As soon as Victor Mpitsang was elected as Cricket South Africa (CSA) convener of selectors in November last year he was tasked with some immediate challenges, but the T20 World Cup selections were an even higher-stakes duty to succeed.
Mpitsang was essentially thrown into the deep end in his new capacity, having needed to rally a side to take on the world No 1 England in November last year, after having not played warm-up games and with various players having tested positive for Covid during the series.
It didn’t get much easier for the Proteas in their Pakistani outbound tour in February when the Test and T20I squads had to travel separately.
But, according to Mpitsang, this served as a platform on which to gauge other players and assess their depth as a squad in a systematic approach.
“With challenges comes opportunity as well,” Mpitsang told Cricket Fanatics Magazine. “The West Indian tour was the first where everyone was available for selection, which I thought was a good one.
“After losing the first game, the way the guys stepped up and won the series was a big plus. But for us it was the start of a journey to make sure that when we do pick the [T20 World Cup] squad they are exposed to having played a lot of games.”
Since the West Indian tour, the Proteas T20I side has enjoyed a seven-game winning streak against Ireland and Sri Lanka and Mpitsang aimed to pick a squad around their nucleus of spinners, who’d be suited to the hot and arid conditions of the World Cup.
“We feel that the resources we have [in the squad] will cover all the pitches that we will be playing on,” Mpitsang said of the 15-man squad, along with three travelling reserves.
With the likes of on-form players such as Chris Morris, Imran Tahir and Faf du Plessis having been left out of selection, Mpitsang said these sorts of conundrums heaped pressure on the sort of formula they aimed at achieving for the side.
“They’re world-class players and that will always put pressure on you,” he said. “Chris has done well in the IPL, but he was a different conversation because after having spoken to the DOC (Director of Cricket) he said he wasn’t available for SA.
“Imran said he was available, but the other spinners have been doing well, so you have to back the talent that you’ve had around. I’m not saying he’s a bad player, I’m just saying the other players have been playing well and that’s the balance we’ve gone with.”
Mpitsang didn’t touch on Du Plessis’s omission, but it could be gathered that the Proteas have shown much bite this season in terms of their batting if the likes of Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Reeza Hendricks, David Miller and Quinton de Kock join the conversation – all backed by Temba Bavuma’s supple batting and leadership.
The 41-year-old, who was formerly a fast bowler and who played for the Proteas in 1999, expressed his excitement for the upcoming World Cup, at which SA is set to kick-off their campaign against Australia on October 23.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “We have a nice, tough group, starting with Australia and we also have West Indies and England as the other two.
“We saw what luxury T20 cricket has become and you have to be on the money from the word ‘go’, but I think we have the players to get us over the line.”
