Ken Borland

South Africa’s ODI series against the West Indies which started in Durban yesterday is going to be crucial preparation for the World Cup with several players looking to regain confidence ahead of the showpiece tournament that starts on February 14.

To add to the pressure, it is players that are not going to the World Cup – Morne van Wyk and David Wiese spring readily to mind – who have produced the most impressive recent performances.

The likes of Farhaan Behardien, Kyle Abbott and Wayne Parnell had poor returns in the T20 series against the West Indies and they will be desperate to go to Australasia with some success under their belts.

Apart from getting out-of-form players back into nick, captain AB de Villiers also needs to discover how best to marshal his resources during the five ODIs against the West Indies.

Chris Gayle had a grand old time against the South African back-up bowlers in the T20s, which merely highlights the pressure on Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander.

Given that South Africa’s main weakness is their bowling, it was strange to see the balance of the team for yesterday’s match against the West Indies: There were only four frontline bowlers – the three pacemen and spinner Imran Tahir – meaning JP Duminy and Farhaan Behardien had to bowl 10 overs between them.

Duminy has just come out of mothballs and so it may take him a while to regain his best bowling form, while at Behardien’s pace there is absolutely no room for error, particularly when he gets to the good batting pitches in Australia.

But that balance makes South Africa extremely vulnerable – teams are undoubtedly going to target the fifth bowling pair of Duminy and Behardien and, if one other bowler has a bad day, then the Proteas will be seriously derailed in the field.

Which is why I believe the selectors have erred in not including a genuine all-rounder in the squad. Wiese brings megawatts of hitting power and is also a canny bowler, while even Ryan McLaren, without being spectacular, is a decent all-rounder.

For those suggesting Parnell should fill the all-rounder’s berth, I would just smile and say ‘no thanks’. For all the talent the left-hander possesses and so-called X-factor, he has battled to perform with any consistency at international level and cannot be relied upon.

Philander has been touted as a possible number seven batsman and has been in good form with the bat in the Test arena, averaging 45 in 2014, and the strength of South Africa’s batting line-up might just make that the best option.

De Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla have all been superb in ODIs over the last year, scoring 10 centuries between them and all averaging over 50, while Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy have both proven their ability at international level, while David Miller can be as destructive as anyone on his day.

But listening to De Villiers’ gung-ho proclamations that South Africa will have the best team at the World Cup, one wonders whether he has identified the key areas of weakness in his side. No captain will ever highlight those weaknesses of course, but South Africa have not been the number one ranked ODI side for any length of time since 2009. They were on top of the pile last October after beating New Zealand away from home, but they were quickly deposed by Australia in November.

Very little has changed since then, except the Proteas have slid further down the rankings to third.

AB de Villiers made it impossible for the International Cricket Council’s enumerators who decide on the nominees for their annual awards to ignore him and South Africa’s ODI captain was yesterday duly announced as one of four candidates for the ICC Cricketer of the Year award as well as being shortlisted in the individual one-day international category.

De Villiers will go up against Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson and Sri Lankan run-machines Angelo Mathews and Kumar Sangakkara for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy that goes to the best cricketer overall between August 26, 2013 and September 17, 2014.

Fellow South Africans Quinton de Kock and Dale Steyn, as well as Indian batting star Virat Kohli, will be his rivals for the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year award.

Hopefully the judges will also take into account the fact that De Villiers has been keeping wicket exceptionally well while starring with the bat. Scoring 932 runs in 10 Tests at an average of 54.80 and 963 runs in 20 ODIs at an average of over 60 is great work in anyone’s book.

The fiery Johnson enjoyed a phenomenal haul of 59 wickets from his eight Tests in the period under review, three of which were against world number ones South Africa, while Sangakkara gathered 1502 runs from 11 Tests, with four centuries, and Mathews, who took over the Sri Lankan captaincy from Mahela Jayawardene, averaged 92 in Tests and just under 54 in ODIs.

De Kock’s five centuries in ODIs during the qualifying period, including three in a row against India, made him a certainty for the ODI shortlist but how he was not named amongst the four for the Emerging Player of the Year award is a mystery. Instead Kiwis and Englishmen dominate that category, with Jimmy Neesham, Corey Anderson, Gary Ballance and Ben Stokes nominated.

Steyn ended the visits to the crease of 36 batsmen in 16 ODIs and had an economy rate of just 4.32 runs-per-over, and was selected to the ICC Test Team of the Year for a record seventh successive year, while the honour has gone to De Villiers for the fifth time.

De Kock has joined that duo in the ICC ODI XI of the year to give South Africa equal-most representation with India – captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Mohammad Shami.

Amazingly, Hashim Amla has failed to crack the nod for any ICC awards this year.

Pakistan’s cricket team manager and the Federal Bureau of Investigation will probably disagree over the security situation in that country, but what isn’t in doubt is that Pakistan will face a daunting assignment of their own in South Africa over the next two months as they take on the Proteas in Tests, ODIs and T20 internationals.

Three Tests against the top-ranked South Africans will be Pakistan’s first and toughest appointment.

While the Proteas have shown brilliant current form with a 12-Test unbeaten run since December 2011, Pakistan have only played six Tests in the same period.

That’s partly because nobody wants to play in Pakistan due to the security situation in the troubled country and they have been forced to host their “home” Tests in the United Arab Emirates.

“There is a difference between perception and reality. Pakistan is as safe as any country. We’re not getting enough Test experience, under the pretext of security concerns,” manager Naveed Akram Cheema growled at his team’s arrival press conference at OR Tambo International Airport on Monday.

Cheema is the managing director of the Water and Power Development Authority and the chairman of a host of other parastatals, so it’s perhaps not surprising that he insisted on giving a political answer to what was a cricketing question.

But be that as it may, Pakistan will face an uphill challenge taking on the South Africans at home.

Captain Misbah ul-Haq acknowledged that, saying his team will have to adapt quickly to conditions here, having last played in anything similar when they won a one-off Test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in September 2011. Earlier that year, they won a two-Test series in New Zealand.

“It’s really difficult for a team that does not play a format on a regular basis, but we’ll have to work hard and adjust as a group. Against the number one team, in South African conditions, we will have to play well for it to be game-on. We know it will be tough, but we will have to adapt to conditions. But this Pakistan team has a lot of youngsters who have really performed well and they love to take on a challenge. It’s time for them to come up with good performances and go one step ahead in their careers,” Misbah said.

Though Pakistan seemingly have a bowling attack that is capable of storming the Proteas’ castle, their biggest challenge will be scoring enough runs. Their batsmen, so impressive in sub-continental conditions, might not even make it across the moat when they come up against the bounce, swing and seam of Steyn, Philander and Morkel.

“It’s a quality bowling attack and we will have to bat well. It’s a real challenge when you’ve just come here from the sub-continent and whenever we’re abroad in countries like New Zealand and South Africa, we have to practise hard for the bounce and pace,” Misbah said.

Pakistan handled James Anderson, probably the closest bowler to Dale Steyn in world cricket, reasonably well in the UAE last year, but they will not have seen Vernon Philander before.

“The way Philander bowls, swinging the ball and hitting the seam, he will be a real factor with the new ball and it’s not surprising he takes so many wickets,” Misbah mused. “But in Test cricket you need to get the basics right, you need to stick to the basics against a bowler like him.”

The Pakistan attack is one of the best balanced in world cricket, with two right-arm quicks in the tall Umar Gul and Ehsan Adil, a left-arm giant in the seven-foot Mohammad Irfan, a pacy left-arm swing bowler in Junaid Khan and quality slow bowlers in off-spinner Saeed Ajmal and left-arm orthodox Abdur Rehman.

“The attack doesn’t have much experience here, only Umar Gul has played in South Africa, but if they adapt to the conditions then this attack can get the wickets we need. Especially Junaid, I think he will love to bowl here and Irfan too if he can get the ball in the right positions. Saeed Ajmal will be a factor if there is turn and bounce,” Misbah said.

Dav Whatmore, the former Sri Lanka and Bangladesh coach who played for Australia, is now with the Pakistan team and he warned against his bowlers getting too hyped up.

“In terms of fighting fire with fire, I’d like to see our skills do the talking more. The aggression part of the bowling should be shown with skill.

“It will be difficult for our batsmen over here, generally there’s higher bounce and more pace, but if the guys get over that, then it’s pretty good batting conditions, like Australia. If the youngsters get over the initial difficulties, then they could capitalise,” Whatmore said.

The Pakistanis open their tour with a four-day match against an SA Invitation XI starting in East London on Friday and Misbah said the likely Test team will play.

But the conditions in the sleepy Indian Ocean city will be very different to the charged-up atmosphere at the Bullring when the first Test starts at the Wanderers the following Friday (February 1).

The safety of the Pakistan team might then be in serious doubt.

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-01-22-pakistan-vs-proteas-youth-and-inexperience-vs-the-worlds-best-bowling-attack/#.UYJYh6JTA6w

Rain forced the opening one-day international between England and South Africa to be abandoned without ever really getting going at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Friday.

 – http://www.supersport.com/cricket/sa-team/news/120824/Rain_spoils_first_ODI

England openers Ian Bell (26*) and Alastair Cook (10*) had charged to 37 without loss midway through the sixth over when the match was stopped for the last time and eventually abandoned at 3.45pm local time.

South Africa captain AB de Villiers had earlier won the toss and elected to bowl first, but his charges had to wait four-and-three-quarter-hours to eventually get on to the field due to rain.

When play did eventually start at 3pm local time, Morne Morkel was able to bowl just a single delivery – a leg-side wide – before Sophia Gardens was once again enveloped in misty drizzle and the action was stopped for another nine minutes.

An initial reduction in overs to a 24-overs-a-side match then became 23 overs per team, of which England were able to face just 5.3 before the game was called off.

Cook and Bell, neither of whom are in England’s T20 squad, struggled to score in the first three overs before Bell played some inspired strokes as he collected two fours and two sixes in 18 balls.

He certainly seemed pretty clued up about how to go about opening the innings in a 20-odd overs innings.

Morkel conceded 19 runs in his three overs, including a pair of Bell sixes in his last over, while Lonwabo Tsotsobe conceded 18 runs in 2.3 overs.

South Africa had included debutant Dean Elgar and Ryan McLaren in their starting XI, but unfortunately neither of the all-rounders had the chance to further their reputations.