Ken Borland

Quick-scoring Tristan Stubbs will be in line to make his Proteas debut following his first call-up on Tuesday to the South African squad for their T20 series in India, while fast bowler Anrich Nortje will be making a welcome return to international action.

The 21-year-old Stubbs has played sensational T20 cricket for the Warriors, scoring 506 runs in 17 innings over the last two seasons, at an average of 38 and a strike-rate of 156, outstanding figures in the shortest format. Many of his innings have been memorable efforts under great pressure at the death.

The talent of Stubbs was noticed by the Mumbai Indians, who called him into their IPL squad as an injury replacement two weeks ago. That cut short his involvement with the SA A team on their recent tour of Zimbabwe, but he did play twice, scoring 37 and 19, being not out in both innings and scoring at a strike-rate of 121.

His inclusion means the Proteas could field an explosive middle-order with David Miller and Aiden Markram both in outstanding form in the IPL.

Paceman Nortje has also been playing in the IPL, proving his recovery from back and hip injuries, and will be playing for South Africa for the first time since the T20 World Cup last November.

From that squad that performed admirably in the UAE, sadly falling just short of the semi-finals, spinner Bjorn Fortuin and all-rounder Wiaan Mulder have unfortunately lost their places, being replaced by pacemen Marco Jansen and Wayne Parnell, both of whom are useful lower-order batsmen too.

South Africa were only allowed to take 15 players to the T20 World Cup, but have selected 16 for the India tour as they finalise preparations for the next edition of the global showpiece, in Australia at the end of October.

Fortuin performed highly creditably for the SA A team in Zimbabwe, but Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj are always going to be ahead of him in the spinners’ queue. If one of them gets injured then Markram could fill in and, with their being at least two days between all five matches in India, Fortuin could always be flown in if necessary.

Parnell is arguably a more explosive batsman than Mulder and his left-arm swing bowling offers variety to the attack, with fellow left-armer Jansen generally using his height to hit the deck hard.

South Africa’s first match in India is on June 9 in Delhi.

Squad: Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi.

Bangladesh’s batsmen discovered at the Wanderers that there are no vaccinations against the pace and bounce of Kagiso Rabada when he is at his fiery best, and South Africa’s ace fast bowler is hopeful that they won’t have time to figure out how to handle him and his fellow quicks before the ODI series decider at Centurion on Wednesday.

With Rabada leading the way with an outstanding 5/39, Bangladesh were restricted to just 194/9 in the second ODI, South Africa levelling the series when they chased down that target with seven wickets and 76 deliveries to spare. After a slightly flat performance in the first match at SuperSport Park, this time the Proteas pacemen came out firing.

While Rabada said he was still not sure why they struggled for wickets in the first ODI, he did say the extra pace and bounce of the Wanderers pitch made them more lethal.

“It’s a question I’m still asking myself,” Rabada said at the Wanderers after his man-of-the-match display. “I guess this pitch did a bit more with the new ball.

“I thought we bowled very well in the first 10 overs of the previous game too, but were just unfortunate not to get the breakthrough. And on the Highveld, you’re guaranteed to score quicker once you’re in, as the ball gets older it’s better to bat.

“But there was more bounce at the Wanderers, we got the ball in the right areas and it was good to us. You generally want to use the extra bounce and pace at the Wanderers.

“The talk is that the subcontinent teams are not able to deal with the bounce as well as we do because we’ve grown up here. You can’t just rock up and expect to bounce them out, but you try use the conditions to the best of your ability,” Rabada said.

While the Proteas were delighted with their all-round performance at the Wanderers, they are dismayed by their continued tendency to start series poorly, a destructive habit when it comes to a growing side developing consistency.

“It is a concern because we always want to throw the first punch but we keep finding ourselves in this position.

“We don’t do it on purpose and we don’t want to make our job even harder. So we still hve a bit of work to do before we go back to Centurion,” Rabada said.

The Proteas dare not reproduce their performance of the first ODI.

Whenever a new, young fast bowler bursts on the scene – and in the South African context especially a Black African paceman – there is always a certain amount of hysteria.

Often the player fails to live up to the hype. But one can safely say that Kagiso Rabada, who will play his 50^th Test when South Africa take on India in their series-decider starting at Newlands on Tuesday, has fulfilled his extraordinary talent and there is still more to come from the 26-year-old.

So far in his Test career, Rabada has taken 226 wickets at an average of 22.57. This compares most favourably with the greats of South African fast bowling. After 49 Tests, Dale Steyn had 255 wickets at 22.82; Allan Donald 248 at 21.91; Shaun Pollock 203 at 20.26; and Vernon Philander 183 at 21.95.

And Rabada has made it clear that for him, it’s the long game that matters. He wants to pile up those numbers and not just be a shooting star.

“You can’t take anything for granted in international cricket, but for me it’s about longevity, I don’t want to be doing well for a short period of time, that’s what drives me,” Rabada said.

“As much as it’s about getting wickets, it’s also about being the best I can be. And there’s no limit to that, I am nowhere near done. There are lots of ups and downs, and the challenge is to keep those good performances going for a long amount of time.

“You have to navigate those lows and external pressures can influence your game and the team space, but you get better at handling that with time. I just constantly remind myself that it is meant to be fun.

“I think back to the teenager who just wanted to play cricket, who had a burning desire to play at this level, next to my heroes. It’s been an honour and privilege to play alongside some big names,” Rabada said.

The fact that Rabada is sometimes criticised for not giving his all is a symptom of the high expectations that continually follow him.

His response to that: “I just try to keep it as simple as possible. The dry spells can come at any time and then you have to realise your strengths and improve on your weaknesses.

“Remember what got you here in the first place are your strengths. I really want to get the best out of myself,” Rabada said.

The frustrating injury to ace fast bowler Anrich Nortje has led to left-arm quick Marco Jansen getting his first call-up to the Proteas ODI squad, but whatever starting XI South Africa choose against India, there are bound to be some disgruntled bowlers.

South Africa and India meet in three ODIs from January 19, following the end of the Test series. With two of the matches being played in Paarl and one at Newlands, conditions should suit the Proteas’ new-found enthusiasm for a strong spin-bowling contingent, with both Tabraiz Shamsi, their leading ODI wicket-taker in 2021, and Keshav Maharaj, the vice-captain, playing.

But India’s batsmen relish taking on spin bowling and there may be a desire to target them with pace. In which case, who do you leave out: Maharaj or Shamsi?

There are also three out-and-out all-rounders in the squad in Andile Phehlukwayo, who bashed a superb 48 not out off just 22 balls against the Netherlands in his last match, T20 World Cup star Dwaine Pretorius and the resurgent Wayne Parnell. But unless one of them bats in the top six, or plays as a frontline quick instead of Lungi Ngidi, there is unlikely to be room for more than one of them at a time.

South Africa’s top six is pretty settled though, with Janneman Malan establishing himself as Quinton de Kock’s opening partner, Aiden Markram slotting into the middle-order alongside Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen, and David Miller continuing as an evergreen finisher.

India announced their squad on December 31 and even though they are without injured players Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, and Mohammed Shami will be rested, it is going to be an exacting task for the Proteas.

As ever, much focus will be on their batsmen and Kyle Verreynne and Zubayr Hamza are waiting in the wings. Hamza seems to have leapfrogged Reeza Hendricks in the pecking order, the national selectors demanding more than an average of 25.68 and a strike-rate of 76.76 in 24 ODIs.

Other players who are out in the cold at present are left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks, spinner George Linde and Test all-rounder Wiaan Mulder.

Of the second-string squad that was selected for the ill-fated ODI series against the Netherlands at the end of November, fast bowlers Daryn Dupavillon and Junior Dala, and batsmen Ryan Rickelton and Khaya Zondo have also been omitted. Paceman Lizaad Williams is still out injured.

Proteas squad: Quinton de Kock, Kyle Verreynne, Janneman Malan, Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Zubayr Hamza, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi, Sisanda Magala, Marco Jansen.