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My understanding is that he has overcome the key obstacle of proving his fitness sufficiently for consideration – expect, thus, his known, huge value to the Proteas’ ODI cause to be deemed enough of a passport to the tournament, even given the risk associated with his lengthy stint on the sidelines.
Selection convenor Andrew Hudson will reveal the 15-strong party for the Champions Trophy at Newlands, accompanied by coach Gary Kirsten and manager Dr Mohammed Moosajee.
Duminy has reportedly already been batting without discomfort at nets and will take another important rehabilitative step very shortly when he also starts bowling his off-spinners again.
The little left-hander has been out of action since early November, when he tore an Achilles tendon in a freak “warm-down” accident after day one of the first Test against Australia at Brisbane, without even having actually taken to the crease yet.
Less than ideally – but still typically of modern international scheduling – South Africa will play just one cobwebs-easing match against relative minnows the Netherlands (though it appears it will carry official ODI status) at Amstelveen on May 31, before their first group game against India at Cardiff on June 6.
Several Proteas players will enter the swansong Champions Trophy off a few weeks of idleness since Pakistan’s visit – SA won the ODI series 3-2 – though various others have been active in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 jamboree.
Duminy will certainly start the tournament a lot more “cold” than the rest, but it is presumably hoped the 94-capper (batting average 40.01 and strike rate a brisk 83.60) will recapture his mojo pretty quickly – quite a few class acts do, occasionally even revelling in the mental refreshment that comes with an enforced layoff.
It is unlikely that the squad will contain any notable surprises, even if somebody like Chris Morris, the Lions lower-order all-rounder, is sticking his hand up for “BMT” at present in the rather different environment of the IPL for Chennai Super Kings – he has two T20 international caps but not yet 50-overs recognition.
If the selectors opt for the “stability” route, they may simply name en masse the 14 players initially chosen to do duty against Pakistan recently (though Kyle Abbott and Quinton de Kock were later added), plus veteran all-rounder and still automatic selection Jacques Kallis, who was rested for that series.
Under those circumstances, the party would be: AB de Villiers (capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Rory Kleinveldt, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Robin Peterson, Aaron Phangiso, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
A personal preference would be to omit Phangiso (the side already has a specialist left-arm spinner in long-serving first-choice Robin Peterson) and squeeze in the stroke-playing phenomenon De Kock, who also usefully doubles as a second wicketkeeper should mishap suddenly befall De Villiers.
Given the relatively early-summer scheduling of the Champions Trophy in the UK, the selectors may also see fit to lighten the batting a little – Ingram might be the casualty if that happens? – and beef up the seam arsenal even more.
In that case Abbott or the wildcard Morris could be a beneficiary.
*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing
