Big chance for two Proteas southpaws
WAYNE PARNELL seems to have struck form just at the right time as the Proteas T20 squad leaves for Bangladesh.
The Proteas have selected a rather inexperienced squad for the shortest format, with 25year-old Parnell and his 33 T20 international matches being the most senior member of the attack. Between them, Kyle Abbott (15), Kagiso Rabada (3), Bueran Hendricks (5) and Chris Morris (2) have a collective total of 25 T20I caps.
Coach Russell Domingo would therefore have been very pleased with the way Parnell – who had a forgettable World Cup – finished off his stint with Glamorgan in England’s T20 Blast on Sunday. The leftarmer claimed 2/33, but more importantly, held his nerve in a tense final over when he defended 12 runs to propel the Welsh side to a thrilling threerun victory.
With only four runs required off the last two balls, Parnell clean bowled Pakistan international Abdur Rehman before closing out the over with a dot ball to new batsman Max Waller.
Parnell has long been a favourite of T20 captain Faf du Plessis at the backend of the innings, with the left-armer being one of the few South African bowlers able to hit his yorkers with any degree of consistency.
Now that Charl Langeveldt has also been employed fulltime as South Africa’s bowling coach (replacing Allan Donald), Parnell will have a further opportunity to hone his skills on a regular basis with one of the best exponents of death bowling this country has ever produced.
All this bodes well for Parnell, who will look to establish himself as a T20 regular after years on the fringes in all formats with the national team. While everyone has long been aware of his all-round potential – he is very useful with the bat both at the top and lower end of the order – and his “X-factor” ability, the time has now come for the new Cape Cobras recruit to showcase his consistency by stringing together a few solid performances in a row.
There’s no doubt fellow leftarmer and Cobras teammate Hendricks will push Parnell for a place in the starting XI, although he too is on the comeback trail and trying to rebuild his career after a couple of long-term injuries.
Domingo will surely monitor both his left-armers closely during the Bangladesh series, especially as southpaws are all the rage in world cricket at the moment with Australia’s two Mitchells (Starc and Johnson), New Zealand’s Trent Boult and even Bangladesh’s own teenage sensation Mustafizur Rahman causing havoc whenever they let rip with the white ball.
With the World T20 in India lurking at the backend of this season, there should certainly be no lack of motivation for Parnell and Hendricks to put up their hands as South Africa’s “go-to” death bowlers.