TELFORD VICE
The first SA test squad to be named since Jacques Kallis’ retirement last month should deliver evidence of the selectors applying their minds more than they have had to do for much of the past 18 years.
The product of all that thinking will be unveiled at the Wanderers today when convenor Andrew Hudson announces the men who will take on Australia in three tests starting next month.
Who will bat at No. 4, Kallis’ old spot? Will Ryan McLaren or Wayne Parnell crack the nod for the vacant allrounder’s berth? Will Imran Tahir or Robin Peterson be the preferred spinner? Will Quinton de Kock be included, either as a batsman or as the reserve wicketkeeper, or will Thami Tsolekile still be in the mix? Will AB de Villiers and Graeme Smith make it back to full fitness in good time? Those are the key questions Hudson will answer today.
The whispers are that Faf du Plessis will be promoted to try and fill Kallis’ boots in the batting order, that both McLaren and Parnell will be in the squad but that only Parnell will make the XI, that Peterson will pip Tahir, and that De Kock will not feature but Tsolekile will.
Smith’s precautionary withdrawal from the Cobras’ T20 campaign with a tired, swollen ankle would appear to be just that - a preventative measure, what with the stress fracture he sustained last year and the surgery it took to repair the damage still fresh in the memory.
De Villiers, too, looks set to be cleared for take-off after his surgery on January 10. He is seeing a physiotherapist daily and has regained the full range of motion in his hand.
Morne Morkel’s ankle has fully untwisted itself after he came a cropper during the first test against India last month and made what Smith called a “miracle” recovery to play in the second match.
Dale Steyn has proved his fitness by going fishing - he kissed at least one his catches on the gills in a photograph posted on social media - for much of the three weeks of “extended rest” he was given to recover from the rib fracture he sustained in the second test.
On Monday night, Steyn posted a photograph of himself, Smith and surfer Jordy Smith on a trail run. All four of the injured Proteas players have been training on an individual basis.
The squad will gather on Monday for their first group session since the Indian tour ended on December 30. Part of their preparation for what will be their toughest test since they clinched the No. 1 ranking in England in August, 2012 could be an as yet unconfirmed match next week against SA’s second string.
Most of the Australian players are due to arrive in Johannesburg this afternoon. The Aussies will, as they have on previous tours, base themselves in the distraction deprivation zone of Potchefstroom to prepare for the series.
They begin a three-day game against a SA Invitational XI in Potch next Wednesday.
The series starts in Centurion on February 12.
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