Duminy must bat higher up

Why is JP Duminy still being treated as an afterthought in the Proteas Test team?

Why is JP Duminy still being treated as an afterthought in the Proteas Test team?

This nagging question has come to the fore following the Proteas’ first Test surrender against England at Kingsmead this week.

We all remember Duminy’s Test debut against Australia in Perth in 2008, where he scored an unbeaten 50 alongside AB de Villiers’s 106 not out in that famous 414-run chase for victory. And then the majestic 166 at the MCG in the next match to set up a memorable series win Down Under.

But in 31 Tests since, Duminy is still not regarded as a top-five batsman in the Proteas set-up, and that needs to change. Immediately.

The 31-year-old has been messed around long enough despite being a “senior player”, having to bat with the bowlers when he’s had to come in at numbers six and seven. He is a specialist batsman, and the time has come for Duminy to be given the responsibility of batting at number five, right behind the Proteas’ two big guns - Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers - and ahead of Faf du Plessis.

Duminy hasn’t helped himself by averaging just 32.80 with the bat in his 33-Test career, but not settling into a specific position and being given an increasing bowling workload are two factors that have not aided his cause.

Untimely injuries have been further disruptions. It just seems as if Duminy’s Test career has been in stop-start mode ever since those glorious days in Australia in 2008.

There is no doubt that he is one of the most talented batsmen in South Africa since readmission. In the current team, only his old SA Under-19 teammate De Villiers is above him in terms of pure ability. Sure, Amla has the better temperament, but there are few better things on a cricket field than a JP Duminy cover drive.

So, while the Proteas batsmen - bar De Villiers and Dean Elgar - are under pressure to score going into the second England Test at Newlands on Saturday, talk of Duminy possibly facing the chop is highly premature.

The Proteas have hardly played any Test cricket this year. Duminy missed the West Indies series at the end of 2014/start of 2015 due to a knee injury, and South Africa’s next assignment was the two-game Bangladesh sojourn in July.

Duminy scored a duck in the first innings of the first Test, and bowled four overs before the game was washed out. The second Test followed the same pattern as South Africa didn’t even bat, with Duminy getting 3/27 in 15 overs of off-spin.

At the same time, Du Plessis scored 48 in the first Test.

The nightmare Indian series in late November saw the left-handed Duminy miss the first Test with a hand injury. In the last three Tests, his scores were 15, 35, 19, 1 and 0

Du Plessis’s run of scores in the seven innings were 0, 1, 0, 10, 39, 0 and 10.

In Durban against England, Duminy scored 2 and 26 not out, while Du Plessis recorded 2 and 9.

To Du Plessis’s credit, he averages 41.21 in 27 Tests, compared to Duminy’s 32.80 in 33 matches.

Remember, though, that Du Plessis has batted at number three or four in 20 of his 42 innings, with the next highest being 10 at number six.

But Duminy has batted just twice at his natural number four position (he scored a hundred against New Zealand in Wellington in 2012), and once at number five. The rest of his 51 innings were largely shared between number six (26) and seven (17). He has even come in at number eight on five occasions!

This cannot go on. It’s time to bat JP Duminy at number at Newlands on Saturday if the Proteas hope to get the best out of him, with Du Plessis at number six.

And Duminy should not be bowling with any serious intent. It has been noticeable that he’s bowled just six overs since the start of the Indian Test series, but that may have something to do with him having split the webbing on his bowling hand during the ODI series before that.

Stiaan van Zyl should be given another opportunity on his home ground to prove his worth as a Test opener, while Proteas coach Russell Domingo has to find a spot for Quinton de Kock, who will take over the wicket-keeping gloves from De Villiers.

Unfortunately for Temba Bavuma, he seems the most likely candidate to make way for De Kock, mainly due to a lack of experience.

Bavuma needs to be given a proper opportunity to establish himself in the team, but with De Villiers’s apparent reluctance to continue as the wicket-keeper, there isn’t place for a seventh specialist batsman.

On the bowling front, Kagiso Rabada will come in for the injured Dale Steyn, and Hardus Viljoen would be a better bet in place of Kyle Abbott, who was flat at Kingsmead.

The Proteas selectors, though, may opt for Chris Morris for Abbott due to his superior batting ability after he scored 86 for the Titans this week.

Fast bowlers should be picked for what they can do with the ball, though, which is why Viljoen - who has taken 20 wickets in two Sunfoil Series matches for the Lions - must be chosen.

* Statistics courtesy of www.espncricinfo.com

* Ashfak Mohamed is the Digital Sport Producer for the Cape Sports Hub, which incorporates the Cape Times, Cape Argus and Weekend Argus newspapers.

ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za

@IndyCapeSport