Jarrod Kimber, Shayan Ahmad Khan
South Africa exited the last T20 World Cup after a defeat against the Netherlands in the Super 12 stage of the tournament. Between the two World Cups, they played eight T20Is against West Indies, Australia and India. They won just two matches and lost six.
They have made four changes to their squad from the 2022 edition – Temba Bavuma, Rilee Rossouw, Lungi Ngidi, and Wayne Parnell miss out, while Ryan Rickelton, Gerald Coetzee, Ottniel Baartman and Bjorn Fortuin make it. Marco Jansen came in as a replacement for Dwayne Pretorius in 2022, who was originally named in the squad. However, Pretorius also failed to make the cut this time. The other major exclusion was that of Rassie van der Dussen, who performed well in this season of the SA20.
Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks will be expected to open the innings. However, de Kock’s T20 form has been pretty patchy in recent times. He’s played in the IPL, SA20 and BBL after the ODI World Cup, but his strike rate hovers around 130 only. But according to coach Rob Walter, that is not a huge cause for concern.
“Quinny, we’ve seen him do it time and time again for us,” Walter said. “Reeza [Hendricks] has been a star performer for us in T20 cricket, was a standout in this domestic CSA T20 challenge again, and Ryan Rickelton has had two outstanding competitions really, where he’s played the brand of cricket that we’re looking to play. And then we’re going to have Aiden Markram and that’ll be the top order. It’s mostly a performance-based decision and from Quinton’s point of view is just a real knowledge of what he’s capable of.”
Hendricks has done well in T20Is, scoring 330 runs at a strike rate of 160 in eight innings since the last T20 World Cup. But his performances this year have not been as impressive – he has only 542 runs at a strike rate of 123 in 20 innings in the SA20, PSL, BPL. He did relatively better in the CSA T20 challenge though. South Africa also have a solid backup option in Ryan Rickelton, who was the highest run-getter in the SA20 earlier this year. He scored 530 runs in 10 innings at a strike rate of 174.
Skipper Aiden Markram is best suited to bat at number three. He has not had a very good IPL, but he has done well in T20Is since the last T20 World Cup, scoring 239 runs at a strike rate of 163 in eight innings. Heinrich Klaasen has been one of the best T20 batters in the world in recent times. He is certainly their best player of the turning ball in this format, and is also very good against pace. In the IPL, he has scored 339 runs in 11 innings at a strike rate of 186.
Tristan Stubbs and David Miller are South Africa’s most important batters at the death. Stubbs has been in excellent form in the ongoing IPL, scoring 378 runs at a strike rate of 191. Earlier in the year, he also had a great SA20. On the other hand, Miller has scored 210 runs at a strike rate of 151, which is not quite game changing in a high-scoring season. He did not have a great SA20 either. Marco Jansen’s batting will also be crucial if he bats at number seven.
South Africa have several options to take the new ball, with a number of the seamers in the squad capable of bowling with it – Kagiso Rabada, Jansen, Coetzee and Baartman. It will depend on who is in the XI and how they want to structure their attack. For example, if South Africa feel like Rabada might be better deployed against a team’s middle-order and death overs batters, they could hold him back. Apart from the quicks, they also have spinners capable of bowling in the powerplay. Keshav Maharaj could do the job, as could Bjorn Fortuin, if he is picked. Fortuin took six wickets in 11 matches at an economy of 7.15 in the SA20, bowling 23 of his 41 overs in the powerplay. If spin is required early on, even Markram can chip in with a couple of overs.
The third spinner in the squad, Tabraiz Shamsi, is expected to largely operate in the middle overs. South Africa’s best options at the death are Rabada and Coetzee. The latter has had a better IPL season than Nortje, who returned after an injury layoff. If Nortje starts in the playing XI, he will most likely have to bowl in that phase too. His death-bowling in the IPL came for a fair amount of stick, with 148 runs conceded in seven overs bowled in that phase. Baartman is another option that has been earmarked to bowl at the death if South Africa include him in the XI.
Walter praised Baartman’s development, in particular his excellent SA20 which was “a cut above the rest” at the death. “He is someone who offers that speciality. If you look at the numbers, he’s been successful through all the phases of the game,” Walter said. “He’s worked really hard to get his name into the mix through sheer performance.”
Nandre Burger and Lungi Ngidi are the two injury reserves in their squad.
A probable XI South Africa could field is: de Kock, Hendricks, Markram, Klaasen, Miller, Stubbs, Jansen, Maharaj, Coetzee or Nortje, Rabada and Shamsi. It is slightly bowling heavy, but none of their top six options can bowl apart from Markram.
They have a batting unit dripping in talent and a bowling attack which covers most bases on paper. But unlike Australia and England – or even South African sides of the past – they do not have a lot of batting depth or bowling options.
