Select the best team for the job, Simons urges Proteas selectors
● Former Proteas coach Eric Simons says key SA players in the Indian Premier League must regain their places in the team but there must be respect and proper communication with those who stood in for them.
Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje and Marco Jansen missed SA’s 2-0 Test series win over Bangladesh recently due to their IPL commitments.
Injuries and form permitting, they will be available for selection when the Test side returns to action with a three-match series against England away from home during August and September.
In the absence of the six IPL players, the likes of Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Lizaad Williams, Duanne Olivier and Simon Harmer raised their hands with notable performances against the Tigers.
Against England, who will have a new captain after Joe Root stepped down from that position this week, the Proteas thinktank will be faced with a selection poser of whether to bring back the IPL contingent or go for continuity.
Simons, who is the bowling consultant for the Chennai Super Kings at the ongoing IPL, said SA must always play the best available players.
“I would always want to play the best team and to me you cannot leave players like Rabada, Nortje and Ngidi out when they are fit, it just wouldn’t make sense,” he told Sunday Times this week.
“If it was my job, my objective going into the process would be that those players who are the best must come back when they are available. But I will make sure that there is proper communication and discussions with those who replaced them and those coming back.
“I will make sure that a player like Williams, who bowled wonderfully against Bangladesh and did a great job, understands his role and sees it as a positive and an opportunity. It is how you deal with it that’s im portant. Someone like Sarel (Erwee), Duanne (Olivier) came in and they got the opportunity but they must look at this from a positive perspective.”
Simons said sentiment must be absent when decisions are taken. “Sometimes you have to put sentiment aside and decide what is best for the team. I think if the communication is there and it is honest enough, you can still pick your best team.
“As long as guys know where they stand, that’s what they ask for and I think that is very important. The reality of a sportsman’s life is that dealing with these kinds of situations is what makes you. It is easy to deal with success but dealing with these challenges is what really makes you.”
Looking ahead to the series against England, Simons said players must acclimatise to conditions and playing with the Dukes ball. “One of the big things about playing in England, particularly for SA cricketers, is that you are playing against 11 players but also against the conditions.
“We don’t play there a lot and it is a tough place to play cricket with the Dukes ball which behaves differently to the Kookaburra ball. All those things are challenges that you have to face and it is going to be tough against the English.
“In some respects, India used to be tougher for us than England but I think England has become a tougher challenge because we don’t go there too often.”
SA returns to action with a five-match T20 series against India away from home in June and the following month they travel to England for three ODIs, T20s and Tests.
The Proteas will squeeze in T20s against Ireland while they are in England.