Although England’s next challenge occurs in the UAE, it’s hard not to think ahead to the South Africa tour. Although the Ashes will always be the benchmark on which England sides are judged, tussles against the Proteas have also defined English cricket to a significant degree. You could say they’re our second biggest rivals. Beating them is always sweet; the defeats are bitter.
There has been some media chat recently that South Africa aren’t the force they once were. There may or may not be some truth in this. They can’t rely on Steyn and Morkel forever, but this doesn’t necessarily matter if there’s a new generation of potent pacemen coming through. How much do we actually know about these guys?
The video above provides a little insight into the next generation. It’s an interview with South Africa’s new bowling coach Charl Langeveldt. He talks about the guys vying for test places and seems pretty confident about the future. The clip also shows their young pacemen engaged in a spot of middle practice. There’s some big units and a few interesting bowling actions to digest.
What do you think?
James Morgan
SA’s middle order of FDP, Amla, ABDV and Duminy still looks incredibly strong and is going to make them very tough to beat. There are some weaknesses outside that area – the openers, the spinner, aging seamers and the balance of the side. Sounds a bit like England put like that!
Philander is a crucial player for them who seldom gets his due. It was his 5/30 at Lord’s that sealed the 2012 win but he seemed to get very little credit for it. He really got on top of Cook in that series and his batting is important in SA’s slightly fragile lower middle order.
Of their back-up bowlers, Rabada looked impressive in the ODIs against NZ. He was their star player in the U19 WC win last year and took a six-for in the SF against Australia.
England play the First Test in Durban – England have a good record there and in first tests of series recently. SA don’t have a good record there and have contrived to lose to India and SL there in the last decade. England must get off to a good start there or it’s going to be a long tour.
“You could say they’re our second biggest rivals”.
Not if you’re Giles Clarke you couldn’t (or wouldn’t).
India will only ever be our 2nd biggest rivals when all the other countries boards have gone bust and theres nobody else for England to play ;-)
Great new form South Africa camp