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My prediction. Both these greats are passing the baton to young and promising talents so SA won't really feeL the pinch like other nations do when their stars call it a day.

Hash returns have been on the wane whereas Stern is just lucky to still be playing as his stock had dropped a while ago.

In reply to Emir

While south Africa have lots of world class bowlers waiting in the wings the batting cupboard looks bare.

Theunis de bruyne averages 22 in test cricket. That's Kieran Powell territory!

In reply to Emir Seems like you & I think alike. Amla looked drained.

Steyn's still got some pace about him. I think he'll hang around a while.

With amla, if he doesn't get a good score in this series, he might just think of following abd, though I think he'll hang on till the world cup

In reply to mikesiva

You are a hard task master bro, the boy just played a few test matches, averages don;t count yet. He has potential.

In reply to Emir

Roll back to the ODI series in Australia just recently, Steyn schooled all the bowlers.

Steyn ain't going anywhere anytime soon.

Amla powers been waning for a while now but SA won't cut him just yet.

I feel like I’m 23, says Dale Steyn ahead of Proteas record feat

Markram & De Kock are still young enough to be around for a few years yet, Bavuma too, although he could do with getting a couple of big innings.

I can see Steyn sticking around for another year or two.

In reply to WICFan

Bavuma, has to start scoring runs including centuries, if he is going to play as a specialist batsman.

In reply to openning

Yeah, guys like Andries Gous & Pieter Malan can't be kept on the sidelines while they're waiting for Bavuma's bat to take off.

In reply to WICFan

Why is Bavuma under pressure and not de bruyne? Bavuma averages mid 30s in test cricket while de bruyne averages low 20s.

That's like talking about dropping Shai Hope from the test team but keeping Ambris.

I don't care how new you are to test cricket. This is a results business. Bavuma is producing more than de bruyne.

Gous is a prospect at 25 to replace de bruyne if he continues to disappoint. Malan however is already 29 and not a long term prospect you'd think.

In reply to mikesiva

Bavuma's is 28, so I wouldn't worry about Malan's age.

Bavuma should be doing better, De Bruyn is failing but Bavuma shouldn't be exempt because he hits a nice looking 50 here & there.

In reply to WICFan

The same way de Bruyn shouldn't be exempt from criticism because he's played less Tests. Once Bavuma is outperforming de Bruyn, then the spotlight should be on de Bruyn first and foremost.

Let's look at the top seven over Tests in 2018, including this one, and series against Sri Lanka, Australia and India....

Markram 10 Tests, 762 runs @ ave of 33.60
Elgar 10 Tests, 661 runs @ ave of 36.72
Amla 10 Tests, 510 runs @ ave of 26.84
de Bruyn 7 Tests (total), 273 runs @ ave of 21
du Plessis 10 Tests, 463 runs @ ave of 24.36
Bavuma 5 Tests, 295 runs @ ave of 42.14
de Kock 10 Tests, 392 runs @ ave of 21.77

So, in Tests played in 2018, Bavuma has averaged more than any other Saffer batsman, and yet he's held to a higher standard than other Saffers...I wonder why.

Fortunately, the Saffer selectors are not as fickle...they won't drop Bavuma, because they know that Amla is going to call it a day soon, and they will need his experience. There's no guarantee that Malan or Gous will do any better than de Bruyn if or when they get called up. Neither is likely to be called up to replace Bavuma. Rather, one of them or Joshua Richards or Ackerman will probably be called up to replace a retiring Amla one day next year.

Amla's 35, du Plessis's 34, and Elgar's 31. What's going to be of greater concern to the SA selectors will be how and when to replace this older trio...especially since both Amla and du Plessis averaged in the 20s in 2018. They will be worried that two of the younger players, de Bruyn and de Kock, are averaging only 21 in 2018.

In reply to mikesiva

The thing is, history has shown that some great players take a while to get off, so that's why it's harsher to judge De Bruyn at this time compare to Bavuma. I remember Rahul Dravid probably averaged 27 after his first 20 odd ODI games. Attapattu first 6 scores were 5 ducks and a single I think. Took him about 17 innings to get his first 30+ score which turned out to be a century. He was averaging 10 after 9 games. Ended up with a career average of 39 in tests.

In reply to mikesiva

Bavuma isn't being held to a higher standard, as you pointed out, South Africa should be looking at how they are going to replace the experienced members, take out Amla & Du Plessis, Bavuma would be the 3rd most experienced guy in the batting line-up, he will probably move to 4 when Amla retires, is Bavuma showing enough to suggest that he is ready to replace Amla, or that he is potential captaincy candidate?

De Bruyn hasn't played well, but he's only starting out and should be put out to pasture after a handful of tests.

It's interesting to see people say De Bruyn is failing but scored a hundred 2 tests ago ?

Anyways Bavuma is going nowhere given he has to come in and try and rescue this lineup at 100/5 virtually every test now.I would probably rate him technically as the best player in that lineup however I'd personally like to see him go from 50->100 more often tbh and help dominate or turn a game around.If he added another 40+ runs to his tally in the first dig that game would have essentially have been decided after SA's 1st innings.


Still think this would have been the right time for Steyn to hang up the boots and let the younger generation take over now that he's gone past Polly.There's a guy in the squad that took 11 wickets and might not even start the next test.At some stage you have to look what is better for the team long term instead of short term series wins.

In reply to djdrastic

That's a fair assessment of Bavuma, de Bruyn, Steyn and Olivier. Clearly, Bavuma is going nowhere, given his rescue act in the first innings of the last Test match. Sure, he might not be a world-beater like Amla in his heyday, but his place is clearly not under threat, given the current situation of South African batting. You need to select the best players available.

With regards to de Bruyn, it's good to see him score a ton in a recent Test match, but it is a concern that he went back to 29 and 10 in the last Test. We can only hope he can prove he's the next Dravid, but there's a strong possibility he could be the next Kieran Powell. Obviously, the selectors won't be stupid enough to drop Bavuma when there's still uncertainty around de Bruyn. They will most likely stick with both Bavuma and de Bruyn for the foreseeable future.

Of deeper concern will be the inconsistent batting form of "stars" Amla, du Plessis, and de Kock, all of whom averaged in the 20s in Tests in 2018. It would be nonsensical to drop Bavuma, who averaged in the 40s in 2018, when these three highly-touted players are struggling to put together a consistent run. We may just see Amla and du Plessis calling it a day in the near future, don't you think? In that case, the Saffer selectors will be prepared to give Bavuma and de Bruyn a long run. But would you agree with me, as a Saffer, that while the reserve bowling stocks look good, the batting cupboard looks a bit bare?

It does seem the logical decision for Steyn to call it a day, because while he's had a good career, he does look a shadow of his former self, don't you agree? Is it fair to say that Olivier is the answer to Morkel? Would this be the best bowling attack on merit for the next Test?

Philander
9) Maharaj
10) Rabada
11) Olivier

Or they could drop de Bruyn, bat Philander in the allrounder role, and include Steyn:

1) Elgar
2) Markram
3) Amla
4) du Plessis
5) Bavuma
6) de Kock
7) Philander
Maharaj
9) Rabada
10) Steyn
11) Olivier

Which team would you select, and which team do you think the selectors are likely to select? Will they bend over backwards to accommodate Steyn? Or will they drop Olivier, and go into the second Test with this side?

1) Elgar
2) Markram
3) Amla
4) du Plessis
5) Bavuma
6) de Bruyn
7) de Kock
Philander
9) Maharaj
10) Rabada
11) Steyn