Africa-Press – South-Africa. Proteas coach Mark Boucher is delighted with the “good” depth in the South African system and believes continuity in selection will be key ahead of October’s T20 World Cup.
The Proteas have returned from a drawn 2-2 five-match T20 series against India after Sunday’s T20 was rained out in Bangalore.
The squad arrived in South Africa on Monday evening and they will get some downtime before embarking on a tour to Europe. Boucher’s next assignment is next month against England for three ODIs, three T20s and three Tests, with two T20Is in Ireland cushioned in between.
According to Boucher, the Proteas have about 10 T20 games remaining, which include warm-ups, to prepare for October’s T20 World Cup in Australia.
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With several South Africans starring in the Indian Premier League and in England’s county circuit, the likes of Faf du Plessis, Dewald Brevis, Rilee Rossouw and Dane Paterson have been speculated to be brought into the national set-up.
Boucher says the decision lies with the convenor of selectors Victor Mpitsang but is delighted with their vast depth in the system.
“We’ve got quite a lot of depth to choose from. You’ve got these players who’ve come up, but I’d leave Victor to make those selections,” Boucher told reporters on Tuesday.
“I think it’s good when different names come up, it shows a depth within our system.”
At last year’s T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, the Proteas only lost one game as they narrowly missed the playoffs due to net run rate.
Boucher remains adamant that continuity will be vital, especially in preparation for this year’s global showpiece.
“The most important thing is that you want continuity going into a World Cup; that showed how valuable it was at the previous World Cup,” said Boucher.
“Unfortunately, there’s only eleven players in the line-up and hopefully, there are six batters in the team.
“In order to give opportunities, you’ve got to leave one or two guys out and that’s the key on how to balance that and keep continuity in the team.”
When it comes to the make-up of the side, the Proteas went with five batters after the untimely illness of star batter Aiden Markram.
According to Boucher, promoting all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius to number three was a trial test that worked to a degree but that they would prefer to play six batters.
“The batting line-up is not what we wanted. Unfortunately, we lost Aiden, and that was a big blow to us, especially the form that he has been in, and I think he is third in the world in T20 cricket,” said Boucher.
“You’re always going to struggle when you lose a player like that. We had to mix and match hence bringing Dwaine up into the order to lengthen our lower order.
“Ideally, I want to go with six batters, not five, but when Aiden was left out, we lost our sixth bowling option as well. We didn’t have a similar player in the set-up in India, and that’s why we moved it around a bit.”
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