Ken Borland

As cricket lovers we often talk about the old days and how our heroes of yesteryear would have fared in modern-day cricket, especially the new white-ball formats which have changed the face of the game.

The more nerdy of us love compiling teams that would never take the field but oh, how we wish they could have. One of the sides that is often discussed is the best T20 XI made up of players who never had the opportunity to play the shortest format of the game. In other words, all cricketers before 2003.

One of my selections would be Chris Wilkins, the former Natal, Eastern Province, Border and Derbyshire batsman who sadly passed away at the start of the week, to open the batting. Members of the younger generation need not feel like total dorks if they have never heard of the man, because he never played for South Africa. But he did command immense respect from his peers and many of them I have spoken to agree that one of the 1966 SA Cricket Annual Cricketers of the Year would make their XI for players who never had the opportunity to play T20.

Opening the batting in limited-overs cricket these days is all about being able to hit boundaries against the new ball by playing orthodox cricket strokes, and Wilkins was a master of that. There is many a former provincial fast bowler who is still bearing the scars of being belted over the covers or straight back over his head to the boundary in the first over of the innings, whether in first-class cricket or limited-overs, by Wilkins.

An average in the mid-30s is not exceptional by today’s standards, but a word of warning to those wanting to cast aspersions on the quality of cricket back then. Because it was three-day cricket, most of the pitches were pretty green and result-friendly, and it was probably the greatest era of South African fast bowling in terms of depth – the likes of Vince van der Bijl, Mike Procter, Garth le Roux, Clive Rice, Eddie Barlow, Rupert Hanley, Kenny Watson and Stephen Jefferies et al were all at the peak of their powers. Back then, only a handful of batsmen would ever average more than 40.

Wilkins was held in high enough esteem to be chosen for the Rest of the World XI that toured England in 1970, making an impact with a swashbuckling 73-minute century, the fastest of the season, against the T.N. Pearce XI at Scarborough.

As well as Wilkins, is not the thought of Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards, Procter and Adrian Kuiper playing T20 cricket a mouthwatering one? Lance Klusener is not eligible for this fantasy XI because he played 53 domestic T20 games, but there would not be a more sought after player in any of the world leagues if ‘Zulu’ were in his prime now.

All those wonderful fast bowlers would have been great to see in T20 as well, but, in these days of spinners being a strike bowler in white-ball cricket, there is not too much by way of South African slow bowlers to choose from. Leg-spinner Denys Hobson would probably have been the Imran Tahir of his day, although the Western Province star would probably have been a better Test bowler.

There are many international bowlers from the 1970s and 80s who are extremely thankful that there was not a T20 format back then during the heyday of the West Indies … bowling to Viv Richards would certainly not have been for the fainthearted.

There is a T20 tournament on the go at the moment in Abu Dhabi, with South Africa’s champions, the Titans, taking part. It seems to be very much a made-for-TV event, judging by a great paucity of spectators in a grandiose stadium. A triumph for the Titans would be nice, but hardly memorable given the gimmicky feel of the event and tiny boundaries that really make it into a slogging contest.

What is clear, however, is that South Africa has a great deal of top-class talent and it was a bittersweet feeling to see Colin Ingram and Kyle Abbott starring for a team from Afghanistan of all places.

A back-of-the-hand slower ball and a stronger mentality are a couple of the upgrades fast bowler Junior Dala has added to his game as he looks to become a regular member of the Titans team in all three formats in the coming season.

Having spent the 2015 winter at the national academy, Dala showed those improvements in limited-overs cricket last season, especially in the Momentum One-Day Cup, where he played in all 10 matches and ended as the tournament’s third-highest wicket-taker with 16, while conceding barely more than a run-a-ball.

He was also a stalwart of the Titans team that won the RamSlam T20 Challenge, taking eight wickets at an average of 25.12 and conceding less than eight runs an over.

But he only played in four of the Sunfoil Series matches, taking just five wickets at an average of 57, so that is clearly where he wants to improve greatly.

“I had a lot more belief in myself and I learnt valuable lessons with the academy when we toured Sri Lanka and I did reasonably well against Test players. I had early success in the One-Day Cup, I was the leading wicket-taker at the halfway mark, and in the T20 I just went with that flow. I worked on extra skills and I learnt a lot as well from the Proteas bowlers in our squad.

“I felt I was playing for my place the season before that, but last season changed my whole outlook. Sometimes I have to taper down, it’s not just about outright pace, it depends on what’s required for the situation, like the back-of-the-hand slower ball for instance. I’ve grown mentally, I use my head more and I have extra confidence and belief,” Dala said.

“But I haven’t played enough of the long format, the more I play, the better I’ll be. I maybe let myself down a bit in the four-dayers last season, so it’s definitely a major goal to put that right. I’m working hard so hopefully I will play in all three formats next season, I just need to do what I need to do.”

Ironically, the most impressive performance of last season came in a long format game as he destroyed the England second innings with five for 34 in 12 overs for the SA Invitation XI in Potchefstroom, earning the respect of Jimmy Anderson, the leader of the touring attack.

“Taking five against England on a flat Potch pitch made me believe that I can compete at that level, I just need to be more consistent. I got Alex Hales a couple of times and Alastair Cook showed such super skills, but I thought I handled myself well and showed that I can do it. James Anderson came and congratulated me and told me I had big things ahead of me.

“But I never went to a big school and the first time I was ever coached was when I played for Gauteng. So I’m a work in progress and I’m still trying to figure out my action, there are still basics to get right and I need to understand it more,” the unorthodox 26-year-old said.

But the opinions of the great Anderson and coaches Shukri Conrad, the head of the academy, and Rob Walter of the Titans are surely right on the money when it comes to Dala.