South Africa pick uncapped Stephen Cook for fourth Test against England

www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jan/18/so...inst-england-cricket

I am surprised it took South Africa this long to give Cook a call up. I thought he would have been given the chance to open with Elgar at the start of the series. Obviously, he is on the older side, but he has been South Africa's best opening batsman in domestic cricket. I have to imagine that will be it for van Zyl. He has had a real tough introduction to Test cricket and that will be hard for him to shake off.

A large part of South Africa's struggles over the last 12-months can be attributed to their batting. Over this period, they have a collective team average of just 23.74 - the lowest of all Test teams. Their bowling, even without Steyn, has still been very good, with a team bowling average of 31.88 - third best.

Outside of de Villiers, Amla and Elgar, there are too many uncertainties in their lineup. They could really do with du Plessis rediscovering his form of old, finding an opening partner for Elgar and hoping that Bavuma can continue to progress. Theunis de Bruyn is one youngster to keep an eye on. I think has a good chance of making his way into the Test side in the near future.

some company for the west indies down at the bottom ::confused::

sure!  there is lots of room down here.  Come on down! ::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL::

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First test for Cook when the series is already lost is one way I guess of bringing him into the team with no pressure, but I would have thought he'd have wanted to contribute to trying to save the series and been played earlier.

He's obviously a talent and he deserves his chance, albeit a belated one.

Too many Cooks

Open batting in this final test  :-[