Kallis question key as SA keep eye on World Cup prize

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

To pick Jacques Kallis or not to pick Jacques Kallis - eight months before SA start their World Cup campaign, that is already the question.

“Jacques has had a great career, but he won’t want it to end without winning an International Cricket Council tournament,” former SA fast bowler Mfuneko Ngam said yesterday.

“If it happens at the World Cup, he can retire in peace. If it doesn’t happen, it will always haunt him.

“So, if he’s in good shape, I would pick him.”

For former test batsman Barry Richards, “It’s going to be hard not to pick him. If he commits himself, I don’t see any reason not to select him.”

Not so fast, said former national selector Hugh Page: “He used to be an automatic selection, but he’s older now. These days the guys are athletic and quick in the field, and they smash the ball all over the park.”

Kallis, who has been part of SA’s squad for five of their six bids to win the World Cup - all of them failed - will be 39 by the time AB de Villiers’ team play their first match of the 2015 edition against Zimbabwe in Hamilton on February 15.

But, as the holder of 320 ODI caps for SA and the most valuable player the country has yet produced, Kallis is no ordinary cricketer. If the Springboks can find a place for Victor Matfield, the argument is sure to go, the Proteas can find a place for Kallis.

That said, Kallis’ selection, like that of the rest of the players hoping to make the squad, will depend on his fitness and how he performs in the 25 or so one-day internationals SA will play before the tournament - starting with three in Sri Lanka next month.

What, besides the Kallis question, do SA need to resolve as they keep their eye on the ultimate prize in one-day cricket?

“They must have the right batting order,” Page said. “That means they’ve got to get AB de Villiers batting higher. He’s the best player in the world.

“David Miller also needs to move up the order - you’ve got to get the matchwinners in up front.”

De Villiers has scored two centuries batting at No. five in eight of his last 15 ODIs. He has come in at No. 4 six times in those 15 games and at No. 3 once.

Miller has taken guard at No. 6 nine times in his last 15 trips to the ODI crease. He has batted at No. 7 four times and at No. 5 twice. He scored his two half-centuries, both unbeaten, in those games batting seventh and sixth.

Ngam was not convinced that Sri Lanka was the right place to begin a journey to this World Cup.

“The World Cup is in Australasia, but the guys are going to Sri Lanka where the wickets will be very different,” he said. “It will be a good tour in terms of getting the guys together again and working on combinations, but the conditions will make it a tricky exercise.”

Richards said SA’s most important preparation for the World Cup would not happen on the field.

“In golf, if you stand over a 10-foot putt and say, ‘I’m going to make this’, nine times out of 10 you will make it,” he said. “If you say, ‘I’m not going to make this’, you will miss it 10 out of 10 times.

“The mindset is key and keeping the mind clear is what it should be.”