Six of the best key for SA

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

GETTING six of the best does not come with positive connotations. Unless the six in question are the half-dozen who form SA’s one-day batting line-up.

Thanks largely to them, AB de Villiers hoisted the triangular series trophy in Harare on Saturday after his team handed Australia a six-wicket hiding in the final.

Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, De Villiers, JP Duminy and David Miller scored 1071 of the 1199 runs SA put on the board in the five games they played in the tournament. That translates into 89.32% of the team’s runs - as near as dammit to an A+.

So, Lions coach Geoff Toyana said on Tuesday, don’t fix what ain’t broke. Especially with a World Cup on the way.

“That top six has done well, and it’s going to be important to keep it intact,” Toyana said.

“Someone like Rilee Rossouw was given an opportunity in Zimbabwe and I’m sure he would want to be part of the World Cup squad. But it’s going to mean more to SA to keep the top six as it is - it’s working so well.”

The fulcrum of the line-up in Zimbabwe was Du Plessis, whose total of 464 runs was the highest in an event in which only three other players passed 200.

Du Plessis, Rob Walter, his coach at the Titans said on Tuesday, had set his personal bar high: “In my discussions with him a few months ago, he said, ‘When Jacques (Kallis) leaves, I want to be the man’.”

Kallis retired from ODIs in July, leaving a large hole in SA’s batting line-up. Consider it filled.

“People are aware of Faf’s quality, but no-one was sure how he would fit in in the No. 3 position in the limited overs sense,” Walter said. “But he has justified the faith people have had in him.”

What with Dale Steyn’s 10 scalps putting him at the top of the list of wicket-takers in the triseries, and Ryan McLaren, Morne Morkel, Aaron Phangiso and Imran Tahir also featuring in the top 10, Toyana struggled to pinpoint areas SA needed to work on.

“The sixth bowler and the allrounder’s spot are still issues that could do with some discussion, but not much went wrong - 10 out of 10 to them,” he said. “They’re a young side with places to go.”

Walter said SA would work on countering the threat represented by well-set, frontline batsmen extending their stay at the crease into the last 10 overs of the innings.

“That’s dangerous and when it happens the game heavily favours the batting side,” Walter said. “If you take wickets earlier - like Dale did in the final (when Steyn claimed four scalps inside 37 overs) - you don’t have to worry.

“They’re going to have to do some serious strategic thinking, but everyone is struggling with that.”

SA are scheduled to play 13 ODIs - against New Zealand, Australia and West Indies - before they meet Zimbabwe in their World Cup opener in Hamilton on February 15.