Kallis injury puts selection posers in perspective

An interesting development, if you follow the touring English cricket team, has been the absence of Jacques Kallis from South Africa’s ODI squad.

I wrote a loving hymn (or chunder-worthy appraisal depending on your point of view) about JK last week, focusing on his quest for greatness, present-day anxieties have brought his importance to the forefront once more.

There is no need to repeat his importance to the Proteas’ set-up. I think as cricket fans, we all know the score.

The question that his absence does pose allows us an insight to what the future make-up of the ODI team will be come the 2011 World Cup, or after depending on when Kallis decides to give up ODIs, which I imagine he will do before he says goodbye to the Test arena.

The SA selectors have opted to bring in Ryan McLaren, and while I am a fan of this hard-working cricketer from the Free State, he is still finding his feet at international level, a totally different arena from the domestic game.

One alarming factor from Sunday’s defeat at Centurion was inability of the South African bowling attack to cut through the England batting line-up. It was South Africa’s fifth defeat in six to the Three Lions, and apart from Dale Steyn, the other bowlers didn’t look like they could dislodge their stubborn opposition.

Ten years ago it was South Africa’s batting which was their less reliable trait in pyjama cricket. Then, we had the irrepressible Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener (before he started bowling cutters), Kallis, Ntini (though he wasn’t a mainstay yet) and one certain Allan Donald to rely on when it came to taking 10 wickets.

Often these characters were supported by “Sir” Jonty Rhodes (a knight of the oval realm and one with the air) in the field, and even Hansie with the ball. The 1999 World Cup team even had Steve Elworthy, a very under-rated bowler in his time, in the ranks to shore things up. There was also Nicky Boje, who has resurrected his local career somewhat surprisingly (never liked his bowling though).

Now the situation is a bit different. Kallis is still around, but Pollock, Donald, Klusener and Ntini (he blossomed for most of 2000s in ODI cricket) are consigned to history, though Ntini would surprise nobody if he came back [he is the leading seam bowler of this decade in Tests, with 378 wickets at 28.17. The next best is Brett Lee, with 303 wickets at 31.27].

Albie Morkel is a butcher with the bat, but is more veal then biltong when it comes to holding the ball. When he first entered the scene, his bowling was dangerous as he could swing it away at a lively pace. It could be injury or a technical deficiency, but he really needs to contribute more with the ball if he is to continue to hold down a place in the ODI team. Roelf van der Merwe doesn’t lack heart, but maybe a bit more variation wouldn’t hurt. Charl Langeveldt isn’t the worst ODI option around, but at 34 he isn’t a long-term solution. Parnell is injured, and though his potential is undoubted, his RPO is extremely high at 6.00 while in List A cricket (MTN Domestic) it isn’t that much better at 5.54. Things for Mickey to ponder indeed …

The decision to bring in Morne Morkel, who still (I say that somewhat disappointingly) has the potential to be South Africa’s next big thing after Steyn with the ball, shows the selectors cards in relation to what they believe SA is missing. For the sake of Morne, I hope he does well because if he can “click” when the Tests come around, his presence with a red cherry will add a lot of spice to what is promising to be a tough encounter.

Batting-wise, South Africa has never been better, with AB de Villiers at three and JP Duminy at four promising much, so let’s hope the boys can deliver since these two, along with Smith and Amla (with Smith the oldest at 28) promising to be the mainstay in SA’s batting order for many years to come.

So, fix the bowling and watch SA conquer? We shall see. It promises to be a cracking summer of quality cricket.