Does de Kock come in too late?

He is now ranked number the sixth batsman in the world, yet seems to be held back.

He has to rescue his team and provide the boost to the momentum most of the time.

Benny Hill lives on....

No

Gilchrist never moved from seven and that worked out alright for him and Aus.

There is a thought that de Kock could play as a specialist batsman though at number five with Heinrich Klaasen coming into the team as the keeper at seven. Klaasen is obviously unproven at the top level, though.

Clearly de Kock adds value as an all-rounder, but if he wasn't standing up nearly every match, the Proteas would have posting much lower scores.

They need more from the top order.

Well yes. Elgar is solid enough, but he'll never be a world-beater. Same goes for Faf. Amla's dip in form has hurt them. Duminy remains the same- terrible starter, and does a whole lot of nothing for a long time before producing a good innings once a series if they're lucky. He's the South African Shaun Marsh. At 33, people still talk of his "potential" because he can play a nice cover drive.. They need to now give de Bruyn a good run in the team. I'm not sure picking him as an opener when he usually bats at three or four was the smartest move, though.....

De Bruyn should play in the middle-order. They might as well open with Amla. They have a dilemma for England because they have persisted with Cook for so long. He looks like a walking wicket in English conditions.

Bavuma is in the same category as Duminy - as reliable as a candle in the wind.

The simple solution is to get AB back at 4 and tell Duminy to fark off.

Last season he was being hidden at 7 as he was "good with the tail" this season he is suddenly a number 4.

Has de Villiers made himself available for the tests in England? If he hasn't, then you can probably assume that's the end of his test career.

Has already said not available.