Robin Peterson believes South Africa’s limited overs sides will face some significant challenges against India in the two series there over the next few weeks, but while the Test side will fare better, he is perplexed by the make up of the spin quota in the five-day squad.
Peterson who played one Test (2004) and 10 ODIs in India, said yesterday the Proteas T20 and One-Day squads were still works in progress and as a result India was the heavy favourites for those two series.
The first T20 International will be played in Dharamasala today, with two more to follow on Monday and Thursday. South Africa then plays a five-match ODI series against the 2011 World Cup winners.
“Every team goes through a phase where they must deconstruct and then build it up and that’s where the Proteas are in One-Day and T20 cricket,” said Peterson, South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in the 2011 World Cup in India.
“There’s great talent there, and they can do something special but people have to be patient, it doesn’t happen over night. They are a team that needs to gel a bit more and they are searching for that consistency,” he added.
Peterson now firmly settled in Cape Town, is entering his 19th professional season this summer and is expecting a far tighter Test series, which will start in the first week of November. “In the Tests South Africa pride themselves on doing well away from home. I think they will be more challenging in the Tests than in the one-dayers.”
Nevertheless, the left-arm spinner, who played 15 Tests, can’t figure out why the Test squad contains two frontline off-spinners in Simon Harmer and Dane Piedt, when JP Duminy already provides that element. “I’m a bit surprised they’ve got three off-spinners in the squad, a left-arm spinner would have maybe provided a different dimension – a guy like Keshav (Maharaj) deserves some recognition for what he has done for the A side and last season in domestic cricket.”
The KwaZulu Natalian caught the eye last season when he finished as the leading wicket taking spinner in the Sunfoil Series with 36 wickets in eight matches.
Besides the off-spinners, the squad also contains Imran Tahir, whose impact in the Test format has been poor. With all those spinners – Dean Elgar also provides another option – South Africa is looking to cover itself in the event they pick two spinners. Peterson, doesn’t see it that way though. “Absolutely not! South Africa is quite traditional, we like to play what we call the ‘South African brand of cricket’ and so I can’t see them playing two spinners. I think JP can fill the second spinner’s berth. I’d be very surprised if they did (play two frontline spinners). Unless the conditions are absolutely turning square then they might consider it. I think it will be the one spinner policy.” - The Star