Loots Bosman & SA's fear

[Sidewinder]

Geez I felt sorry for Loots Bosman when SA withdrew from the recent Tri series against Sri Lanka & India. I have always been a huge fan coz of his fearless approach. One thing that bothers me about SA cricket is the fear of sending okes like these in early to take the game to the opposition. The term "pinch hitter" is old hat but look at Andrew Symonds for the Aussies and Afridi for the Pakistanis. They are pretty decent batsmen that can bat through most of an innings and cause destruction along the way. Why does SA keep the likes of Kemp and Pollock (& Zulu in his prime) for the final 10 overs? Kemp made his way into the ODI setup on the strength of him being a good middle order batman that came in 4-5 no matter the state of the game and was able to cause destruction at the end 'coz he has had time to settle and play his eye in. Loots Bosman is a nice fresh approach to the SA ODI game.

[gibbs_fan]

I agree with you Sidewinder.

I have always been a fan of Loots Bosman as well. I am tired of seeing players like Dippenaar and Rudolph in the one day team. I think that while you cant always use pinch hitters up the order, SA seem to under utilize their pinch hitters. In places like the sub continent and even the carribean, the ball tends not to move around. Thus the new ball can and should be attacked. Since the WC is in West Indies, I would like SA to use the the Champions trophy as a practice for the WC. Bosman must surely be given a run. I was disappointed in SA withdrawing from the Sri Lanka series. Players like Bosman, Smith, Gibbs, Kemp, Pollock and Boucher are going to have to play well if SA are to have any chance in the WC. I am not to bothered if Kallis doesnt play. I personally dont like him in the one day games. He never plays for the team although his bowling may come in handy.

[Wanderer]

Loots will get his chance...He's been included in both the squads for the games vs Zim and the CT.

I hope for his sake he does well in India. The games vs Zim won't prove a thing imo.

[darksideofthemoon]

What happened to Johan van der Walt. He looked really good the last time I saw him.

[Wanderer]

Originally Posted by darksideofthemoon

What happened to Johan van der Walt. He looked really good the last time I saw him.

Well, nothing "happened', he just got dropped. Remember, he toured Sri Lanka, but those ODI's never happened. He's not part of the Champions Trophy side, but he was selected in the squad that will be playing Zimbabwe in 3 ODI's starting Friday.

Hopefully he can do there what he does best, and show the selectors what a huge mistake they're making NOT including him to go to India.

[Andy Mellon]

Originally Posted by gibbs_fan

I have always been a fan of Loots Bosman as well. I am tired of seeing players like Dippenaar and Rudolph in the one day team.

Hmmm. This is an interesting point. I would certainly say that I wouldn't want both Dippenaar and Rudolph in my ODI line up. However, one of the two would probably be a good idea in case of an early collapse to add a bit of stability.

That said, I do think their treatment of the pinch hitting batsman is very inconsistant. We've seen Klusener and Kemp, but I don't think either would have felt their place was secure at any point. Then there's the intreguing case of Andrew Hall, who must have batted at virtually every position in the batting order in both one dayers and tests! His treatment is particularly peculiar.

[Sidewinder]

Yes poor Andrew Hall. This is a man that has opened the bowling and batting (scored a ton opening the batting in a test recently) In the last game against Zim he batted number 9! Oh, and he's kept wicket for SA as well!