Who to drop - De Kock or Amla?
How do you leave out one of Hashim Amla or Quinton de Kock from the Proteas T20 line-up?
|||How do you leave out one of Hashim Amla or Quinton de Kock from the Proteas T20 line-up? Well, that is what is likely to happen when they face Australia in Friday’s first game in Durban.
AB de Villiers is the other factor in the conundrum, as he will definitely occupy the one opening batsman spot at Kingsmead (6pm start). But Amla made a strong case for inclusion at the top of the T20 order against England as he led the run-scorers’ list across both teams with 91 in the two matches.
He hit a sparkling 69 not out at the Wanderers to see South Africa home, and had the second-best strike-rate – behind De Villiers – of those who batted twice in the series.
So a case could be made for both Amla and De Kock – who sat out the England games with a minor knee niggle – to play and for De Villiers to drop down to No 3 and captain Faf du Plessis to four.
JP Duminy would bat at No 5, which would mean that one of Rilee Rossouw and David Miller will miss out, as the Proteas seem to be settled with two all-rounders in David Wiese and Chris Morris coming in at No 7 and 8 respectively, which strengthens the bowling attack.
But while Domingo said a final decision has yet to be made, he gave a strong indication that they would like to maintain the power-hitting of Rossouw and Miller down the order.
“I have to have a chat with the selectors. I haven’t touched base about that as yet, but once we have a practice on Wednesday, I will communicate with the selectors about what the best way is to go, and I will give my input there,” the coach said at a press conference in Durban this week.
“It’s a nice problem to have, and they’re both playing really well at the moment. Hash played superbly in Johannesburg, and you go to a place like India and those who play spin well will be such a big factor for us. And Hash is a great player of spin, so he is very much in the picture for us – there’s no doubt about it.
“I don’t know (if Amla, De Kock and De Villiers can bat in the top three). I’ve had a week where I’ve tried not to think about it too much, just to try and get away from the game a little bit. And once we’ve got through practice on Wednesday, I will sit with the selectors and get an indication as to what they’re thinking, and I will obviously give my thoughts.
“But you can’t discount that (playing all three). But it might be tough to do it at the moment.”
What Domingo did provide clarity on is that Dale Steyn is bursting with energy and ready to get back on to the field after returning to cricket in a club game in Cape Town at the weekend.
Steyn took 5/13 in 10 overs across two innings, and got some appreciable swing and built up his pace as he went along.
“A hungry, fit, energised Dale is a massive plus for us. He hasn’t played for South Africa for a long time, but has come here with a great attitude and is desperate to do well. He wants to win a World Cup, he wants to be involved in all formats of the game. His energy levels have been right up there, and that bodes well for us,” Domingo said.
“I definitely want him to play in at least two of them, having not played for a while. We still have two warm-up games in India – the one is the day after we arrive against India (in Mumbai), so that’s going to be hard. We land on the Thursday and play on the Friday.
“He needs to play at international level, so I’m pretty sure that he will play at least two of the next three.”
ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za
@IndyCapeSport