South Africa's greatest test XI

Here is my stab at South Africa's test XI



1. Barry Richards
2. Graeme Smith
3. Greame Pollock
4. Jacques Kallis
5. Dudley Nourse
6. AB de Villiers
7. Denis Lindsay/John Waite/Mark Boucher (can't decide)
8. Dale Steyn
9. Shaun Pollock
10. Mike Procter
11. Alan Donald

There are a few from the seventies that might come inot contention, but because tey don't really have international records to substantiate their placings, I can only use Barry richards, Greame Pollock and Mike Procter from that era as they are revered world wide.
Contenders for

Pretty much agree with your team, but would bring in Faulkner for de Villiers and Adcock for Proctor.

I would accept Adcock but not Faulkner. His record is not any near de Villier's

1.Barry Richards
2.Graeme Smith (c)
3.Graeme Pollock
4.Jacques Kallis
5.Jonty Rhodes
6.AB De Villiers
7.Mark Boucher (wk)
8.Shaun Pollock
9.Mike Proctor
10.Allan Donald
11.Dale Steyn

I tried to fit in a spinner, but was impossible.

Richards
Smith
Mitchell
Pollock
Kallis
de Villiers
Proctor
Waite
Steyn
Tayfield
Donald

Players who never played due to isolation but would probably have been in there, Peter Kirsten, Clive Rice, Vince van der Bijl & Ray Jennings

Galted Tayfield isn't a bad option, but Pollock in my opinion was a better bat and bowler.

Won't disagree with that biltong but would almost always go for a spin option - alternative would be to push Kallis or de Villiers up to 3 & have Pollock in at 8.

bilitong i couldnt fit a spinner in my side mate, as i dont think south africa have had a standout world class spinner just yet.

Good call on Faulkner Hoggy, possibility as spinner but played so long ago.

Biltong - a very good team although it would be better still with Eddle Barlow in it. Peter Pollock and Trevor Goddard wouldn't let you down either. Who to leave out? Well for starters I'd look again at your number four - a useful cricketer but is he a match winner?

completely lacking in style too

cricketfan90 wrote:bilitong i couldnt fit a spinner in my side mate, as i dont think south africa have had a standout world class spinner just yet.

I agree, when you do a list of alltime great spinners, SA will come dead last, and then another few that won;t feature at all.

That is sadly the one thing SA does fail in consistently.

You take our best spinners, Boje, Gogga, Harris, Botha, Duminy, Eksteen and even Tahir who wasn't developed in this country, none of them will have been selected by any other country.

biltongbek wrote:I would accept Adcock but not Faulkner. His record is not any near de Villier's

Offers a spin option.
And it should be remembered that batting averages in Faulkners day were generally lower than today.

Guildford and Galted.



stop pulling my leg, my hamstring is hurting.

Hoggy_Bear wrote:

biltongbek wrote:I would accept Adcock but not Faulkner. His record is not any near de Villier's

Offers a spin option.
And it should be remembered that batting averages in Faulkners day were generally lower than today.

Yes, he was probably our best spinner in history. so I'll keep him if this team plays on the subcontinent.

bilitgong, boje was decent but sadly, just like harris, they were used in a defensive manner...however Harris overal dosent have a bad record at all, he is just a very defensive spinner.

True they aren't bad spinners.

Eksteen, Boje and Harris will all keep an end up, they are decent bowlers. but SA has never really won matches with spinners.

which is why its good that Tahir has is in the side now, he is a match winner, he is just settling into test cricket.

B Richards
Smith
Pollock
Kallis
De-Villiers
Procter
Lindsay
Pollock
Steyn
Donald
Tayfield

cricketfan90 wrote:which is why its good that Tahir has is in the side now, he is a match winner, he is just settling into test cricket.

Let's hope so. My concern is that he isn't young anymore.

true, but spinners dont have to be young, they dont have to run up, i mean look at warnie for examnple...im not saying tahir is anywhere as good, i mean stamina wise

I suppose if we get 5-6 years out of Tahir at less than 28 a wicket and a decent strike rate we should be happy.


See I don't ask for much.

cricketfan90 wrote:true, but spinners dont have to be young, they dont have to run up, i mean look at warnie for examnple...im not saying tahir is anywhere as good, i mean stamina wise

Tahir does need a lot of stamina to cope with his celebrations, he'll probably collapse with exhaustion if he ever gets 5.

Well if he keeps taking enough wickets he will be able to build his stamina.

he'll need Forrest Gumpesque stamina to cope with a big haul.

you do know Forrest Gump is just a myth?

so's a decent SA spinner

Can't believe I forgot Cronje, would have him in at 3 & captaining.

Hmmmm, Galted is in a very chirpy mood this morning. did you get it all this morning Sir?

my train was on time and I don't have a hangover for a change. Life doesn't get better.

Yeah, that's living the life.

They do say the best way to avoid a hangover is to keep on drinking.

True but empty cans don't look very professional on my desk. Might invest in a hip-flask or a larger rubbish bin.

the only way i could have got Cronje in is if i took out rhodes...but rhodes was a very good batsman, and the best fielder of all time, therefore IMO he was a must.

I was listening to Fanie de Villiers being interviewed once and he was talking about our recent captains.

smith, Cronje and Pollock.

He believed Cronje was the best man manager he has seen, Smith was well very stoic and driven and Pollock came from the right stock.

when looking at Cronje and Smith's captaincy records they are very similar. But becuase of smith having been so much more successful with the bat and being the opener, I wouldn't add Cronje in place of AB de Villiers, who himself is a good leader and now captain of the ODI team.

i agree with all of that last post biltong

What about this team being South Africa's possibly greatest ever XI:-

1 Barry Richards
2 Jimmy Cook
3 Peter Kirsten
4 Graeme Pollock
5 Clive Rice
6 Mike Proctor
7 Garth Le Roux
8 Ray Jennings (keeper)
9 Steve Jefferies
10 Vincent van der Bijl
11 Denys Hobson
12th Man Ken McEwan

I am going to bring this thread to the BCCI notice!!!. Where is Garry K???? Don't you know we all love him in this part of the world, of course forgetting the endless misery he inflicted with his stoic batting?
But seriously, I think Garry was a more effective opener than Smith. Smith may have better overall numbers, and he has been pretty good in setting up huge first innings or finishing off some fine 4th innings chases. But Kirsten was better in playing spin, and was always up for a tough challenge.

There has to be a half decent spinner in there as well, I read Hugh Tayfield was a pretty good spinner. Just went through his numbers, averages 25 with the ball, 170 wickets from 37 matches is pretty good. He was hard to score of, going for under 2 pir over.

The problem with selecting players from the year 0 is nobody saw them play.

We have little idea of what conditions and equipment was like.

In those days I would assume most sportsmen played mostly on talent, after all how many of them really put in the hours te platyers do these days?

Also how well would those batsmen have faired against te professional bowlers of today and how would the bowlers of yesteryear have faired against the batsmen of today.

It is probably prudent to select best of teams of every 20-30 year eras.

Barry Richards
Graeme Smith
Graeme Pollock
Jacques Kallis
Hansie Cronje (c)
AB de Villiers
Mark Boucher (wk)
Dale Steyn
Shaun Pollock
Mike Procter
Alan Donald

So pretty much the same as your team Biltong except for Nourse who was probably the greatest SA batman in the first half of the 20th C. Hansie in there as captain - he could also throw down a few overs along with Kallis and Graeme Pollock.

you rate hansie that high?

Yes I do. He was a thorn in many a side and had that air of leadership about him. He could grab a match by the throat single-handedly. He also had a great pair of hands. In short - he was a formidable package. It would have be nice for SA to have him around for longer.

Yeah, I was very sad when I heard about firstly his indescretions and then his untimely death.

I have always said if I can have dinner with famous people that have passed away, he would be one of them.

Sadly never met him.

I saw him play here a few times in ODIs. He was very well respected by us and the relief when he lost his wicket was immense. Even better when Jonty was also out! Boy, he was another thorn in our side...

There was one ODI, can't remember the year, or whether it was home or away. Warne was spinning his magic, Cronje came on and started hitting Warne for a few sixes, all of a sudden warne didn't lok so formidable.

I think I remember that innings from him.

Me too, was at the Wanderers, he just took a big step to leg so his body was facing the on-side field and hammered it.

The slayer shot.

Although Australia have had some happy times at the Wanderers over the years and Warne had the knack of turning half the SA batting order inside-out year after year.

The Wanderers has turned into quite a fortress for the Aussies, that was where the innings & 360 happened amongst all the other wins. Even in the 438 game they'd at least managed to set the ODI record in their innings.