The Proteas’ obsession with cramming dud allrounders in the team is going to be their downfall at the ICC Champions Trophy this month.
It’s now become clear that the bowling attack is lacking some expertise in England.
During South Africa’s ODI series against England, AB de Villiers’ manne only bowled the Poms out once.
That was in the third clash, when the series had already been lost.
In the England win before that, SA couldn’t break down the Poms despite opening batsman Jason Roy giving up his wicket on the cheap at the top of the innings.
For me, it should be a moerse concern for coach Russell Domingo and Abbas.
Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius and Farhaan Behardien have been liabilities up to this point, while Wayne Parnell is as hit-and-miss as ever. If they aren’t cutting the mustard, then they must sit bank.
They aren’t adding to the attack, which is hurting the Proteas’ very clear plan to back themselves to chase down scores in England.
The reason, apart from having top-10 ODI batsmen AB, Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla in the top order, is because conditions in the UK traditionally help seam bowlers.
Tracks usually have some green grass on top, which aids pace and bounce, while the ball moves off the growth.
And then the overhead conditions help with the swing.
All of this and the seaming allrounders are not getting the job done.
Dropping one of Phehlukwayo or Pretorius for Morne Morkel is going to be a boost, while Parnell is always going to be a better bet than Behardien no matter how inconsistent he is from ball to ball.
Coach Domingo has talked about bringing in a specialist bowler in Morkel but that will lengthen the tail.
However, if the allrounders don’t come to party with bat or ball, then the bowling and batting suffers.
They have to get the balance right, but at the moment it doesn’t seem like Phehlukwayo or Pretorius have adapted to the conditions in England and look short of confidence.
And they will have to get in the swing of things to help SA further in the tournament, starting with Sri Lanka tomorrow.