Henk Steenkamp

Port Elizabeth - Cricket captains will in future turn to their spin bowlers as soon as JP Duminy comes out to bat.

However, that will not be the case at Newlands on Wednesday night in the second game of the one semi-final in the Standard Bank Pro20 Series.

Duminy will not be in the Cobras’ line-up for the match against the Warriors due to the hand injury that he sustained with the South African cricket team in India.

If Warriors off-spinner Johan Botha and let-arm spinner Nicky Bojé were licking their lips in anticipation of bowling at Duminy, they will have to wait for another time.

Duminy batted five times on the tour of India and was dismissed leg before wicket on each occasion. This includes the two-day training game at the start of the tour.

He batted three times in the two Tests and was dismissed lbw by spinner Harbhajan Singh every time.

Duminy will hope he is not dismissed in similar fashion when he bats again.

According to statistician Andrew Samson there are two batsmen in first-class cricket to have been dismissed lbw seven successive times.

They are Vishal Bhatia (for Himachal Pradesh and North Zone) between December 2003 and November 2004, as well as Alester Maregwede (for Zimbabwe under-23 and the Southerns) between November 2005 and May 2007.

Samson said he could determine whether the same umpires were involved in the lbw decisions, but he believes it’s highly unlikely that the same umpire would rule against a batsman in the same way over an extended period.

Duminy can at least take heart from that.