The World Cup is officially less than two months away.
Selectors are frantically making final decisions to pick a preliminary squad and then trimming it to a squad of 15. Here’s my predicted South Africa squad.
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The batsmen are Hashim Amla, Reeza Hendricks, Faf du Plessis (captain) and Rassie van der Dussen.
My all-rounders are JP Duminy, Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius, while Quinton de Kock and David Miller are the wicketkeeping options.
Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Chris Morris form the fast-bowling attack, supported by spinners Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi.
The shock retirement of AB de Villiers and the dip in form from Hashim Amla has suddenly left the Proteas to do a bit of soul searching.
Hashim Amla might be out of form, but he’s a staple of the South African ODI line-up. (Photo by Richard Huggard/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
Aiden Markram made his debut in 2017 and was suddenly drafted as captain, which probably was too much on his shoulders in his short international career.
Reeza Hendricks scored a ton on debut, but hasn’t done much since. However he has been scoring runs heavily in domestic cricket.
Van der Dussen is a proper 360-degree player. An average of 88 after nine games helps his case, however his strike rate needs to be in the mid-80s to low 90s rather than his current strike rate of 75.
JP Duminy’s experience will be crucial for this young Proteas side. His off spin in the middle overs is crucial as well.
Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius are both hard-hitting bowling all-rounders. They both bowl in the low to mid-130s and their ability to whack it in the death overs gives South Africa options for their No.7 and No.8 positions
Quinton de Kock needs no introduction. He’s been and will be in the foreseeable future a very aggressive and dangerous opening batsman. His keeping is top notch and has carried Mark Boucher’s legacy well.
I didn’t even know Miller could keep wickets till they played Sri Lanka in a T20 a few weeks ago. His wicketkeeping was surprisingly impressive and stumping off an Imran Tahir googly was world class.
He will be in the starting line-up regardless and will keep wickets should De Kock pick up an injury or be rested.
Seeing Dale Steyn bowl as fast as he has in a long time has been pleasing to the eyes of many cricket fans. He’s seemed to rebrand himself as a white-ball bowler, and those eyes keep scaring batsmen when he steams in.
Rabada keeps on improving with the hype around him justified. The way he had handled the pressure in the Super Over against Kolkata, bowling six yorkers on the dot, shows he’s got a calm head and backs himself. Not to mention he bowls faster than 145km/h.
Lungi Ngidi is another hit-the-deck type of bowler. While he’s not as quick as Rabada, he makes up for it in his height and his variations.
It’s a bit harsh to classify Chris Morris as a bowler when he’s really an all-rounder, but the injury of Anrich Nortje has probably rejigged the Proteas plans with Morris as now a back-up for the seamers.
Imran Tahir walks into any side. Forget his loopy googlies and sliders. His enthusiastic celebrations running from Johannesburg all the way to Cardiff justifies his selection itself.
Jokes aside, he’s a world-class spinner and he will play a crucial role in South Africa’s chances.
Tabraiz Shamsi has done well with the sporadic chances he’s got and should South Africa rest Tahir or play two spinners, they can always rely on Shamsi.
Neel
Roar Guru
Solid pace attack and they have 2-3 spinners who do more than are all solid with Tahir, Maharaj and Shamsi. The batting will depend on the likes of their two highest ranked ODI batsman, Quinton de Cock Faf Du Plessis, with power hitter David Miller being the difference between the team getting a good and bad score. I seen them either bowing out in the group stages just making the semis but who knows. They have a history of not “choking” at the major ICC events but maybe this time around it could be
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Domestically he has been sensational. I wouldn't open with him tho.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
This is the weakest South African team certainly batting and fielding wise since our readmission to World cricket some 30 years ago. Bowling stands up but otherwise the rest looks poor.
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
Except Australia has one part in their batting over South Africa - their ability to play spin in the middle overs. By picking players like Handscomb and Khawaja, they have formulated a way to bat in the middler over better. If you look at SA's 2015 World Cup run, most of it was done by ABD and Rossouw. They've lost both of them to retirement and Kolpak deal which has hampered their batting in the middle overs as they were both excellent players of both pace and spin but specially spin
Paul
Roar Guru
They look to be the mirror of the Australian side - strong in bowling and not so much in batting. Mind you, it all changes if guys like Amla, De Kock, Miller & Morris all have big tournaments. In racing parlance, I'd rate them as "others preferred, but could surprise".
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
My best XI would be - De Kock, Amla, Van Der Dussen, Du Plessis, Duminy, Miller, Morris, Phehlukwayo, Rabada, Steyn, Tahir. I don't know if they can to be honest. They got smashed 5-1 at home last year to India. It's gonna be interesting for the Saffas because for once they're not one of the favourites. As one of the underdogs, can they surprise the better ODI teams? Maybe but the batting has to step up
Paul
Roar Guru
This side seems quite unsettled and the batting seems relatively weak, compared to the great SA sides of years gone by. So who would be your best XI, Arnab and are they good enough to challenge the Indias & Englands?
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
Not as many as the South African selectors would’ve liked in international cricket. Same with Reeza Hendricks. Could go either way with their form in the South African one day cup. Gonna be a tough call. Markram’s white ball woes has affected his test game as well so I think it would be better if he focused on his county stint instead.
nickbrisbane
Guest
Has Markram not been making runs?