Rob Houwing

I certainly got the sense, after a chat with Graeme Smith and Mickey Arthur at the Oliver Tambo domestic departure area the other day, that their rebuilding quest for the South African ODI side remains frustratingly unfinished.

At a guess I would say they can probably, to borrow popular cricketing parlance, tick some seven or eight of their 11 boxes in terms of filling up the side with the best possible personnel they can: three or four places, arguably, remain cause for a fair amount of head-scratching and even consternation.

They were en route from a bleak ‘Big Smoke’ to similarly inclement East London for what would become a washed-out third and final ODI against Bangladesh, and they appeared - at best, I should stress - “happy-ish” about the games immediately preceding it.

The pair intended that fixture as a further, vital opportunity to assess a few borderline troops and would have been irked that it was not able to go ahead, whatever the demerits of all too routinely playing rank minnow sides in the lead-up to Australia.

I don’t need to tell you that the Test squad is immeasurably more settled and sure of itself: while the three Tests will remain a rigorous challenge, regardless of Aussie woes in India, it is “phase two” of the tour Down Under that worries me - and probably the Proteas brains-trust - more.

Unanswered questions

The Buffalo Park cancellation meant a final opportunity was lost to piece together the correct ODI combo after just two games each against Kenya and the Bangladeshis.

Needless to say, the Proteas predictably won all four with enough “daylight” to spare, but several unanswered questions lingered and that will make the new national selectors’ job pretty difficult as they assemble the ODI squad for Australia.

Indeed, as the MTN Domestic Championship gets out of the blocks this week - a timely juncture - a few wildcards from the franchises might yet force their names to the fore, even if Australia remains just about the most intimidating place possible to blood any rookie and Mike Procter and company will be all too aware of that.

The batting side of things - more specifically the top five, I think - looks reasonably chipper, with Graeme Smith mercifully back in the mix as top-order dominator and captain after missing the lion’s share of the painful rout in England through injury.

Hashim Amla’s storming progress in all spheres of the game means he is a definite now for both portions of the Australian tour, and he may very well come to settle as Smith’s ODI opening partner.

Game-altering best

That would, of course, potentially be bad news for Herschelle Gibbs, even if he does make a sincere effort to tackle his personal problems and enjoys a sprightly return to the crease.

I haven’t altered my view that, at his game-altering best, the veteran could yet be useful to South Africa up to 2011 and at least provide some “pleasant” problems to the wise men, batting-wise.

So limited was the threat posed by the early-season ODI visitors to our shores that the Proteas did not have a massive need to deal decisively with the No 6 spot. It is here, remember, where long-service wicketkeeper Mark Boucher - he still does that side of his job in exemplary fashion and his overall, 272-cap experience remains invaluable - has been operating with only moderate success of late.

Some English critics observed he was “a spot too high” in the ODI series there; the SA side would certainly sport more comforting batting depth if Boucher could return to a role as, say, a No 7 innings-finisher.

But then who slots in at six remains a problem: Justin Ontong? He’s more “out” than in the XI, which seems to suggest no clear-cut confidence in his value.

Albie Morkel is an essential component of the side, as presently constituted, as a lower-order boundary-thumper: the Proteas don’t have nearly as many as they used to.

But at his supposedly chief trade he remains inconsistent, with an economy rate of over five after 30 ODIs.

Indeed, it is the seam bowling department overall that still leaves much to be desired: it is becoming more and more clear how the departure of ballsy and calm customers like Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Charl Langeveldt and Johan van der Wath is being felt.

Dale Steyn, thank goodness, is beginning to look the part almost as much as an ODI factor as he is in Tests: he bowled genuinely skilfully and fierily in both games I witnessed at Potchefstroom and Benoni.

His economy rate (5.46) and strike rate still look a little gruesome after 20 ODIs, but that is partly because the first 10 or so of those appearances were particularly nightmarish and he is certainly on a major limited-overs improvement curve.

Worrying to see

I suspect that, with his sheer pace an obvious tool, he is going to have to be gradually nursed into service as a “death” bowler, whether he likes it or not, because not too many other Proteas seamers are sticking their hands up for the task.

It was worrying to see Bangladeshi batsmen getting so imperiously onto the front foot and driving the likes of Morne Morkel and Johann Louw to the fence in the short series. If they could do it, imagine some of the Aussie ODI batsmen getting stuck in on a few of that country’s pacier, yet gun-barrel-straight tracks?

Louw presents a dilemma: here is an experienced campaigner who has earned his stripes in domestic and county cricket, and by all accounts been a “model citizen” of the ODI squad thus far.

In Potch, he even showed a pleasing tail-end willingness to club a “long ball” - an area which, as mentioned earlier, has become problematic.
But when your first three ODIs against minnow nations (one against Kenya, two Bangladesh) produce consecutive analyses of 10-0-53-1, 7-0-50-0 and 9-0-45-1, the jury is going to be firmly “out”, isn’t it?

Then again, he looked effective whenever he did find the famous “Polly length” just outside off-stump, and showed guts in coming back forcefully from a first-over hiding for 20 runs in Benoni. I have a hunch Louw might yet earn a ticket Down Under, even if concerns will accompany that passage.

The Proteas may make some big totals against the Aussie one-day side. But as things stand there’s a real danger the Australian scores may, more often than not, be even bigger …

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.