Out with the old and in with the new. That must be on the agenda when the Cricket South Africa grootkoppe gather to figure out what went wrong with the Proteas at the World Cup.
Ahead of this tournament, expectations for the national team were low compared to previous campaigns.
And deep down, we never really expected them to win the damn thing, given our famous ability to bottle it at a major tournament.
But nobody saw this coming - South Africa have their worst ever World Cup campaign. Out before we could even mess it up.
Now the only question is how do we set things on right path and move on?
It’s easy to say that now that we just tear the whole thing down and start the bottom.
With JP Duminy looking like he is already enjoying his retirement and Imran Tahir savouring his final time in the limelight, you get the feeling that Dale Steyn and Hashim Amla will also realise that they have little left to offer.
QUALITY OF TOP ORDER: Ace Gihahn Cloete
Injuries seem to have overtaken Dale and the Mighty Hash was reduced to a walking wicket.
Which brings us to Faf du Plessis. Is he still the man to lead SA after some shocking decision-making?
It seems it’ll be easy for CSA to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
After all we don’t need players saddled with the failure of England 2019 at the next World Cup.
We have a solid young core to build a new team around.
Kagiso Rabada is one of the world’s best wicket takers. In Quinton de Kock, we have an opener to be feared. Aiden Markram has lead the ODI team and if he has a choice to bat where wants, I’m sure he will be in the runs again.
AN EXCITING PROSPECT: Sinethemba Qeshile
Andile Phehlukwayo is a
reliable allrounder, if not a
consistent match winner.
And there is a lot of young talent dreaming of their chance to lift the World Cup for South Africa.
Batsmen like Tony de Zorzi, Gihahn Cloete, Keegan Petersen and Sinethemba Qeshile can bolster the top and middle order.
And they will thrill the selectors who don’t have to worry about transformation.
NEXT IN LINE: Proteas speedster Anrich Nortje
But we can’t throw away the likes of Matthew Breetzke, David Bedingham and Jason Smith.
We have seen the likes of Duanne Olivier lost to the national team and that’s just as bad for South African cricket.
On the bowling front, Lutho Sipamla has the skills to thrive in limited-overs cricket.
There is of course Anrich Nortje who missed the World Cup due to injury and you can through Lungi Ngidi in that category too since he looked like he was on the Rory Kleinveldt workout plan after his injury layoff.
With so many players ready to step up, we have to make sure we ready them for the top level and keep them all happy.
It’s a good thing there are three formats to spread the
talent around.