Good and bad news for SA, all bad for Windies

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Centurion

SA have reasons to be cheerful as well as glum going into the second test at St George’s Park on Friday. For West Indies, however, the news is all bad.

The home side’s victory in the first test at Centurion on Saturday, by an innings and 220 runs with more than five sessions to spare, was their biggest over the Windies.

But it came at the cost of Quinton de Kock’s fitness. The exciting wicketkeeper-batsman tore ligaments in his ankle while warming up on Friday and will be out of action for up to 12 weeks, which puts him in danger of missing the World Cup.

SA’s opening match of the tournament is against Zimbabwe in Hamilton on February 15 - eight weeks away. That, a Cricket SA (CSA) release quoted SA team manager Mohammed Moosajee as saying, “hopefully affords a sufficient recovery period”.

Yesterday, Cricket SA (CSA) named Rilee Rossouw as De Kock’s replacement in the squad. “(Rossouw) and Temba Bavuma shared a partnership of 343 at a runrate of almost four to the over in the recent winning series for SA A against Australia A,” a CSA release quoted selection convenor Andrew Hudson as saying.

In that match, played in Townsville, Queensland, in August, Rossouw scored 231 and Bavuma made 162 to take SA A to 402/5 after they had slumped to 59/4.

However, Rossouw’s only first-class match this season was for the Knights in September, and last Wednesday the franchise ruled him out for the rest of the year with a finger injury.

“Rilee is still struggling with that finger of his, so under the medical committee’s advice we’re not going to play him in the (next) two (first-class) games (which end on December 30) so that he can try and get ready for the West Indies T20 series (which starts on January 9),” Knights coach Sarel Cilliers was quoted as saying in a CSA release.

As unfortunate as De Kock’s plight is, it gives SA the opportunity to end an unhappy era spanning 30 tests and almost four years.

Not since Lonwabo Tsotsobe played against India at Newlands in January, 2011 have SA named a black African in a test XI.

AB de Villiers will have to keep wicket in PE, which creates a vacancy for a batsman. Bavuma was in the squad ahead of Rossouw.

The West Indians are in a less happy place. Their most effective bowler in the first test, Kemar Roach, is out of the rest of the tour with an ankle injury and will be replaced by Kenroy Peters, an uncapped 32-year-old who has taken 13 wickets at 19.38 in four matches in the regional first-class competition in the Caribbean this season.

The fact that the six leading wicket-takers in that competition are all spinners illustrates how far West Indian pace bowling stocks have fallen. Peters, who plays for Windward Islands, is ninth on the list.

Narsingh Deonarine is also on his way to SA to replace spare batsman Assad Fudadin, who fractured a finger before the Centurion test.

Deonarine has played five of his 18 tests against SA, but all in West Indies. He is the leading run-scorer in first-class cricket there this season after Devon Smith, who is already in the test squad.