Big boots for Dwaine to fill

Wellington – The definition of a true all-rounder is a player who can be selected on either his batting or bowling ability alone and through the years South Africa have been blessed with multi-talented cricketers fitting this bill.

Following in the footsteps of the great “Jacks-of-all-Trades’’ in Brian McMillan, Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener, the Proteas have more recently unearthed a whole new generation of all-rounders in Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius (above), all of whom have shown their class with match-winning performances over the last two seasons.

Pretorius, the newest member of the club, made 50 runs off 27 balls with the bat and took 2/40 with the ball in only his sixth one-day international against New Zealand in Christchurch on Wednesday, suggesting he has the potential to fill capably both roles.

The 27-year-old boasts a firstclass average of 42 along with 127 wickets after 39 matches, and has already earned a Man-of-theMatch performance with 3/19 against Sri Lanka in the third ODI earlier this month.

Although the valiant performances from Pretorius and Phehlukwayo (29 off 34 balls) were not enough to take the team across the line in Christchurch, it will be a positive fall-back.

“I think we did a really good job at the end there, myself and Andy (Phehlukwayo),” Pretorius said.