Proteas skipper’s poor form in the spotlight

THE Proteas’ post-match debrief following the first one-day international against India would have been largely positive given the outcome, but the match was by no means a flawless performance, with concerns remaining over the form of skipper Temba Bavuma, and now, weirdly, Tabraiz Shamsi.

The South Africa and India teams yesterday headed to the north-eastern city of Ranchi – home to Indian legend Mahendra Singh Dhoni – for tomorrow’s second ODI in the three-match series.

South Africa did what it had to in attaining 10 points for the win and providing a modicum of aid to their parlous standing on the ICC World Super League log.

However, the South Africans remain well adrift of eighth spot, which would ensure automatic qualification for next year’s World Cup in India.

And with next year’s series against England – another they have to win – taking place at the same time as the new SA20 league, a spot in the pre-qualifying competition in Zimbabwe seems inevitable.

Still, the players need to push out platitudes about qualification as Heinrich Klaasen did after Thursday’s win.

“We need to win nine out of nine matches to maybe have a chance,” he said.

“To make next year’s World Cup by just qualifying (automatically) is going to be very hard. We are definitely going to try.”

Klaasen threw in a line about the importance of playing for the jersey, but also provided a much more realistic take on the team’s ambitions for the next few weeks.

“The focus is on the T20 World Cup coming up now and this (series) is part of the building process for that,” Klaasen remarked.

In that regard, he did his own chances of breaking into the starting team for that tournament no harm with a well-constructed 74 not out off 65 balls, helping to rescue his side from a precarious position at 110/4 to an ultimately winning score of 249/4 in a rain-reduced 40-overs per side encounter.

The Proteas’ form player David Miller provided assistance with an unbeaten 75 off 63 balls as part of a partnership of 139 runs.

However, if, as Klaasen said, this ODI series is part of the “building process” for Australia, then the struggles of Bavuma and Shamsi are concerning.

The Proteas captain has faced 31 deliveries in four matches on the team’s tour of India since returning from injury, scored 11 runs and hit two fours in the process.

It’s a dreadful position for him to be in, only made worse by the fact that an in-form player in Reeza Hendricks can’t get a starting spot and the whole 50-over World Cup qualification has had to play second fiddle for the SA20 competition, a tournament he wasn’t picked to play in.

Because he is captain, Bavuma will be given every opportunity to find confidence, but with South Africa’s first match of the T20 World Cup just over two weeks away, and only tomorrow and Tuesday’s two ODIs and then a couple of warm-up matches on the schedule, time is running out.

Shamsi’s case is almost as serious.

A mere 18 months after first becoming the number one T20 bowler in the world, the leftarm wrist spinner – now ranked fifth in that format – has been deemed surplus to requirements when South Africa have decided to play with just one front line spinner.

Shamsi remains a wicket-taking threat in the T20 format, as his 5/24 against England in July showed, but he can also be erratic and a target for opposition batters, as illustrated by Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson in Lucknow.

While no one is asking that he set aside his attacking outlook, the Proteas can’t afford for him to be smashed to the tune of 89 runs in eight overs, as was the case in the first ODI.

Greater consistency and control must be among his goals, allied to his wicket-taking ability.

The second ODI starts at 10am tomorrow.