AB injury an opportunity for Proteas

Gary Kirsten’s plans for the coming international cricket season have been soiled somewhat by injury. AB de Villiers, the newly minted ODI and T20 skipper, picked up a hand injury during a practice session with the Royal Challengers Bangalore and will be out of action for between four to six weeks after undergoing surgery. That means the Proteas will be needing a new one-day skipper, batsman and possibly a wicket-keeper for the upcoming ODI and T20 series against Australia, beginning in a couple of weeks’ time.

Hashim Amla is the new vice-captain and the logical choice to lead but not having any captaincy experience except with the Dolphins several seasons back, Kirsten might consider using former limited overs skipper Graeme Smith, or another former captain, Johan Botha, to fill the void. Apart from the captaincy, there is now a place available in the Proteas middle order, and with De Villiers being one of the world’s best batsman, it won’t be easy for his replacement to offer the same type of comfort to Proteas fans compared to when De Villiers strolls to the crease.

That being said, it does present Kirsten and his management team with an opportunity to blood another batsman into the Proteas set-up. The question is, who will it be? Jacques Rudolph looks like a fair choice, especially with the former Proteas No 3 starting the season well for the Titans in the SuperSport Series with a composed 80 in his first innings of the season. Alviro Petersen has banged a century for the Highveld Lions in Johannesburg where the selectors are meeting. There is also the promising Rilee Rossouw, a rising star on the domestic circuit. Morne van Wyk, another who knows the Proteas set-up, also has a chance of filling in at No 4, a position he is familiar with. Davy Jacobs would’ve also been in contention, but having picked an injury during the T20 Champions League like De Villiers, is unlikely to feature.

The issue of who will be wicket-keeper lies between Heino Kuhn and Mark Boucher. Boucher’s inclusion would be a stop-gap measure while Kuhn, who is just wetting his feet on the international stage, is a more long-term choice, perhaps nudging him ahead of veteran Boucher, who still has an extremely important role to play at Test level.

The Australia series is taking place a wee earlier than South African fans are used to seeing, but it provides the Proteas with a stern test as they embark on a long and important season, with the coming away series in England being especially juicy to think about. While injuries can never be planned for, how the situation is dealt with will tell us on the outside as to where Kirsten and Co’s thinking is ahead of the new season. I’m looking forward to it, especially the Test “series” against one of South Africa’s toughest opponents.

The Proteas will enter the series as slight favourites, but if they play badly, Australia will capitalise. They did well in beating Sri Lanka away, making it a great pity that we won’t see them on our shores for three Tests instead of the measly two scheduled for the Wanderers and Newlands respectively come November.