Ken Borland

Keegan Petersen revealed himself as one of South Africa’s brightest batting talents in the series against India, but the man who made the No.3 position his own has now suffered the disappointment of being ruled out of the tour to New Zealand due to a positive Covid test. This does, however, potentially open the way for an exciting young batsman like Ryan Rickelton to make his long-awaited debut.

Petersen, who is asymptomatic, has been replaced in the squad by Western Province talent Zubayr Hamza.

But Petersen’s misfortune, announced on the morning of the team’s departure for New Zealand, could well be just the break the 25-year-old Rickelton has been waiting for. The Central Gauteng Lions batsman has been part of the Proteas squad since the tour to Pakistan a year ago, but is yet to catch a game.

Rickelton has been in exceptional form in the domestic four-day competition this season, and scores of 90 and a match-saving 102 not out for the Lions against Western Province at Newlands last weekend took his tally this summer to 473 runs in five innings, at an average of 118.25, with three centuries.

But as much as one would like to see a new talent on the international stage, you have to wonder if the Proteas selectors won’t use Petersen’s absence as a lifeline for Aiden Markram.

Markram has scored just 140 runs in his last nine innings, with one half-century, and there was a strong possibility he was going to lose his opening spot in New Zealand to the uncapped Sarel Erwee, who is averaging 86 in four-day cricket this season.

But both Markram and Erwee could conceivably fill Petersen’s No.3 spot. Rickelton is also a top-order batsman, comfortable in the top three, but choosing two uncapped batsmen in Erwee and Rickelton could be too much of a risk for the selectors, so it will be interesting to see which option they choose.

Helping set up South Africa’s series-clinching victory over India in the second ODI in a sweltering Paarl on Friday did not come cheap for opening batsman Janneman Malan, who described his condition as being “critical but stable”.

On a day when the temperature reached 41°, Malan batted for two-and-a-half hours, scoring 91 off 108 balls, top-scoring as the Proteas chased down 288 with seven wickets and 11 balls to spare to complete remarkable back-to-back series wins over one of the superpowers of world cricket.

Malan put on 132 for the first wicket with Quinton de Kock, who blazed a quickfire 78, before solid 30s by Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen saw South Africa cruise to victory.

“It was way hotter than in the first ODI and it was always going to be a challenge for the body. But that’s what we work on our conditioning for. I feel critical but stable,” Malan, who cuts a rugged figure, said after the game.

His cricket brain was clearly as sharp as ever because he not only played a beautifully-judged innings for the situation, but also identified the two key areas where South Africa have had the edge over India in this series.

When India hammered the Proteas 5-1 in the 2018 ODI series here, spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal took 33 cheap wickets between them. This time it has been Tabraiz Shamsi, Keshav Maharaj and even Markram who have had the wood over the Indian batsmen.

“We’ve handled their total overs of spin better than they have handled our overs of spin, and that has been a big confidence boost for us,” Malan said.

“Our playing and use of spin has been coming along for a couple of years now, we’ve been working really hard to improve and have better plans. Especially when the pitches are slow and its spinning.

“So we are using our sweeps, making sure they are well-executed to get the percentages our way.

“The other key thing has been partnerships. We made them work for every run and our bowlers kept getting wickets. We’re very proud that we had a century partnership and then two fifty-run ones. Those are really good signs,” Malan said.

Some of South Africa’s fielding on Friday was bad enough for their fans to fall of their chairs in front of their TVs, but the key characteristic of this team is their tenacity, which they have shown time and again in shocking the much-fancied Indian team.

As captain Bavuma said after the game: “I think as a team we have a lot of self-belief and confidence in our ability. We go out there and fight for one another. We really try to put in a real team effort.

“We don’t rely on superstars or one or two performances. Coming into this series, no one gave us much of a chance, so that really gave us motivation,” Bavuma said.

Prices will have to be paid for another Proteas’ batting failure as South Africa look to stay alive in the series when the second Test against India starts at the Wanderers on Monday, their batting line-up being further weakened by the absence of Quinton de Kock.

The wicketkeeper was always going to miss the New Years Test as well as the final match of the series due to the birth of his first child, but then rocked the Proteas camp even further by announcing his retirement from all Test cricket on Thursday evening, just hours after South Africa had lost the first Test by 113 runs.

Kyle Verreynne is the most likely replacement for De Kock, although Ryan Rickelton has the advantage of playing on his home ground and being in red-hot form with two centuries in his last two innings at the Wanderers.

There is a chance that both could play if the Proteas decide to go into the match with just four frontline bowlers, replacing Wiaan Mulder with a specialist batsman. The all-rounder has done a solid job with the ball, but he has made just 106 runs in eight innings this year. South Africa need more from their No.7.

Keshav Maharaj is indisputably South Africa’s No.1 spinner and one of the senior players, but he was unused in the Indian second innings at Centurion and went wicketless in 18 overs on the first day. If the Wanderers pitch is similar – and it has certainly given the pacemen plenty of assistance so far this summer – then the Proteas will be tempted to leave Maharaj out and play an all-seam attack with Duanne Olivier joining left-armer Marco Jansen, who took four wickets in the Indian second innings and also showed enough gumption with the bat to do well at No.8.

Captain Dean Elgar paid a massive compliment to Jansen after the first Test and he also supported the suggestion that Keegan Petersen, who has scored just 76 runs in his five Test innings but in all of them he has come to the crease with less than five runs on the board, drop down the order.

“We’ll definitely look into the all-rounder position,” Elgar said. “Wiaan has been pretty good with the ball but obviously has not lived up to the standards he has set himself with the bat.

“So we’ll be having the sort of open conversations we need to have in this environment. I thought Marco was our player of the game and had a brilliant debut. But carrying two all-rounders is maybe not ideal.

“It’s a valid point about Keegan dropping down the order and that’s also a conversation we’ll have. We could potentially exercise that option, it’s not a bad idea to give him better opportunity against the older ball.

“He’s played three Tests and they’ve all been in relatively tough batting conditions. It’s been a rough start to his career but it doesn’t reflect on him as a player. He is extremely talented, he’s been one of our best domestically for a few years,” Elgar said.

SuperSport Park, the venue for the first Test between South Africa and India from Boxing Day, is famous for being a result pitch, so does that mean the Proteas need to pack their side with batsmen against a threatening visiting attack?

But given the absence of the injured Anrich Nortje,  the question marks over Lungi Ngidi’s fitness and how well Duanne Olivier, returning after nearly three years, and Marco Jansen, who would make his international debut, will slot into Test cricket, the temptation to pack their attack with four pacemen, including all-rounder Wiaan Mulder, will be big.

There have been 26 Tests played at Centurion and only three of them have ended in a draw. All three draws have been against England, with the last one, in 2009, the most recent Test at SuperSport Park which did not have a result.

The previous Test there saw South Africa beat Sri Lanka by an innings last December, and they fielded an attack featuring three specialist quicks, Mulder and spinner Keshav Maharaj. On a flat pitch on which more than a thousand runs were scored in the first innings, that line-up worked well, with Mulder taking five wickets in the match and having 36 runs on his tab as well.

Ngidi has spent more time off the field than on it this year, however, and has only bowled seven competitive overs since July. Given his previous fitness issues, there have to be worries that he might not be able to last an entire Test match, so the Proteas will need some bowling insurance if he does play.

Left-armer Jansen’s star is on the rise and he was impressive with bat and ball for SA A against India A earlier this month, but to field the 21-year-old rookie alongside Olivier, who last played a Test in February 2019, involves some risks as well.

India have a similar selection debate to deal with. They have fielded five bowlers for most of the year, but with no Ravindra Jadeja on tour, do they have the confidence to bat Ravichandran Ashwin at No.7?

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami will lead India’s attack, but is Mohammad Siraj going to be their third paceman or does Shardul Thakur, who has scored three fifties already in his four Tests, get the nod because he and Ashwin combined give good batting depth?

Of course, India could play all four fast bowlers and leave out Ashwin, but considering his success against South African batsmen, that is unlikely.

Either way, a pitch that has had plenty of rain on it and usually provides pace and bounce, and two quality pace attacks, could have batsmen asking Mama to tuck them in with a cup of cocoa on the eve of the game.