Ken Borland

All-rounder Dwaine Pretorius, whose clever bowling has been reliable for the Proteas at the death, has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup due to a fractured thumb, Cricket South Africa announced on Thursday.

Pretorius is believed to have suffered the injury when he dropped a relatively straightforward catch at midwicket in the final T20 against India earlier this week. CSA chief medical officer Dr Shuaib Manjra has confirmed that the fracture, in his left thumb, will require surgery, and the 33-year-old has returned to South Africa for the operation.

Marco Jansen, the young all-rounder who has produced inspired performances at Test level, will replace Pretorius in the Proteas ODI squad that began a three-match series against India in Lucknow on Thursday, but the selectors are still mulling who will be the replacement in the actual World Cup squad.

The tall left-armer Jansen would add some menace and variety to the attack in Australia, but there are the death-bowling skills to consider as well, and Andile Phehlukwayo could get the nod as a more like-for-like replacement.

Both Phehlukwayo and Jansen were named as travelling reserves for the T20 World Cup.

The absence of Pretorius will rob the Proteas of another experienced campaigner, following Rassie van der Dussen’s withdrawal after breaking a finger in England.

Left-arm paceman Wayne Parnell is the other bowling all-rounder in the squad and, if there is swing about, he can be a dangerous wicket-taker, as well as usually having good skills at the death.

Oh boy, have the Proteas selectors got themselves into a pickle just weeks before the T20 World Cup in Australia!

But their troubles, to be fair, should be traced back to March 2021 when Graeme Smith, then director of cricket, appointed Temba Bavuma as South Africa’s limited-overs captain, replacing Quinton de Kock.

The appointment made sense at a lot of levels, but there was one concern even back then: Would Bavuma be worth his place as a batsman in the T20 side?

Since becoming captain, Bavuma has had some rotten luck with injuries and has played just 19 of South Africa’s 32 T20 Internationals. And his performances with the bat have been underwhelming – just 313 runs, including only one half-century, and an average of 19.56 and a strike-rate of 107.93.

And now, in India, it has looked like men versus boys as, in the two T20 series the Proteas have played there this year, in June and now, he has scored just 61 runs off 70 balls in six innings.

While such a lean run of form could be overlooked if the captain had previous pedigree in the format at international level, or there was a lack of a viable alternative, everything points to the obvious call being to replace Bavuma with Reeza Hendricks, who has been in red-hot form. But who is going to be brave enough to make that call, given Bavuma’s standing as a role-model of Black African excellence?

Hendricks has taken great delight in proving all his critics wrong of late, scoring 736 runs in 22 innings since the start of 2021, at an average of 35.04 and a strike-rate of 131.89. The elegant right-hander has scored four half-centuries and a 42 in his last five innings.

Surely that is the sort of form that cannot be ignored when the shaky Proteas top-order is constantly teetering on the verge of collapse?

Coach Mark Boucher has put himself firmly in Bavuma’s corner, but given that he will be leaving his job straight after the T20 World Cup, perhaps he is the man to make the tough call because the consequences and fallout won’t mean much to him sitting in Mumbai preparing for his new IPL job.

One worries that all this negative attention could also affect Bavuma’s batting in ODIs and Tests, where he is very much one of the kingpins of the side.

Seeing how a couple of personnel options go and getting the players into peak form ahead of the T20 World Cup are the focus points for Proteas coach Mark Boucher as he leads the team to India for a T20 and ODI series that starts next Wednesday and ends on October 11.

It will be Boucher’s penultimate mission with the national team, after he decided to end his stint with the Proteas after the T20 World Cup that follows the India tour. Boucher will be becoming the Mumbai Indians head coach, but he did not want to talk about that, rather disingenuously saying contractual obligations to both CSA and his new IPL franchise prevented him from speaking about his move.

“It’s a massive tour for us, the tour before the big event, which is the World Cup. It will be very easy to keep the focus on that massive prize and I know the players are very focused too,” Boucher said.

“My personal decisions won’t hamper the players, I’m in this job for them and I will give 100% to them. I want to look at combinations, keep them in touch in terms of form and try get the confidence going.

“We hope to see a couple of options and give opportunities to players, albeit in Indian conditions. We know we will have to play a different brand in Australia, but I know we’ve got the players to push for a great outcome.

“We also don’t want to give away too many of our cards because India are in our World Cup pool as well. So don’t expect us to go at them with our full-frontal team,” Boucher said.

While the 45-year-old often comes across as a stern older brother type rather than a kind, gentle uncle, there is no doubt he backs his players. Whether that be “backing Temba Bavuma 100%” after his shock omission from the SA20 or pumping the tyres of a T20 squad that many see as dark horses for the World Cup title.

“We’ve been the most successful T20 side over the last 25-30 games and we have a lot of special players. I have full confidence that we have lots of ammunition, now it’s about getting the guys to go out and play and be world-beaters.

“We’ll try and get everyone involved and ready in India, there are three T20s and three ODIs to get the guys in form and fit. It’s a massive blow not having Rassie van der Dussen and his whole aura around the team.

“But we are fortunate to have lots of guys pushing for selection, the competition for places is massive. And we can compete in any conditions.

“The nice thing about being together for a long time is that we have continuity, but also some exciting new talent that doesn’t have the scars of the past,” Boucher said.

Temba Bavuma says he wants to park the bitter disappointment of not being bought for the SA20 franchise tournament for now as he looks ahead to the tour of India and then the T20 World Cup in Australia straight afterwards, but there is no doubting the Proteas captain feels like he has been ditched on Lovers’ Lane.

Bavuma, captain of the national T20 side, failed to draw a single bid in this week’s auction, despite being put up for sale three times, and will now not be a part of the most important T20 tournament this country has hosted. The 32-year-old suffered the same fate as fellow Proteas white-ball stalwart Andile Phehlukwayo.

“I would be lying if I said there wasn’t disappointment and obviously I expected to play a role in the SA20. And it’s not just myself but Andi as well, he has played for several years for South Africa in white-ball cricket.

“I feel almost let down. This is not coming from a place of entitlement though and you want to be selected on merit or whatever credentials you have.

“I also need to caution myself not to delve too deeply into it, even though I would like to think about it more. It’s not the right time now, my focus is on the India tour and the World Cup afterwards.

“It is comforting that some people share the same sentiments as me, but the biggest thing for me is to serve the team the best I can, I still have a big responsibility as captain,” Bavuma said on Thursday, sounding like someone who needed to be in hospital.

Setbacks have generally brought out the best of the feisty, determined Bavuma in the past and he’s not one for cussing and moaning in a dark corner. Coach Mark Boucher said the team ensured the captain knew he had their support when the squad had a get-together before their departure for India on Friday – “Temba is our leader, we back him 100% and you could see the energy around him, the guys understand the situation he is going through.”

“There are things I need to deal with on a personal level, but I’m not going to sit here and say I need to prove anything,” Bavuma said. “We had some team-building last night and it was nice to see the guys.

“We have friendships and relationships that go far beyond just being team-mates and knowing that they are there as my team-mates is enough, their presence is enough.

“I don’t expect words of sympathy, let’s rather go out there and create some memories. I’ve been out injured for three months so I’m looking forward to getting out on the park again,” Bavuma said.