- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
South Africa’s strengths are plain to see. They have two of the top three ODI batsmen in the world in AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla, and three champion quicks in Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander.
You have to dig a little deeper to uncover their shortcomings. Each of the main contenders for the World Cup have obvious weaknesses.
Number one-ranked Australia’s previously potent middle order has become feeble due to the extended form slumps of George Bailey and Glenn Maxwell.
Reigning World Cup champions India have a powerful top six but do not possess a single world-class bowler, as I outlined recently.
New Zealand have a well balanced side and home ground advantage but sport a horrendous recent record against the top sides. The Kiwis have won just 18 of their past 53 ODIs against Australia, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka and England.
So where do the South Africans fall short? Their batting is famously ferocious. AB de Villiers is so good he makes Hashim Amla look pedestrian, yet Amla would be close to earning a spot in an all-time ODI World XI.
Faf du Plessis has finally clicked in coloured clothing after a checquered start to his ODI career and is now a bonafide top order star. Young strokemaker Quinton de Kock has teamed with Amla to make the world’s best opening pair.
When that quartet form South Africa’s top four it becomes almost as strong as any seen in ODI history.
Yet, for some reason, in recent times the Proteas’ batting has become decidedly vulnerable when they have to chase a target. They have lost 11 of their last 18 ODIs when batting second.
Whats more is they become positively fragile when asked to track down 250 or more. During that same period they lost eight out of nine times when set a target of 250-plus.
By comparison, South Africa’s biggest challengers for the World Cup, Australia, have prospered when batting second. The Aussies have a 12-4 win-loss record when batting second those past two years, with an impressive 7-4 ledger when chasing 250-plus.
Australia will thus feel comfortable chasing a large score against South Africa if they meet in this World Cup. They will feel even more confident batting first and asking South Africa to buck recent history by running down a sizeable total.
The pressure on South Africa’s batsmen when batting second will only be more intense during the World Cup such is their history of choking in all major limited overs tournaments.
It is hard to pinpoint why South Africa have become such a poor chasing team the past two years. It may have something to do with their key personnel problem – the lack of a world-class all-rounder.
Strangely enough, after for years boasting an enviable battery of gun all-rounders they no longer have even a good one.
Gone are the days when Proteas’ teams had wonderful balance thanks to the likes of Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener.
The Proteas would kill for a frontline bowler who can bat like James Faulkner or a top six batsman with the bowling pedigree of Mitch Marsh.
JP Duminy is a calm and accomplished middle order batsman and a handy off spinner. But it is a real stretch to call him an all-rounder.
He is really just a part-timer – as evidenced by taking only 61 wickets from 191 List A matches – who has been pushed to play a bigger role with the ball out of necessity.
With 47 wickets at an average of 41 in ODIs he will be ruthlessly targeted by opposition batting line-ups looking to make South Africa pay for their weak fifth and sixth bowling options.
The Proteas will have to find a way to get 10 overs a match out of Duminy and another multi-skilled player.
That second bits-and-pieces cricketer looks set to be Farhaan Behardien who is pushing for the number seven spot. The 31-year-old has laboured with the blade, averaging just 21 from his 20 ODIs.
His slow-mediums, delivered in the 110-120kmh range, are about as threatening as a baby Wallaby. They have earned him just 31 wickets at 42 from 134 List A matches although, to be fair, he’s done much better for SA, snaring 11 wickets at 28.
Realistically though, Bahardien looks limited both with bat and ball. Compounding this all-rounder weakness is the fact South Africa have an extremely long tail, with Imran Tahir, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel all genuine number 11 batsmen.
So then, is South Africa really an unstoppable force as some are painting them or are we just seduced by their starpower?