Ken Borland

An autumnal sun may be shining over SuperSport Park on Friday and the pitch could be a bit slower than usual, but Proteas coach Mark Boucher is still expecting good conditions and for wicket-taking firepower to be crucial in the middle overs of the first ODI against Pakistan.

The last time South Africa played a home ODI series in April was against Australia in 2009, the Proteas winning the rubber 3-2. While spinners played a big role in the series, the most interesting result came at Centurion when Australia were destroyed by early-morning swing, Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell sharing eight wickets, to be bowled out for just 131. Friday’s match has a 10am start time.

“It’s certainly cooling down, it’s why I’m wearing my tracksuit top and a couple of the guys have come down with a bit of flu,” Boucher said in his virtual interview on Thursday. “Generally, the colder it gets up here the slower the pitch, but it still looks pretty good. There hasn’t been as much cricket played on it this summer so it probably is a bit fresher than usual. And it’s a day game so I expect good conditions, but just a touch slower to what we’re used to.

“We’ve got the pace though and we need wickets in the middle overs. From overs 11-40 we want to be nice and aggressive, make the play and not just sit back and wait for things to happen. So I hope the quicks run in and be really aggressive. You tend to win games if you take wickets in that period and we’ve got the firepower and the spinner to do that.”

Boucher confirmed that all 22 members of the ODI squad are fit and available, including all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo, who injured his ankle in the first game of the domestic T20 competition and has not played since February 19.

The last time the Proteas played ODI cricket was when they whitewashed Australia 3-0 a year ago, but not all of those star performers are going to be in the starting XI on Friday.

“A lot of guys were rested from that series and there were a couple of injuries, plus it was a long time ago. So by rights certain players will come back and have got to fill their spots again, but we will also take form into consideration. It’s nice to have a full-strength squad to choose from and the guys who were given an opportunity really performed. But there will be honest conversations about who is first in line.

“Temba Bavuma will probably bat three and we see Aiden Markram as someone we can juggle, but he will probably start up front although he can bat three or four. We’ve selected a squad in line with what we want to do in the 2023 World Cup, but it’s more important to win now and we want give guys opportunities where they have really done well for their franchises,” Boucher said.

Dane Piedt has the variations

New Proteas spinner Dane Piedt has excited many with his wicket-taking variations, to which 45 batsmen succumbed in the Sunfoil Series, but the Cape Cobras offie knows that international batsmen will feast on him if he tries too much with the ball.

Piedt is heading off to Sri Lanka on his first tour with the Proteas and there can scarcely be a more daunting place for a finger spinner, even one armed with doosras and carrom balls, to make his debut.

“It’s going to be really important to get into a spell. You can’t go for four or five runs an over in long-form cricket because then the captain can’t set fields. Once you’ve bowled 10 overs for 20 runs then you can start manipulating things, bowl variations and change the field,” Piedt said at the Centre of Excellence in Pretoria, where the Proteas were having a fitness camp.

According to his Cobras coach, Paul Adams, what makes Piedt so good is his ability to “just sit at one end and create pressure”.

“When a spinner is a match-winner and takes five-fors in the last innings of the game, that’s what you want to see. It’s great to not crumble under the pressure of being the one relied on to get those wickets, and Dane’s managed to pull off a couple of those performances this season,” Adams added.

While Piedt was a revelation for the Cobras, bowling them to the four-day title, he has been on the national selectors’ radar for a while, attending the national academy in 2011 and touring Australia with the Emerging South Africa squad in 2012 and playing for SA A last year.

“I’ve been given responsibility at the Cobras. Justin Ontong [the captain] always threw me the ball and said ‘bowl the team out’. He used me as a wicket-taker and not just in four-day cricket. It’s the role I was given from the start of the season.

“I had to take it to the next level because we were missing a couple of bowlers with Beuran Hendricks, Rory Kleinveldt, Robin Peterson and Vernon Philander all with the national squad, I had to use my skills in the fourth innings and win games,” Piedt said.

The 24-year-old’s success is not that surprising considering how quickly he whips the ball through, while still obtaining turn and bounce, and how economical he generally is, conceding just 2.50 runs per over in the Sunfoil Series last season. He was also the leading wicket-taker in the competition and there’s no doubt he has a strong claim to a Test spot as back-up to leg-spinner Imran Tahir.

The SACS product said he was sorry to see England off-spinner Graeme Swann, one of his role-models, retire from the game this year.

“I loved watching Graeme Swann, but unfortunately he’s retired so we won’t be seeing him again.”

Piedt has also incorporated aspects of Pakistani Saqlain Mushtaq, Australian Tim May and even local hero Adams into his game.

“It’s mostly all the orthodox off-spinners, but Saqlain had the ability to spin the ball the other way, which was exciting, and obviously Paul, coming from Cape Town, was a hero. It was always a big thing when he played for South Africa for us in the coloured community,” Piedt said.

It seems that Cape Town might have produced another spinner to take the international stage by storm. There’s no doubt Piedt is an exciting prospect and an opportunity to shine in Sri Lanka is one he’s going to grab with both hands.