Plenty of ODI questions for the
SOUTH AFRICA have only won four One Day Internationals in Sri Lanka, two of those coming in the first series win for the Proteas in that country four years ago, with a certain AB de Villiers making a match winning century in the decider.
It’s 2018 and De Villiers’ international retirement has left an enormous hole in the South African batting unit, that maybe even harder to fill in the limited overs side than was the case with the Test team, who just suffered a couple of embarrassing defeats.
Under coach Ottis Gibson and national selection convener Linda Zondi’s guidance, the South African ODI team is in the midst of a period of experimentation with an eye on finding the best squad to take to the Waorld Cup next year. Their strategy was knocked severely off kilter when De Villiers quit earlier this year. A lot of South African plans in the 50-over format were built around him and those plans have largely been consigned to the scrapheap as the side look to create a successful formula with players lacking De Villiers’ supernatural skillset.
Firstly there’s the fairly simple question about who will bat at No 4: does Dave Miller get given more responsibility by moving up the order or is his spot as ‘finisher’ too important at No 6? Is another attempt made to try and revitalise JP Duminy? What about Aiden Markram, who in his brief ODI career has opened the innings four times, batted at No 3 once and at 4 twice, where he made his best score of 66 on debut against Bangladesh? Heinrich Klaasen’s performances against India last summer means he merits consideration too.
There are pros an cons for each of those players in what is shaping up to be another trial by spin in Sri Lanka. The hosts, who will be led by Angelo Mathews, have picked three frontline spinners in their squad although its unlikely pitches for the five ODIs will be as dry as was the case in the two Tests.
Whatever the state of the surfaces however, the Sri Lankans would have noted how much South Africa struggled in their previous ODI series against Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav who picked up 33 wickets between them in India’s 5-1 series thrashing of the Proteas last summer.
In the broader World Cup picture both teams would also have glanced at the recent series between England and India and noted the important role spin played in the outcome there Yadav and England’s Adil Rashid were the leading wicket-takers in that short series - perhaps an indicator as to what awaits the players in 2019.
Aside from facing spin, how Faf du Plessis utilises his spinners will be of importance too. South Africa’s selectors chose not to include Imran Tahir for the series, stating they knew what they had with him. Keshav Maharaj, one of the few bright spots from the Test matches, will be given the chance to add to his two ODI caps with the selectors wanting to see how he might combine with Tabraiz Shamsi, who also lacks experience at the highest level having played just seven ODIs.
The other combination that Gibson, Zondi and Du Plessis will want to assess is how Andile Phehlukwayo and Wiaan Mulder may fit into the same starting team. Phehlukwayo has quickly made himself a key component of the one-day side with his flamboyant batting helping win games against Australia and India, while his ‘death’ bowling deserves more of look at international level than has been the case in the two years he’s been a part of the team.
With Chris Morris recovering from injury, Mulder gets a chance to show why Gibson is such a big fan of his.
The South Africans will face a local Board XI in Colombo today. The first ODI will be played in the central city of Dambullah on Sunday.