Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Riddled by injuries and their collective reputations dented over the course of the first two World Cup matches, these are strangely unstable times for South Africa’s pace attack.
So what’s the remedial approach, at least in the all-important short-term, as their challenge for a semi-final berth already hangs by a fraying rope?
They could do a lot worse, especially considering the fitness uncertainties around Dale Steyn and Lungi Ngidi and the suspicion that others aren’t at optimal levels, than change tack substantially and put a heavier emphasis on spin for vital game three - the challenging opportunity to finally break their duck against India at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday (11:30 SA time).
In other words, to introduce left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi to their plans as a specialist partner for evergreen Imran Tahir.
There was a well-staffed clamour on social media among some past Proteas, as the team gradually unravelled against Bangladesh at The Oval on Sunday, for a higher emphasis on spin even if Shamsi’s involvement wasn’t specifically mentioned in every Twitter missive.
Their ranks included perhaps the most iconic SA spin bowler in post-isolation Tests, Paul “Gogga” Adams, and a more recent stalwart in Robin Peterson.
Adams said spin could play a “massive role” in getting the Proteas back on track, while Peterson observed: “I think we need to start playing Shamsi somehow … not sure why the reluctance after seeing (England’s) Adil Rashid get something out of The Oval surface last game.”
There would be some risks involved, not least because Shamsi is simply another member of the Proteas’ CWC squad who is a little short of recent match play: he bowled only five match overs at any level during the month of May, against Sri Lanka at Cardiff in the (non-ODI-status) World Cup warm-up match.
Yes, the 29-year-old was also among the prolific ranks of the SA “walking wounded” ahead of the tournament-proper, nursing a back injury that he is supposedly now clear of.
But if a more determined wish to take pace off the ball, as they say, is deemed the right recuperative tonic for the Proteas at the Southampton venue, then they could do worse than beef up their frontline spin arsenal - and that despite the known ease, so often, of Indian stroke-players against the turning trade.
Just one reason why pairing Shamsi with the more established Tahir seems attractive is that the spin part-timers, batsmen JP Duminy and Aiden Markram, have had desperately little impact thus far.
The vastly more experienced Duminy’s figures, following the England and Bangladesh matches, read 2-0-14-0 and 1-0-10-0 respectively, and fellow off-spinner Markram’s 3-0-16-0 and 5-0-38-0.
Does the heavier use of the latter suggest that Duminy’s right shoulder is still not back at 100 percent? We are probably entitled to speculate on that score, such is the broad medical cloud around the national team.
But whatever the truth regarding the seasoned middle-order batsman, better spin back-up for Tahir might just bring reward at the Rose Bowl.
The ground - where the Proteas have two wins and one loss previously in ODIs - does have a reputation for assisting spinners even if a glance at the last match there, when England pipped Pakistan by 12 runs in a hugely high-scoring affair on May 11, might not suggest it.
The host nation fielded both of off-spinner Moeen Ali and leggie Rashid, and each bowled full 10-over allocations … although Ali travelled for 66 runs and Rashid an even less flattering 81 for a haul of one wicket apiece.
But in the previous ODI there, against West Indies in 2017, they were considerably more influential, sending down 20 strangling overs between them at a cost of only 78 runs and again for a strike in the wicket column by each player.
England, in fact, have played both Ali and Rashid in all of their last five ODIs at the Rose Bowl, which must say something about anticipated conditions there a lot of the time.
With Steyn seemingly in a risk-laden race against time to be ready for the Indian clash and Ngidi officially confirmed as a non-starter due to his horribly inconvenient hamstring problem, Shamsi being a straight selection swap for the latter might be a shrewd course of action - even if it goes against head coach Ottis Gibson’s penchant for ensuring a generous pace battery.
So far, anyway, that approach sadly hasn’t worked.
*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing
