Former Proteas opener Herschelle Gibbs has given a scathing assessment of South Africa’s chances of getting a positive result from their Test series in Australia.
The Proteas will depart for Australia on 1 December and play an unofficial four-day match against a Cricket Australia XI from 9-12 December at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane.
The first Test will take place at the Gabba in Brisbane from 17-21 December followed by a Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and a New Year’s Test in Sydney.
Gibbs does not hold much hope the Proteas will gain anything other than experience from what he expects to be a very difficult tour.
“Look, I mean, you know career stats as far as the batters are concerned … I think you know you can hype them up as much as you want to,” said Gibbs on the sidelines of the Gary and Vivienne Player Invitational.
“We’ve got a wonderful bowling attack, but in order to win Test matches or a Test series, you need runs on the board. Can we do that? Our batters average less than 40 …
“You compare them [with Australia]. I can’t see us winning, let alone drawing [the Test series].
“It was the same when the guys went to England. Career stats tell a story and I don’t want to be so pessimistic but stats don’t lie.
“Who was going to get hundreds? Guys haven’t scored a hundred for two years. Temba [Bavuma] hasn’t scored a 100 in six years.
“Those are the hard questions that need to be asked. Who’s going to ask them and how they’re going to get to the conclusions or solutions? Only time will tell.”
