A fine balance between young talent and veterans of the game is exactly what is needed to develop a world class white ball outfit.
Humans are by nature, quite content with routine, order, discipline and consistency when it comes to almost every aspect of their lives.
They are generally very happy to go about their business with monotonous regularity, shunning anything or anyone that forces them to deviate, albeit ever so slightly, from their version of normality.
Within this population of humans we have a particular subset of people known as ‘cricket fanatics’ who don’t conform to this type of orthodox behavior.
We are perfectly happy to wake up at 3am to catch the first ball of a Test match Down Under, or even to sit in the stands for hours and days on end to watch a bunch of men in long white clothing chasing a piece of leather which may or may not produce a winner and a loser.
We seem to absorb inconvenience, change, or ‘deviations from normaility’ fairly well compared to other humans.
This became especially apparent to me upon Cricket South Africa’s announcement of a new look 15-man One Day International squad that is set to take on the World Champions in a 5-match series starting in February.
The reaction was, in my opinion, far more positive than negative and the excitement of 5 ‘new’ faces set to be joining the Proteas has drawn excitement across from cricket fanatics across the country, which admittedly, has been in short supply.
What do I think?
Like I said, it’s always great to see new faces in the squad, and by new faces, i’m not necessarily just referring to the youngsters, but also to the more ‘seasoned’ local guys who have put in good work for a number of years on the domestic circuit and are now being recognized. It really is great to see.
Moving on, I think that given Du Plessis’ exclusion from the squad, despite averaging more than 60 with the bat over the last 3 years, indicates a clear impetus being placed on the 2023 Cricket World Cup.
At the age of 35, Du Plessis will most likely call it time on his career at the end of the year or more specifically, at the end of the T20 World Cup later this year. The announcement of De Kock as captain was fairly straight forward in my opinion with no real ‘contestants’ to really make a case for themselves and I think after leading the Cape Town Blitz in the 2nd edition of the Mzanzi Super League, he will feel fairly comfortable in that role going forward.
What surprised me the most about the squad however, was not Faf du Plessis’ exclusion, nor Rabada’s (who has simply been given time to rest), but rather the inclusion of 6 players who are in and around that 30-year-old mark.
Do I have an issue with selecting older players?
Absolutely not, but I have admittedly heard rumblings of ‘out with the old and in with the new’ in response to Cricket South Africa’s intentions of building a World Cup winning squad.
I disagree. Firstly, I believe that the injured Markram and the rested Rabada will come into the squad to replace two of the more seasoned gentleman, but more importantly, I think a fine balance between young talent and veterans of the game is exactly what is needed to develop a world class white ball outfit. If I were youngster like Lutho Sipamla, I would relish the opportunity to rub shoulders with Dale Steyn, and if I were Kyle Verreynne, I would be picking at Faf du Plessis’s brain all day long.
What would I like to see going forward?
Picking the correct 15 players is only a small part of wining a series or a World Cup. What is required thereafter and which is far more important in my opinion is clearly defined roles for each and every single player along with sufficient opportunity to adapt and mold into those clearly defined roles.
Is Smuts going to bat at 3 and look to anchor the innings or do they want him to play a power hitting or ‘finishing’ role at number 6?
Will Fortuin start with the new ball and be expected to restrict runs in the powerplay or will he be asked to bowl his 10 in the middle of the innings?
Will Miller be asked to shift up the order and accept some more batting responsibility or is he ‘competing’ for that finisher role at number 6?
Will Ngidi bowl the majority of his over upfront or will be saved to bowl at the death?
How many overs do theY expect from Phehlukwayo? Is he a strike bowler or will he be asked to share 10 overs with Smuts? Can he bat in the top 6?
These are the areas where I feel that South African cricket has fallen short in recent times and these are the areas where the most change can be inflicted. We have established a healthy-looking squad, let’s give them the time to develop into the cricketers that we want them to become as opposed to swapping them out willy nilly until they are.
In conclusion. Yes, it is good to see some change in the white ball squad going forward. It gives us a sense that the men at the top are being proactive in their efforts to get South African cricket out of this rut and back to being a dominant figure in world cricket.
Having said that, change for the sake of change will not bring about the desired level of performance that is consistent with the Proteas name.
My proposed XI for the 1st ODI:
1. Q.de Kock (c) & (w)
2. J.Malan
3. J.Smuts
4. T.Bavuma
5. R.van der Dussen
6. D.Miller
7. A.Phehlukwayo
8. L.Sipamla
9. B.Hendricks
10. L.Ngidi
11. T.Shamsi
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