How good would SA 'E' team be?

No 'Dog & Duck XI' for Proteas

    In exactly a month’s time South Africa will be playing the first of eight white-ball matches against Australia to begin their preparation for the World Cup, beginning with three T20 Internationals before onto the more contextually relevant ODIs.

    After the World Cup comes the financially critical tour by India which will keep the game afloat for the next three years while CSA hope the SA20 establishes its footing in solid cash to make the domestic game less reliant on the BCCI sending its national team to South Africa.

    India remains desperate to correct one of the few remaining ‘never have’ records in Test cricket by winning the two-Test ‘series’ against the Proteas – they managed a 1-1 share in 2010-11 but have lost the other seven.

    But for understandable reasons, to me at least, it is what happens after that which remains uppermost in my mind. Just on the off chance it leads to the end of Test cricket as a serious commodity, not just in South Africa but in several others, too.

    In case you missed the last column, or the news regarding the Proteas’ two-Test series against New Zealand scheduled for February next year, a short re-cap: CSA accepted a three-match itinerary presented by New Zealand Cricket many months ago. It included a warm-up match starting on January 29 and Test matches in Mount Maunganui from February 4-8 and Hamilton from 13-17.

    Just to clarify. It is not only nationally contracted players (the ‘big names’) whose availability CSA have guaranteed to the SA20 league, but ALL South African players. Which means 58 of the country’s best players, all be it many of them white-ball specialists, would be unavailable for selection for the Tests.  

     NZC will not, rightly, consider rescheduling their domestic summer which is as tightly packed as every other country’s. And there is even less chance of the SA20 directorship agreeing to squeeze the tournament in order to allow a full-strength squad sufficient time to travel and acclimatise in New Zealand.

    For those who did read the previous column, hopelessness may have set in. Apologies for that. While the body is warm, there is always hope. Imagine that South Africa pick a ‘Moneyball’ squad of hasbeens, wannabees and couldavbeens, and actually win – or maybe draw the series in New Zealand.

    Such an unlikely event might enable them to persuade the rest of the Test-playing nations that they do, in fact, still value the format and that they will do everything in their power to prevent such a clash happening again in the future. (That will be difficult with Pakistan due to visit South Africa for a full, multi-format tour at the same time in 2024-25.)

    South Africa’s predicament, and the way the administration may be perceived if they do send a ‘D’ of ‘E’ team to New Zealand, has been made all the more depressing by watching the quality of Test cricket on display during the Ashes for the last month or so. And the fact that, just a decade ago, the Proteas were the best team in the world having played Test cricket to an ever greater standard than England and Australia for much of the decade which preceded their rise to number one.

    So to help pass the time while watching Stuart Broad for the last time at the Oval, I consulted ‘The Wizz’, my old friend Andrew Samson, who has more knowledge about this great game than I can ever hope to acquire and with whom I have been fortunate enough to have shared many a commentary box. I asked him to help me select a possible squad. You may be surprised by who and what is available. Remember, nobody with an SA20 contract is available.

    The attack might be led by Duanne Olivier who has 59 wickets from 15 Tests at an average of 21.9. Lutho Sipamla has 11 wickets from three Tests at 22.3 and Glenton Stuurman played his solitary Test in New Zealand just 18 months ago, albeit for a match return of 1-124.

    Beyers Swanepoel may the most exciting, young all-rounder in the country with 100 wickets at 17.8 and a batting average of 29.5 with a highest score of 188* from 24 first-class matches. Left-armer seamer Kwena Maphaka has played just a single first-class game (for SA ‘A’ in Sri Lanka last month) but he, too, is immensely exciting. Sink or swim. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough.

    Left arm spinner, Sean Whitehead, hit the headlines when he took 10-36 in an innings for SWD last season, the 13^th best figures ever, but with 74 wickets at 23.3 and a batting average of 37.7 with two hundreds, he is no one-hit wonder. Or perhaps Thomas Kaber’s left-arm wrist spin?

Possible Squad: Dean Elgar (captain), Tony de Zorzi, Keegan Petersen, Stiaan van Zyl, Zubayr Hamza, Khaya Zondo, Raynard van Tonder, Sinethemba Qeshile (wk), Rivaldo Moonsamy (wk), Lutho Sipamla, Glenton Stuurman, Duanne Olivier, Beyers Swanepoel, Sean Whitehead, Kwena Maphaka,

Other possibilities:

Rudi Second, Ziyaad Abrahams, Eldred Hawken, Thomas Kaber, Joshua Richards, Dominic Hendricks, Jason Smith, Tsepo Ndwandwa.

Could they be tempted?

Dane Paterson, Kyle Abbott, Leus du Plooy, David Bedingham, Hashim Amla…