LETTER: SA cricket’s glory days are over

In bemoaning SA cricket’s demotion to the B-league in international cricket, Vince van der Bijl falls into the trap of two typical SA pastimes — blaming others and skirting around the truth (“Counterbalance needed to India’s cricket muscle”, September 29). 

SA cricket has sunk to the bottom of the international ladder where no-one wants to play against us or watch us play, and not because of the Indian cricket board (BCCI). The BCCI did not instruct SA to introduce a racial quota system in the selection of our cricket teams — we did that ourselves. As a result, we have to carry players who are clearly not of international standard.

Take Temba Bavuma. After more than 70 innings he has scored only one century, with a batting average barely above 30 despite playing against the weaker international teams. International standard number six batsmen average around 45. Even under favourable conditions and circumstances, he is utterly unable to bat opposition teams out of a Test with a dominating century.

He simply does not have the shots or the physical strength to reach the boundary regularly. Tip-and-run, maybe. But his spot in the team is assured, regardless. So Van der Bijl will have to abandon the idea that the Indians are responsible for our demise and get used to watching SA play Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Ireland. It won’t change in his lifetime. The glory days are over.

Joe Griffith
Via email

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