South Africa’s top cricketers have no reason not to hit the ground running when they face England in the limited-overs series at the end of the month.
With the first of the three-match T20Is kicking off at Newlands on November 27, the bulk of the country’s players have not had limited-overs action recently.
Some of them went to the India Premier League (IPL) in Dubai, where Quinton de Kock and his Mumbai Indians teammates won the trophy on Monday after beating Delhi Capitals by five wickets in the final.
What will be of interest to national coach Mark Boucher is that two of his fast bowlers – Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje – ended in the top five of the wicket-taker’s list.
Rabada topped the charts with 30 scalps in 17 matches, with Nortje in fourth place overall with 22 wickets in 16 matches.
Chris Morris is the next South African on the list, coming in at No.20 with 11 wickets.
In the batting department, captain De Kock once again proved why he is one of the most dangerous hard-hitters in the world, finishing sixth with a total of 503 runs.
AB de Villiers (who has not yet come out of international retirement) ending 10th with 454 runs and ex-skipper Faf du Plessis (449) finished in 11th place.
So while not all of the SA players got sufficient game time in the tournament, Boucher will undoubtedly bank on in-form Rabada, Nortje, De Kock and Du Plessis to give them the edge against the visitors.