Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer

Cape Town – Ashwell Prince may well be scratching his head, wondering whether he has been handed a garland or a hand grenade.

Tuesday’s announcement that the Proteas vice-captain had been tasked with leading the humbled team in the dead-rubber third Test against Australia at Newlands next week was accompanied by the proviso that he also open the batting – overwhelmingly foreign territory to him.

For the Warriors left-hander, this is a bit like earning a last-minute upgrade to business class for a long-haul flight but then discovering that your flat-bed seat isn’t working.

There had been some speculation, understandably, that the pack of cards would be shuffled to ensure that Prince could reoccupy the No 5 position he had served with great distinction up to his unfortunate thumb injury on the eve of the first Test of the away series against the Aussies in Perth.

Instead the national selectors have made it clear that he is earmarked to share first-strike duty with debutant Imraan Khan, 24, the in-form Dolphins player.

Khan has been in prolific SuperSport Series touch this summer although ironically this supposed all-rounder’s off-spin career has more or less ceased to exist.

The other newcomer to a 12-man squad, with Neil McKenzie and Morne Morkel the casualties for the fiascos that were the Johannesburg and Durban Tests, is Prince’s Warriors team-mate Wayne Parnell, still only 19.

The fast-medium bowler, who showed some promise in occasional limited-overs opportunities for South Africa in Australia, has played only 10 first-class matches for 26 wickets at a so-so average of 31.00, so there is some risk attached to his inclusion.

That said, he may not even crack the starting nod in Cape Town as it may well be between him and Albie Morkel, Morne’s older brother, for one place in the attack.

A personal wish is that Morkel finally gets a stab at the Test arena in a match ripe for experimentation now, even if his own credentials as a first-class seam bowler are not wholly convincing; he is more renowned as a one-day customer.

In his favour is that he would bring a much-needed, dynamic-hitting injection – probably at No 8 -- to an unacceptably lengthy Proteas Test tail, which has been exposed by the Baggy Greens’ bowlers on South Africa’s often less-than-true pitches.
Prince faces a tough task at the top of the order against a remarkably rejuvenated Aussie pace attack in which Peter Siddle is now not very far behind the fiery Mitchell Johnson in “handful” terms.

It is true that Prince has often encountered the second new ball from his more customary middle-innings role, but that is still rather different from tackling it at the very outset.

Ironically he is now going the way of the axed McKenzie, who had made the Test move from a lower spot to the front strikingly successfully until this season, where he has looked scratchy and vulnerable both away and home against the Australians.

Prince may be just a little miffed that it is he who makes the challenging switch to ensure that positions three to six – incumbents Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers and JP Duminy respectively – are not tampered with.

But at least he has his rightful spot back in the team, and that’s a good start.

Now he has to show simultaneously that he is the right stuff as an acting leader in Graeme Smith’s absence; he performed the role in Sri Lanka a few years ago when Smith was also out of action and, at the time, was only too happy to give it back – he said as much himself.

Now we will gauge whether he is more assured in the leadership berth…