Daniel Orsmond thinks no

I believe that the SA ‘A’ squad should effectively be a Proteas ‘2nd team’.

That may seem like an obvious statement but what I’m referring to in particular is quite literally the next best 11 players in the country, regardless of age.

Our lack of depth in the longest format was exposed in the Test series against England when we had one or two injury/discipline issues which meant that first-choice players were not available.

I felt that the replacements that were called up, although undoubtedly talented players, had not played enough cricket at a level that would have prepared them to simply walk into the Test format.

Pieter Malan, Beuran Hendricks and Dane Paterson had not played enough SA ‘A’ cricket before coming up against the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes.

Instead, I got the impression that there was a clear lack of separation between the South African ‘A’ side and the South African Emerging side.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for identifying youngsters who show promise and I agree that they should be exposed to cricket beyond their respective franchise tournaments.

I don’t think that you have any business playing SA ‘A’ cricket until you are capable or comfortable (regardless of your age) of replacing a Protea at a moments notice.

Khalid Mohidin thinks yes

Ponder this question: “If an older player scores 0-30 against the best opposition bowlers and a youngster does the same, who learns more from the failure?”

The same goes for bowlers who go wicketless at a high economy rate. The younger players gain more from the experience.

I still strongly believe that in the transition phase that the Proteas are currently in, we need to find the next core group of players to lead our country for the next decade.

SA ‘A’ should be the platform to elevate these players to the next level and it could be the pipeline to the national side which it is meant to be.

There should be no reason for an older player to get a chance at SA ‘A’ level. They should know their game well enough and if they can’t handle the pressures of international cricket, then they should stick to domestic cricket.

For a younger player to get early advice on where to improve their game after being tested against the best players, is invaluable.

They can take those lessons back to their franchise where they can implement what they’ve learnt as they aim to improve their game.

It’s time they gain an understanding and insight into the level they are at, and in some cases, get a reality check so they understand the level of their game.