The best argument for including Gary Kirsten in the cricket World Cup squad was made, pretty much unanswerably, by the left-hander himself in Paarl in the fourth one-day international against Pakistan. For the second-best argument you need only to look at his brother Peter.
Like Gary, the older Kirsten seemed to have been cast aside just weeks before a World Cup. In the closing weeks of 1991 he, together with Jimmy Cook and Clive Rice, was left out of South Africa?s provisional squad on the grounds that all three were felt too old for the wide expanses of Australian grounds.
In the event, the South African selectors, then headed by Peter van der Merwe, relented in the case of Kirsten, the youngest of the three. It was to prove, along with the choice of Kepler Wessels as captain, the sharpest decision made by the panel.
Peter Kirsten had a wonderful World Cup, scoring more than 400 runs and averaging in the high 60s. His feet may have been more solidly planted than in his pomp, but even at 36 he remained a technician of the highest quality, blessed with soft hands, a sharp eye and an enormous appetite for runs.
It is this last quality that Gary shares with his brother. He will readily acknowledge that Peter was the more gifted player, but the ability to concentrate and a reluctance to give away their wickets cheaply are common to both.
And, like Peter in 1992, Gary has been around long enough now to have polished the art of building an innings. By his own admission, he has not had the best of seasons, but the point about players like the Kirstens is that they will make the most of any luck going around. Gary might have been out leg before early on in Paarl; he was dropped; but if you allow a Kirsten a let-off, you?re almost certainly going to regret it.
As much as anything else, what Gary Kirsten demonstrated against Pakistan is that he provides a more considered foil to Herschelle Gibbs than Graeme Smith. This is not a criticism of Smith, who is, after all, still just 21 and has years ahead of him. But if you?re going to pick your most dependable opening pair, the combination most likely to get the innings going, then surely it has to be Gibbs and Kirsten, the dasher and the grafter.
Which means, though, that South Africa now find themselves with four contenders for the top three positions in the batting order, and this is not even considering Jacques Kallis, the best number three in the country, moving away from four, or the option of a Nicky Boje as a pinch-hitter.
Dippenaar is the man in possession at three at the moment, after spending most of the summer vying with Neil McKenzie for the spot. But, like McKenzie, he has not been entirely convincing ? despite scoring 93 at Newlands ? and Smith may yet find himself going in behind the openers.
What complicates matters for the South Africans is the commitment to the government, made by Ali Bacher some years ago, that there will be no fewer than five players of colour in the 15-man World Cup squad. Just a few months ago this seemed a perfectly feasible proposition, but dips in form and yet another injury to Mfuneko Ngam have narrowed the options considerably. Some, of course, might argue that this is evidence of the failure of the United Cricket Board?s attempt to transform the game but, rightly or wrongly, this will not be the immediate concern of those have to pick the World Cup squad.
The form and confidence of both Justin Ontong and Ashwell Prince have dipped alarmingly this summer, and surely both have dropped off the screen. And, while Monde Zondeki seems to be in practically everyone?s squad, there is precious little solid evidence to back his claims. He may have bags of potential ? not to mention the wicket of Marvan Atapattu with his first ball in international cricket ? but to field him against serious opposition in a high-pressure match would be a massive gamble.
The point really is that if Zondeki makes it into the squad, South Africa will have to hope fervently that none of their senior bowlers breaks down. This also seems to be the reason why Charl Langeveldt has re-emerged as a candidate.
It is not entirely clear whether Boje?s omission from the current squad carries significance other than to give Robin Peterson a couple of games. Both might well make the final 15, but more and more it seems as though the selectors will have to pick a World Cup 12 and add three others in. Which is not necessarily the most reassuring way of going about a World Cup campaign.