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AB de Villiers

Wellington - South Africa are a team more interested in the “processes” than the results. That will take care of itself if they follow – yes, you guessed it – the processes.

It is a strategy they had already adopted at the World Cup under former coach Corrie van Zyl. And they firmly believe that, if not for their meltdown in Dhaka, it would have served them well right through to the final.

Under new coach Gary Kirsten this philosophy has been entrenched even further. Limited-overs captain AB de Villiers is also a great disciple of this mantra. In De Villiers’ case, it does make sense considering he will only be leading the Proteas for the second time in an ODI series against the Black Caps starting in Wellington tomorrow.

He wants time to adjust to his new role and to also identify which players respond best to him in various circumstances. Kirsten adopted a similar stance during his first two ODI series since being appointed last June.

For Kirsten, though, the time is approaching where he needs to, in conjunction with De Villiers, find something close to a settled South African line-up. It is an unlikely scenario if Kirsten’s track record with India is anything to go by where he rested senior players consistently.

Veteran all-rounder Jacques Kallis fits into this category for South Africa and after recharging the batteries for the past couple of weeks at home, he is now ready to play a full role in the ODI series.

“I think the rotation policy is good. Besides giving us a rest, we are finding new players, and they’ve come in and taken their opportunities. That’s a really positive for our cricket because when the younger guys come in, it’s not such a major step for them,” Kallis said.

Kirsten reiterated his feeling on this subject yesterday, and has a great belief that this is the way forward for South African cricket.

“It (rotational policy) is working nicely, obviously from a team perspective it makes provision for us to rest players and look at other individuals,” Kirsten said. “We are getting to a stage where a guy like Jacques can’t be expected to play every game. He has had a 17-year career and things are catching up with him. The charge doesn’t quite go up so high anymore if you want to use that analogy, but I am really excited about the opportunities it allows to grow our depth.”

Two of the young players who form part of the “process” are Richard Levi and Marchant de Lange.

Both performed heroics at various times during the Twenty20 series with bat and ball respectively, but are back on the outskirts of the ODI squad. Levi has already returned home, while De Lange remains in New Zealand as part of the Test squad only.

It is instead the “middle-core” – as convenor of selectors Andrew Hudson likes to call them – that must assist Kirsten in moving closer to “first-choice” XI. It is the likes of Faf du Plessis, Albie Morkel, Justin Ontong and Wayne Parnell who must utilise their opportunities like Levi and De Lange have done previously on this tour.

It is especially a big tour for Du Plessis. The stylish right-hander has a few scores to settle with the Black Caps after the incident in the World Cup quarter-final last year, and there’s little doubt that Tim Southee will target the Titans star.

Kirsten, though, stressed it is unlikely that Du Plessis or any of the other players for that matter, would be intimidated, or worse yet, be caught up in a war of words with the Kiwis.

“Our focus here has been on playing cricket and to play as aggressively as we can, but to get our processes right. It’s not necessarily about the talking and there’s a lot made of it, and really, the team that’s been talking the most are the New Zealanders,” Kirsten said. - Saturday Star