Port Elizabeth – There are many folktales within South African soccer of players visiting traditional healers to protect themselves from injury. Well, at the moment, the Proteas cricket team may consider making a trip to the local sangoma considering the ill-luck they have encountered on the injury front recently.
Left-arm spinner Robin Peterson is the latest to suffer a setback. He sustained a cut to his left index finger during training yesterday, forcing him to have three stitches and is out of the second Test against the West Indies starting on Friday.
Peterson, who was only originally recalled to the Test squad due to Dane Piedt still recuperating from a shoulder injury, joins Quinton de Kock (ankle) and JP Duminy (knee) on the sidelines. Faf du Plessis had a viral infection during the first Test last week at Centurion while De Kock’s replacement Rilee Rossouw did not play the last round of Sunfoil Series fixtures due to a finger injury.
“You go through cycles of not having any injuries and then all of a sudden you have a few. We’ve been very unfortunate in the last while. We’ve got quite an important tournament coming up – the World Cup – so we hope that’s it for injuries for now,’ Du Plessis said yesterday.
Captain Hashim Amla and coach Russell Domingo were seen in earnest conversation at training yesterday for they have certainly been left with a conundrum in regards to the spin bowling crisis.
The problem is exacerbated due to Duminy’s unavailability as the all-rounder performed the majority of the slow bowling duties in the last Test played in Port Elizabeth eight months ago. Opening batsmen Dean Elgar has the ability to turn his left arm over but an SOS has now been sent to the discarded Imran Tahir. The leg-spinner showed that he has some first-class form when he claimed six wickets last week for the Dolphins.
Piedt’s recuperation period is over, but the 24-year-old has been left to gain more match practice with the Cape Cobras this weekend in Paarl before he will be considered for the national side. The national selection panel also resisted the temptation to call up local boy Simon Harmer, despite the off-spinner being well-versed in the conditions at St George’s Park.
This could possibly be due to Andrew Hudson and Co likely to hand a second batsman a Test debut in consecutive Tests after Stiaan van Zyl last week. The classy Van Zyl celebrated his call-up with a stylish ton, and the selection panel will hope either of Temba Bavuma or Rossouw will grasp their opportunity in similar fashion this week.
Rossouw was not at training yesterday and will only join up with the squad – along with Tahir – today in Port Elizabeth.
Conversely, the West Indies have far greater troubles to find possible solutions to over the course of this week. Besides their batting unit being particularly brittle at SuperSport, they have lost ace fast bowler Kemar Roach for the remainder of the Test series.
Roach was the only Windies bowler to consistently trouble the Proteas batsman, especially Du Plessis who was caught behind for a duck off the Bajan, and South Africa’s No3 certainly believes he will be missed this week. “He was their best bowler in the first Test without a shadow of doubt, so he’ll be a huge loss for them,” he said.
Squads for St George’s Park
South Africa: Hashim Amla (captain), AB de Villiers (wk), Alviro Petersen, Dean Elgar, Faf du Plessis, Stiaan van Zyl, Rilee Rossouw, Vernon Philander, Imran Tahir, Dale Steyn, Morné Morkel, Temba Bavuma, Kyle Abbott, Kagiso Rabada
West Indies: Denesh Ramdin (capt, wk), Sulieman Benn, Jermaine Blackwood, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sheldon Cottrell, Narsingh Deonarine, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Leon Johnson, Kenroy Peters, Marlon Samuels, Devon Smith, Jerome Taylor, Chadwick Walton
Start:10am; TV: SS2, SSHD, SABC3; Radio: Radio2000
Umpires: Paul Reiffel (Aus), Billy Bowden (NZ) - The Star