Despite expecting conditions in India to be very different for the World Cup than they were when the Proteas played there last month, Aiden Markram’s squad for the tournament still leans heavily on pace, while the spin options are limited.
Selection convener Patrick Moroney said on Friday that the South African brains trust did not believe the seaming conditions experienced during that five-match series would be replicated for the T20 World Cup to be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
For one, SA played most of the matches in the northern regions of India, where cold winter temperatures aided the seamers.
February will be warmer, and the Proteas will play the majority of their group matches in Ahmedabad, in the west.
There are six fast bowlers in the 15-man squad, led by Kagiso Rabada who missed the India tour with a rib injury and has just started bowling again for his SA20 franchise, MI Cape Town.
In contrast to the seam bowling options, SA’s spin bowling looks thin.
Where India have four front-line spin bowlers in their squad, SA will take only Keshav Maharaj and George Linde.
Those two, according to Moroney, will do “the bulk of the work”. Markram and Donovan Ferreira, both part-time off-spinners, will do the rest.
The lack of versatility is concerning. Nqaba Peter, the 24-year-old wrist-spinner, hasn’t developed as quickly as hoped and probably needs more domestic playing time, especially at first-class level where he will have the chance to bowl more overs and build on his skill.
Tabraiz Shamsi was long ago dismissed as an option by Shukri Conrad, leaving Prenelan Subrayen and Senuran Muthusamy as the only other spin contenders.
From a T20 context, Muthusamy provides nothing different to Maharaj and Linde and Subrayen’s off-spin hasn’t been considered.
The squad is an experienced one. Markram and Quinton de Kock are old heads at the top of the order, David Miller in the middle, along with Maharaj and Rabada will be the squad’s spine.
Naturally there were some tricky decisions. SA have loads of options with the bat so there were always going to be some unfortunate individuals.
Ryan Rickelton lost out to De Kock and Tristan Stubbs to Ferreira, Miller, Jason Smith and Dewald Brevis.
Smith and Tony de Zorzi are the two biggest surprises. De Zorzi, who is still completing rehab after injuring his right hamstring against India, will bat at No 3 according to Moroney and gets his spot because of the expectation that there will be less seam movement and that spin is likely to play a bigger role — even though with the ball, the Proteas have such few options.
Smith has been chosen because of his versatility.
“He can bat nearly anywhere in the order and gives us the opportunity to ‘go in and out’ of the power play,” Moroney said.
That will allow Conrad to shift players around in the batting order depending on conditions and the circumstances of the match.
The strange part about the selection is that Smith, who has played three ODIs and just two T20 Internationals, has featured only once since Conrad took over the white ball coach role.
Meanwhile, Rubin Hermann, who is also able to shift around the batting order though he prefers No 3 and 4, has played an ODI and six T20s, all during Conrad’s tenure.
Hermann also featured for the SA A side that toured India in November, while Smith stayed home to play for the Dolphins in the T20 Challenge, where his performances caught the eye of the selectors.
Moroney said the SA20 came too soon for players to make an impression, but the tournament would play a role in helping players sharpen their skills before the Proteas face the West Indies in three T20 Internationals at the end of January.
Should there be any injuries to the squad named on Friday, changes can be made up until January 31.
It’s certainly not unusual for Conrad to make left-field choices and for the most part they have worked.
However, SA, runners-up at the last T20 World Cup, will face plenty of scrutiny, should they not, at the very least, make the final four in this year’s event.
The group stage in which SA face Canada, Afghanistan, New Zealand and the UAE should be comfortably navigated, but the Super 8 stage that follows will be more complicated.
Proteas T20 World Cup squad: Aiden Markram (capt), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Jason Smith.
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