Comment: Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer

Cape Town – Howlers were in acceptably short supply when the national selectors named several Proteas squads for looming engagements across several formats this week.

There can be few quibbles over the Test squad for the West Indies tour, with the panel basically giving a vote of confidence to the players who earned a tidy enough 1-1 outcome against top-ranked India away.

And we cannot pass conclusive judgement on the 18-strong list revealed for the ICC World Twenty20, as it is yet to be whittled down to the required 15 for the tournament.

The confirmed ODI squad for the extended Caribbean venture does, however, concern me a little in one fairly vital area: the lower-order batting. Or rather, lack of it, by my book.

The depth of the West Indies’ modern predicament in the world pecking order remains depressing and unenviable, and South Africa really ought to see them off despite the slow-death complexities lurking in various pitches across that region.

But, with slightly more distant World Cup thoughts in mind, I am worried that power-hitting down the order in the 50-overs format – that is, the acceleration and boundary-seeking skills of those employed from, say, No 7 down – is a department a little dangerously disregarded.

In short, who is going to “finish” at the crease? Unless one of the stronger-striking specialist batsmen is still out there – and this is often a keen objective in ODIs, it is true – I fear the Proteas, as presently constituted, may come up short on whirlwind batting in, broadly speaking, the tail.

To me, the squad looks a tad too much as though it is made up of lots of good batsmen and lots of competent bowlers, with only the continuously amazing Jacques Kallis as a real-deal all-rounder, comfortably fitting both caps.

While I do appreciate the dilemma consistently faced because Albie Morkel’s bowling has become something not far off a liability in run-concession terms, I might personally not have been so swift to remove the Titans player entirely from the plans, given his proven ability to give the ball an old-fashioned “bliksem”, if you like, at the end of an innings.

Or, if no Morkel, my temptation would have been to go the whole hog and restore Justin Kemp not only to T20 contention, as has just happened, but also to the ODI mix for the West Indies, where his wobbly little seamers on spongy surfaces could aid the cause for four or five overs and his ability to go “long” at the crease is not in any question.

Run through the South African squad and you may fear, as I do, that batting momentum could suddenly “stop” after Mark Boucher’s deployment at No 7 or sometimes even six.

There will be heaps of bowlers after that with no massively proven international credentials as freakish, match-tilting hitters: their swollen ranks would roughly include Johan Botha, Ryan McLaren, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Roelof van der Merwe.

Several of these, of course, can do a good bit more than “hold a bat” … but I do stress the term “proven” as pertinent to my case.

A year or so ago, Van der Merwe (back on song at his main trade, which is encouraging) looked as though he might hold some answers as a dynamic batting presence, but he has arguably been found out a little in that area – just not temperate enough in shot selection.

Pace spearhead Steyn, by contrast, is developing a pleasing little knack of smacking the ball cleanly, high and pretty straight, although doing it in the pressured environment of a delicately-balanced ODI is quite another matter at this point.

In a nutshell, I feel South Africa come up short right now in terms of known, half-decent sloggers …