The core of the South African squad will probably come from the 14 players who did duty in the last two Tests against Sri Lanka, writes Peter Robinson
If you were to choose just one cricketer to travel to the West Indies with South Africa at the end of this month on the basis of ability, form and potential, then you’d probably look no further than Jacques Rudolph, the 19-year-old Northerns opening bat who was by some way the most outstanding?player during the Titans’ three-legged Standard Bank Cup semi-final against?Border. Wonderfully balanced, calm, composed and mature beyond his tender years, Rudolph will play for South Africa one day, quite possibly as an eventual?successor to Gary Kirsten at the top of the order. The pity of it is, though, that there probably won’t be a place for Rudolph in the squad to be named on Saturday in Durban. You could argue for Rudolph’s inclusion as an investment for the future. His talent now is already special and a full tour in the company of the full national squad would be worth at least a first-class season in terms of his development.
Sadly for Rudolph, there almost certainly won’t be room for him in the squad for no other reason than that South Africa are likely to take their strongest batting side since readmission to the Caribbean.
At the time of writing it wasn’t quite clear whether the selectors would pick 15 or 16 for the tour centred on the five Test matches. Earlier this week the selectors were badgering the United Cricket Board (UCB) to cough up for an extra player (the West Indian board will carry the cost of a 15-man squad), but even if a little extra dosh is squeezed out of the UCB, it probably won’t go towards Rudolph’s ticket. The core of the squad will come from the 14 players who did duty in the last two Tests against Sri Lanka, minus Mfuneko Ngam, who is injured. This means that Boeta Dippenaar and Justin Kemp, who stood in for Gary Kirsten and Lance Klusener at Centurion Park, will cover the top and middle order respectively.
It also seems unlikely that South Africa will require a second wicketkeeper to understudy Mark Boucher. If, by chance, the vice-captain succumbs to a biltong craving again and contrives to slice off another finger, then Nic Pothas or perhaps even Kruger van Wyk might have to ready themselves for an emergency dash across a continent or two to the rescue. So it comes down to the backup bowling and this is the issue that will tax the selectors. If they do get permission to take 16 players, then they’ll probably look at an out-and-out quick as insurance against Allan Donald breaking down (always a threat given his recent track record), a swing bowler and an extra spinner. Despite the fuss about him since flattening Donald, Andre Nel could make the tour on his own merits. He’s quick and aggressive (despite a rather fetching streak of sentimentality) and his only competition seems likely to come from Free State’s Dewald Pretorius, who had a decent SuperSport Series. Personally I’d go for Nel. Langeveldt from Boland seems to be the favourite to go as the swing bowler, a claim enhanced by the fact that there aren’t that many about who do swing the ball. He had a good SuperSport Series and took wickets in the Caribbean with the South African A side last year and this may earn him a return trip to the West Indies. There are others who may be considered, Eastern Province’s Garnett Kruger, for instance, but Langeveldt swings the ball and in the words of his Boland CEO Andre Bruyns: “He gets good batsmen out.” By all accounts, there are at least five spinners under consideration to back up Nicky Boje Paul Adams, Shafiek Abrahams, Robin Peterson, Claude Henderson and Gulam Bodi. Bodi, who bowls left-arm wrist spin, has made huge strides this season and is almost unrecognisable from the player who struggled to make an impact in Durban last summer. There are one or two former spinners around who’d like to reshape his action to gain greater leverage from his right arm, but as he is at the moment he managed 19 wickets in the SuperSport Series this summer. He’s a more than useful batsman, too, but at 21 he might still have some growing to do. The risk of throwing him in too early should be illustrated by the difficulties endured by Adams since injuring his finger at Centurion Park just about a year ago. Bodi’s time may well come and he might be an outside choice for a place in the one-day series that follows the Test?matches.
If maturity is the criterion then Abrahams comes into it. If consistency over the past few seasons, then it should be Henderson, but the selectors will have to decide exactly what role a second spinner will play cover for Boje or someone likely to bowl in tandem with him? When all is said and done, I believe the selectors will opt for Adams’s experience at Test level. A tour of the West Indies might restore the confidence in his own ability so obviously lacking in recent months.
There will be changes for the one-day series, the most obvious being the replacement of Daryll Cullinan by Jonty Rhodes, but it is also probable that Roger Telemachus will come into the picture at this stage for Nel or whoever?fills that role. And this might also be the stage for a little experimentation, perhaps in the shape of Bodi, particularly if the Test series has gone well. It is a long tour, all 77 days of it, and it is difficult to imagine that injuries will not take their toll. And the West Indies do have a rather?better record at home in recent years than their dismal form overseas?suggests. That said, South Africa might never have a better opportunity to avenge Bridgetown in 1992.
l Possible squad: Shaun Pollock (captain), Mark Boucher (vice-captain), Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Boeta Dippenaar, Jacques Kallis, Daryll Cullinan, Neil McKenzie,?Lance Klusener, Nicky Boje, Justin Kemp, Allan Donald, Makhaya Ntini, Andre?Nel, Charl Langeveldt, Paul Adams, Jonty Rhodes, Roger Telemachus and Shafiek?Abrahams or Gulam Bodi to replace Cullinan, Nel and Adams for the one-day matches. Peter Robinson is the editor of CricInfo South Africa