morne.What you think.
Ken answered:
I wouldn't say Tsotsobe is better than Morkel in tests. Morkel offers a lot more penetration.
Bongani asked:
Hi Ken.
Wicket in NZ normally favour medium pacer/seamers is possible for selectors to go with 4 man attack?
In a process of phasing out legendary Kallis is not an option to move De villiers to bat 4, move Rudolph 5 then JK to 6?
Lonwabo vs Morkel in the test should be open for debate as the latter is not perfoming or getting the wickets lately?
Ken answered:
Hi Bongani
The pitches in NZ could well suit Tsotsobe, but why shuffle the batting order to accommodate him?
Morne Morkel has taken 37 wickets in his last 10 tests at an average of 30, which isn't bad.
If Tsotsobe does play, it might be at the expense of Tahir.
Alexander asked:
First let me just say goodluck to the boys we know they will do us proud...1st question-do you think we have the depth and skill level to really make an impact on T20 level? 2ndly- who do you think must open with amla (smith or levi) can''t they give a guy like ontong a shot at opening, who knows he might just make it? And last Q- don''t you think its a bad call from the selector not to take a backup keeper with and start grooming him for the BIG england tour comeing up?
Ken answered:
Yes, I absolutely believe we have the depth and skills to do well in T20.
Smith has been left out of the T20 side, so Levi will open with Amla, which I'm happy about. I'm not sure Smith should be playing T20 internationals.
Ontong has always batted in the middle-order for the Cobras in T20, so there's no reason to move him. He's a very good finisher of innings.
I would have liked to have seen a back-up wicketkeeper taken on tour, but it's now clear that Boucher will be the choice for the England tour, so the grooming will have to wait!
Tumelo asked:
Hi Ken;
We always go on about how inexperienced our wicket-keepers are. Who was the most consistant player for the Lankans on tour?Who has scored the most for the Australians so far in the one dayers?
Ken answered:
Hi Tumelo
I'm not exactly sure what you're asking?
Sangakkara is one of the greats, Chandimal looks like a good prospect, but they shared the wicketkeeping duties in SA.
Matthew Wade has also made an exciting start to his international career.
Dhirshan Gobind asked:
Hi, why is a replacement for mark Boucher not even being groomed at the very least & being exposed to the proteas environment? Dane Villas looks the part . . .
Ken answered:
Hi Dhirshan
I think the selectors don't know who they should be grooming!
Vilas is certainly one of the contenders, he just needs to work on his keeping a bit.
Nicholas Chettiar asked:
No doubt we have a quality team and we should be topping the rankings. But what''s stopping us is our lack of consistency. what do you think the reason is for this lack of consistency?
Ken answered:
If I was 100% sure of the reason, I'm sure CSA would employ me as the coach!
But I think there are several factors the foremost being the lack of a ruthless edge, self-belief under pressure and forgetting the basics at key moments.
Tumelo asked:
Hi Ken
Looking at the touring party for the tests, it looks like Gary likes attacking spinners hence Peterson being included.Do you think Hammer the warriors spinner might be given ashot in the not so distance future dependin on Peterson''s form?
Ken answered:
Hi Tumelo
I think Harmer has caught the eye, and if he can repeat that form in his second full season of SuperSport Series cricket, then he'll certainly be in the picture.
Husein Ahmed asked:
Hi Ken
In your opinion is AB Devillers changing the field and the bowlers in the ODI''S a bit to much.i can understand the need to change the batting line up as the situation warrants,however i am bit pertubed by the fact that as soon as a bowler in the ODI''S gets in a ryhtmm he is removed and later brought on to be given a bit of stick.I think the same applies to the field changing as we seem to be following the ball.Your viewpoint as always is much appreciated.regards
Ken answered:
Hi Husein
I've been impressed by AB's captaincy so far. I think he and Gary are trying to ensure versatility in the team, so they can rise to any challenge. I like the shuffling of the middle-order.
That being said, AB is a new captain and he can be a touch over-enthusiastic with the changes! I agree with you about the short spells of the bowlers.
Vernon asked:
Hi, Ken
Good day, A simply q, who is better ponting or tendulka?
Ken answered:
Hi Vernon, there's nothing simple about that question!
I think they're both on a very similar level, perhaps Tendulkar deserves more credit for carrying the weight of all that expectation - billions of people - on his shoulders ...
Lehlohonolo Semous asked:
Why has Paul Harris been completely dropped from the test ,shouldnt he be picked as a back up spinner?
Ken answered:
I think Robin Peterson's excellent recent form has seen him leapfrog Harris in the queue.
Kyle asked:
Hi Kent, with the inclusion of JP Duminy in the test squad for Ashwel Prince, Does that mean, Alviro Peterson gets to be dropped again for no apparent reason?
Ken answered:
Hi Kylet (:
Not at all! Duminy is the reserve batsman. Rudolph has replaced Prince at number six and Petersen will open the batting.
Tumelo asked:
Give me your prefered run-on 11 of both the ODI and t20 sides
Ken answered:
ODI - Amla, Smith, Kallis, De Villiers, Duminy, Du Plessis, A. Morkel, Peterson, Steyn, M. Morkel, Tsotsobe.
T20 - Levi, Amla, De Villiers, Duminy, Ontong, A. Morkel, Botha, Peterson, Parnell, Theron, Tsotsobe.
Shomal Sukedo asked:
Why dont we use the pinch hitter role anymore ? It worked well with Nicky boje in the past why did it stop ?? i see south africa have recently explored the number 3 position with different batsmen maybe we should try a pinch hitter again. Makes sense to me since Scores of 300 in 50 overs aint very easy to defend in recent times.
Ken answered:
I guess the advent of powerplays has meant you need to save some power-hitters for lower down the order.
The top-order batsmen play with a lot more aggression these days anyway, due to the field being up for the first 15 overs as well.
Nathi Duma asked:
Alviro Peterson needs to be full time fixture in the test team&ODI so who must made way for him .
Ken answered:
I agree with Petersen being in the test team, but not in the ODI team at the moment.
Craig asked:
Will any of the New Zealand pitches be spin-friendly? What do you think Imran Tahir should do to improve his Test strike rate? Is there anything Graeme Smith should do to help with this?
Ken answered:
Occasionally there'll be a decent summer in New Zealand and you'll get a spin-friendly pitch! But the seamers are bound to enjoy the conditions more.
It's still very early days in Tahir's test career and worrying about his strike-rate is exactly what he shouldn't be doing! Graeme is constantly reminding him to be patient, that it takes time to work test batsmen out.
Mark asked:
With Boucher having confirmed that he''s retiring after the England series (about year too late), why are we not taking the next keeper in line on tour to start getting tour experience/accustomed to the team environment? Who do you think should be next?
Ken answered:
I would have liked a back-up wicketkeeper to have gone on tour. But I guess my problem is the same as the selectors - I'm not sure who is second in line!
It's any of Tsolekile, Vilas, Smit or Kuhn for me.
Chris Coddington asked:
Hi Ken how are you (we''ve met at SSP many times)...Should Rudolph continue at 6, or does a Rilee Roussouw or a Dean Elgar deserve a crack at Test Level..and your thoughts on how Tahir has done so far/ I hope they stick with him
Cheers
Ken answered:
Hi Chris!
I think Rudolph should continue at 6. Rossouw has only just started coming into form now, towards the end of the season, while Elgar is of course injured. Rudolph has been the dominant batsman in domestic cricket for the last couple of seasons and deserves a run at 6.
I think Tahir has done okay ... most of the pitches he's played on have not been spin-friendly and he'll get better the more tests he plays.
Tommy asked:
Hi Ken,
Why dont we have a reserve keeper for NZ and more importantly, why isnt Villas or de Kock not being sent on that tour to gain some experience??!!! It seems obvious that AB wont be a long-term option even for ODIs as he wants to and is good enough just to get picked for batting. Surely this tour is the best opportunity to blood someone in. Cant believe it!!
Ken answered:
Hi Tommy
Yes, I was also disappointed they didn't take a back-up keeper on tour. Hopefully they won't make the same mistake for the England tour!
Markus asked:
I was just wondering, we''ve seen some pretty bad 3rd umpire decissions lately where hot spot has not been picked up for example by the 3rd umpire but you can see the mark pretty clearly at home. Do 3rd umpires still only have a small monitor to use to make their decissions or do they have top of the range large flat screen HD tv''s now?
Ken answered:
Hmmm ... good question.
I know the ICC have seriously jacked up the technology available to the third umpires and they have an IT/techno expert on site.
But I don't know what TVs they use ... obviously us mere mortals aren't allowed into the third umpire's room!
But I'm sorry, Billy Bowden's recent clanger was so bad - you could have seen the batsman was out even on a Drifta!
STIX asked:
How different are the NZ pitches to our local ones?Going for the whitewash should be the agenda, and toppling the Poms will be a bonus.
Ken answered:
The whitewash and the number one ranking is definitely the target, but conditions are tricky in NZ. It will be colder, the pitches are slower, without as much bounce, and they seam around. The conditions are a bit more "English" than South African ...
Moeketsi asked:
If the PROTEAS are to be a top ranked team both in Tests and ODI''s do you think our consistency is of great value to the way we''ve been playing? Certainly I''m not impressed by the way we fail to kill off our opponents especially when were in good positions to do so. e.g Australian drawn test and Sri Lanka''s come back in d ODI''s. Whats your view about us dominating world cricket in all forms?
Ken answered:
You're quite right. We won't dominate world cricket until we develop consistency and a ruthless edge to our game.
Ismail asked:
Hi. Thanx for your time. T20: i feel that the way to go would be to have a different side for T20 - sort of a specialist T20 side & players from this team can be promoted to the ODi. Something along the lines of Blitzbokke & the rugby national team. In this way the players dont suffer burnout as the tests & ODI are more important than the hit-n-hope, six-or-nix T20 game they call cricket (not a T20 fan!) ... your thoughts on this please.
Ken answered:
Hi Ismail
I think T20 is a good way to introduce players to international cricket, but you still want your top players involved. If South Africa can win the World T20 later this year, it could go a long way to getting the World Cup bogey off our backs!
Sibusiso Kumalo asked:
Why was JP Duminy left out of the test squad for the SL tour?? It seems if a player plays well for 45 games nobody has the courage to say he is good but if he loses form for 5 games everyone is quick to say he must be dropped. What do you think of the selecting process for SA Cricketers. (Keep Graeme Smith''s situation/form in mind).
Ken answered:
Well JP certainly didn't have 45 good tests behind him! In fact, he averaged 18 in his last 10 tests!
Graeme Smith, on the other hand, is averaging 39.33 in his last 10 tests!
I think the selectors have, by and large, done a very good job.
Peter asked:
Ken,we are not chokers(ie we cope under pressure better than most)but self destruct when on top v N.Z.(world cup),Australia and Sri Lanka.Your comments please.
Ken answered:
We do lack the killer blow when on top, but I'm not sure we were ever on top of that run-chase against New Zealand. You could sense the Kiwis tightening their grip slowly but inexorably. Many people would call that a choke!
Darryn Clark asked:
CSA didnt think twice about dropping Kallis for a major touramnet. Why doesnt Smith get the same? Is it worth putting the team at risk by putting pressure on the lower order to support our seniors? Smith made a recovery but, after numerous failed attempts at the crease CSA still stuck with him. So my question is, Why Kallis?
Ken answered:
The dropping of Kallis was one of the most shameful episodes of Norman Arendse's tenure ... and it was basically done at his behest! That should never be emulated again.
Any suggestion of Kallis being dropped is absolute madness.
As I said earlier, Smith has averaged 39 in his last 10 tests, most of which were played in conditions which made opening the batting extremely difficult. He's averaging 32.40 in his last 20 ODIs, not great, but hardly worth dropping him given his record, experience and captaincy.