Fast bowling conundrum for Proteas selectors
‘BIO-BUBBLE’ requirements mean the Proteas Test squad is a big one – 21 players – but in reality there is only one major question to be asked about the composition of the starting XI for the first Test against India. Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada will start – provided they are fit. The question, for selection convener Victor Mpitsang and his panel is: Who will be the third frontline seamer in the attack?
Logic dictates that the selectors back form, and there is no bowler in better form now than Duanne Olivier. He is the leading wicket-taker in the domestic Four-Day Series, with 28 wickets at an obscene average of 11.14. He’s a different bowler to the one, most South African – and even Indian – fans will remember. In 2019 before signing that Kolpak contract with Yorkshire, Olivier scared the daylights out of Pakistan by bouncing them out. He took 24 wickets in that three-match series, and a reputation was entrenched.
But teammates at the Lions and Olivier himself, have claimed he’s a different bowler now. He needed to adapt to be more successful in England, and analysed Jimmy Anderson – who better? – so that he could make the necessary changes to his style and importantly strategy.
He still enjoys bowling the bouncer, but now uses it more judiciously, even at the Wanderers – which will host the second Test against India.
“For now at the Wanderers, if you’re too short, I don’t think it is that effective, where if you’re fuller and test the bastmen’s technique all the time, I think you’ll pick up more rewards that way,” he said in a recent interview with Independent Media.
For the selectors, who understandably retained the core of the group that won in the Caribbean earlier this year, it will come down to either rewarding Olivier’s form, or backing Lungi Ngidi, who hasn’t bowled for five months. Sisanda Magala has a strong case too having taken 15 wickets as part of that potent Lions attack this season, while Glenton Stuurman remains one of the most consistent performers, backing up the last couple of seasons with more good bowling this summer.
But only 11 can start, and in Nortje, Rabada and Olivier, Proteas skipper Dean Elgar will have an explosive arsenal that will keep India under relentless pressure.
The Proteas squad will gather on December 18. The three-match Test series will start at SuperSport Park on Boxing Day.
PROTEAS SQUAD: Dean Elgar (capt), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Wiaan Mulder, Quinton de Kock, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Duanne Olivier, Sarel Erwee, Beuran Hendricks, George Linde, Marco Jansen, Glenton Stuurman, Kyle Verreynne, Lungi Ngidi, Prenelan Subrayen, Sisanda Magala, Ryan Rickelton