Melbourne – Over the next few weeks, the reports and reviews of South Africa’s performance at the 2015 World Cup will be conducted by Cricket SA as they seek to unlock why, despite the resources thrown at the national team, they again come up short in the tournament.
At some stage, too, eyes must begin to turn to the future.
It is, of course, way too early to start building to the next World Cup in 2019. There is far too much cricket to be played – across all formats – and, of course, the look of the South African team is likely to change over the next few years.
There will be some questions over the future of the core of this year’s squad: Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, Morné Morkel, JP Duminy and Dale Steyn will, in likelihood, keep going with their international career for the next two years at least.
However, another World Cup would be beyond the majority of that group, who will be aged between 34 and 36 by the time the next it rolls around.
The tears at Eden Park were understandable in that context.
As a group, that six have come a long way together and achieved historic success for South Africa, particularly in the Test arena.
However, with lucrative IPL offers, not to mention contracts with T20 competitions in England and Australia, their future international commitments will be toned down. Following Tuesday’s defeat in Auckland, selection convener Andrew Hudson, who may not be around in that position in four years’ time either, talked about taking stock but then also mapping a way forward.
The South African Under-19 team’s victory in their World Cup last year provides reason for optimism in that the foundation for building the next national team does exist.
Of course, it’s impossible that all those players involved in that triumph will be successful professional cricketers, but a few individuals have started making an impression at senior level – none more so than Kagiso Rabada, who is currently atop the wicket-taking charts in the Sunfoil Series. Still only 19, Rabada, who’s already had a taste of the international arena in the T20 format, is set to become one of South Africa’s most important cricketers over the next decade.
Fast bowlers are extremely valuable, black fast bowlers even more so. Just at this stage for Cricket SA, having a prominent black African player is crucial and they’ve suggested as much with new quota demands for the franchise teams reported last week.
A staggering statistic for Cricket SA to consider, which will jolt their development initiatives, is that of the last 17 World Cup matches South Africa have played, only once has a black African player started – Lonwabo Tsotsobe in a “dead rubber” against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2011.
The moves to fast-track black talent are crucial in ensuring that in 2019, the team is more demographically representative of the country.
That said, a new core for the squad will emerge, too. At this stage, though, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to look at David Miller and Rilee Rossouw, who performed extremely well in this year’s tournament, as being a key part of the senior group in 2019, as will Kyle Abbott, so desperately unlucky to miss out on a starting spot at Eden Park.
Quinton de Kock, poor this year, must take the lessons from this tournament and apply them to his game as he grows into an international player.
On the domestic scene, there are a number of players for whom the next two years will be vital as they seek to put their hands up ahead of the start of the next World Cup cycle. Reeza Hendricks, David Wiese, Rabada, Marchant de Lange, Mthokozisi Shezi, Temba Bavuma and Beuran Hendricks are all among a younger crop of players who have played some international cricket and must now produce performances to start cementing their international positions.
Beyond that, players such as Theunis de Bruyn at the Titans and Khaya Zondo at the Dolphins must start doing the same. – The Sunday Independent