Rob Houwing

Let’s face it, a few short months ago most of us were sweating.

We were uncomfortable and even disconsolate, watching a listless South Africa bludgeoned into surprisingly meek submission in the English ODI series, and contemplating all the while the fact that the next World Cup is to be staged on turf customarily ill-suited to SA bowlers.

How astonishingly, then, the wheel turns! Not only is the country’s acknowledged, 2011-aimed ODI bounce-back plan on track, it has almost got ahead of itself via the stirring, energetic and hard-nosed triumph in Australia.

Whatever happens in the “dead” game in Perth, which will feature a few rookie Proteas faces in a rare live opportunity to assess their longer-term suitability to the biggest stage, the Proteas have progressed quicker than we might have anticipated in cleaning the slate and engineering an upturn after the England debacle.

The perfect scenario would be that even Friday’s less-than-full-strength South African side prevails against the punch-drunk Aussies at the WACA, making it 4-1 for the series and assumption of top spot on the ICC rankings.

Even if that proves a bridge too far, there will be fresh opportunity on home soil to claim that bragging right, and at least we can heave a sigh of relief that an overdue maiden World Cup triumph (that’s got to be a key target now) doesn’t look nearly so unlikely an occurrence just over two years up the drag.

For one department in particular – and a vital one for a tournament intended to be spread across the four Test-playing nations of the Subcontinent – is suddenly way healthier than it has been for a long time: the spin one.

It applies to South Africa’s Test plans, too, but I believe we have seen signs that at ODI level, especially, the Proteas are going to have a robust cupboard of slow-bowling options come 2011.

Challenge for a Test spot

I don’t need to add much more to the rightful accolades that have gone Johan Botha’s way for his efforts both as captain and off-spinner in the Aussie-staged ODIs.

He appears to have come back to stay as first-choice spinner in the 50-over game and it was interesting to hear Australian commentators even venturing that he ought to challenge anew for a Test spot.

Botha is a classical, “thinking” off-break bowler and a few grudgingly admiring words from Ricky Ponting summed up his resurgence: “That over-spin he’s got … it gives him the variety you so need (for his trade).”

It is true that this devilish feather in Botha’s cap, allied to length and pace variation, makes batsmen think twice about dancing down the track to loft him over the in-field; we’ve also seen that when they do, it often spells peril.

Of course the Test incumbent left-arm spinner Paul Harris greatly enhanced his own credentials Down Under – you simply sensed that he was giving the ball a more joyous and pronounced “whirl” and getting some meaningful drift again, making him a more dangerous foe than the stiff dart-thrower he sometimes had been in England.

Harris will not surrender his Test berth without a belligerent fight and, indeed, there may even have been an early signal of personal World Cup intent when he returned to South Africa after the Test series and promptly bagged a five-for in the MTN Domestic Championship final.

Legitimate ODI all-rounder

The other chipper spin development in Australia was the confidence occasionally shown in JP Duminy to take the pace off the ball in mid-innings: come 2011 and he may well be up to routinely bowling five to 10 overs of his own, not unsubtle brand of off-spin and thus becoming a legitimate ODI all-rounder.

There was a time, of course, when Graeme Smith seemed set for that role, but with the weighty responsibility he carries on other fronts his bowling has rather (and I’m sure he won’t mind my saying this!) gone to the hounds.

I do fancy that the combative, self-assured Roelof van der Merwe -- with his batting usefulness into the bargain -- will be among “tweak” contenders for South Africa’s World Cup squad.

The left-armer is not a massive turner of the ball, but he is developing a nice little party trick in calmly spearing the ball in at yorker length at the death of the limited-overs innings; not bad for a just-turned-24-year-old, eh?

Of course there is another possible “future factor” to consider among the productive spin factory being richly encouraged by Richard Pybus at the Titans: the Lahore-born but soon SA-qualified leggie Imran Tahir.

We know leg-spinners can be fickle fellows and you need to give most of them some “leeway” in run-concession terms, but a World Cup on the Subcontinent is perhaps not the worst place to try your luck with one.

Restore that chilling executioner at the top of the batting order “Biff” Smith to the World Cup 2011 mix and you suspect -- even if we must not get ahead of ourselves -- that South Africa will stand as good a chance as any of seizing that trophy from long-time Australian hands …

Rob is Sport24's chief writer.

Disclaimer: Sport24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on Sport24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Sport24.