Rattlesnake, banker's pinstripes are SA’s unidentical spin twins

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

Simon Harmer is a rattlesnake trapped in an off-spinner’s body. Dane Piedt is as consistent as a banker’s pinstripes. Only one of them is likely to feature when SA’s test squad for the tour to Sri Lanka in July is announced next week. Which will it be?

That will depend on what SA’s next test captain, whose name will also be revealed next week, and coach Russell Domingo need the new man to do.

Should a holding bowler be required, the lesser turning Piedt - also an off-spinner, but armed with a doosra - could crack the nod. However, Harmer would be the better option if SA want aggression.

Then again, Harmer spent much of last season’s first-class competition trying to contain batsmen who had found a way past the Warriors’ limited pace attack.

Of the Eastern Cape quicks, only Basheer Walters, Andrew Birch and Rusty Theron reached double figures in the wickets column. Combined, they took 72.

For the Cobras, Dane Paterson, Rory Kleinveldt, Beuran Hendricks, Justin Kemp and Travis Muller each claimed more than 10 wickets. Their total was 111.

The proof was in the standings. The Warriors won two of their 10 games and finished second from bottom. The Cobras won six, and with that the title.

Despite that, Harmer bristled at being labelled as conservative by those who were perhaps having trouble seeing past Table Mountain.

“If anything, my economy rate (3.10 in 2013-14 and a career mark of 3.21) shows that I’m more of an attacking bowler,” Harmer said yesterday. “In the past, I’ve been accused of being too attacking - I find it strange that someone who turns the ball can be called defensive.”

Neither Harmer nor Piedt has yet played a first-class match in sub-continent conditions, but in two four-day games for SA’s academy in Bangladesh in April, 2011 Piedt bowled 56.2 overs and took 3/196.

Harmer’s sub-continental experience amounts to stints at bowling camps in Bangalore in August, 2012 and Colombo a year later.

“The climate was more challenging than the conditions,” he said. “There was a lot of rain and 40-degree heat - it would be very hot one minute and chucking it down the next.”

But he was confident that, given the chance, he would not rain on SA’s parade: “The difference between good players and great players is the ability to adjust to different conditions.”

Clive Eksteen, who played the first of his seven tests in Moratuwa in August, 1993 - SA’s inaugural test against Sri Lanka - plumped for Piedt: “I think he has more variation than Simon.”

Gametime was not guaranteed for whoever made the grade, but that was not the point.

“It’s a tough place for a young bowler to go to because Sri Lanka have two batsmen who have scored more than 10 000 test runs (Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara) and a whole lot of other quality players.

“But it’s also a great place for a young guy to go to as an understudy and to have the experience of being with the national team.”

Which young guy? Piedt was the leading wicket-taker last season with 45. Harmer was next on 40.

“They both deserve to go,” Eksteen said.

Even so, there will be room for just one of the unidentical spin twins in SA’s squad.