Peterson: 35 not out and top of the heap

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

WHAT are the selectors telling every other spinner in the country by picking Robin Peterson as the only specialist slow bowler in the squad to play West Indies in three tests starting on December 17? Perhaps this: up your game.

At 35, Peterson is getting on, even for a spin bowler. But he is also the leading spinner in the franchise One-Day Cup, and by some distance.

Peterson is second only to Lonwabo Tsotsobe among wicket-takers, tops the averages as well as the economy rate pecking order, and has the best spinner’s strike rate. His 5/25 for the Cobras against the Warriors at St George’s Park in October are the best figures in the competition this season.

And those are only the tangibles. What you see is not all you get with Peterson.

“Spinners mustn’t be impatient - you don’t want to be learning your trade in a test match,” Peterson said on Wednesday. “Besides, if they’re picking me at 35, it could happen to them.”

For Paul Adams, just having Peterson around is a bonus: “Robin is very relaxed and his presence in the dressingroom makes for a great environment.

“He takes on responsibility very well, and that gives him the mindset to concentrate on taking wickets.”

All good. Except that Peterson has been selected to bowl against the Windies in the test format, and because of the Cobras’ involvement in the Champions League T20 in India in September he has yet to play any first-class cricket this season.

“That’s true, but the way he goes about things is different,” Adams said. “Even in the one-day games he bowls to fields that have silly points and short legs.

“He makes batsmen think; he plays mind games with them.”

Of the spinners who have turned out in whites for their franchises this summer, Simon Harmer leads the pack with 11 wickets in two matches.

What with Harmer having lost out to Dane Piedt in last season’s spinners’ race for a place in the test squad, and considering Piedt is still on his way back from a serious shoulder injury, Harmer would be forgiven for feeling aggrieved that selection convenor Andrew Hudson did not read out his name on Monday.

Quite what the Warriors off-spinner needs to do to crack the nod with the selectors is difficult to fathom. Perhaps he should consider opening the batting.

For all that, there is something to be said for ensuring Peterson keeps his arm warm for a World Cup in which SA will play their first match, against Zimbabwe in Hamilton, little more than 10 weeks from today.

Imran Tahir remains SA’s first-choice spinner in the shorter formats, but there will be room for another slow bowler in the final squad of 15 - especially one blessed with the experience and confidence that is the preserve of 35-year-olds.