Cape Town — It is hard to keep up with the International Cricket Council staging a global tournament almost every year, but the T20 World Cup is almost upon us once again.
It was only a few months ago that the Proteas came within a whisker of qualifying for the semi-finals in the United Arab Emirates for the first time since Bangladesh 2014.
But now they are just five games away from heading down to Australia to have another crack at it in October.
Three of those matches will be wiped out against England this week, starting on Wednesday in Bristol, the very next day in Cardiff, before concluding in Southampton on Sunday.
And before the Proteas even have time to wipe their eyes out, they would have already completed the remaining two against Ireland in Bristol next week.
Such a tightly-squeezed schedule begins to provide clarity to why more and more players are opting out of playing all three formats. England Test captain Ben Stokes highlighted the issue around player welfare earlier this month when he dramatically resigned from One-Day Internationals to focus on the five-day format and T20s.
The Proteas have first-hand experience of this scenario with Quinton de Kock having hung up his Test willow and wicket-keeper gloves at the end of last year in favour of only white-ball cricket. Like Stokes, De Kock is a box-office cricketer that puts bums on seats, and his unavailability is not only a blow to the Proteas’ chances of victory but also to the administrators’ prospects of filling up stadiums in the long term.
"It's going to start being tough for players — three formats is a lot and it looks like more games are happening over the calendar," De Kock said at the conclusion of the ODI series against England at Headingley. "Players need to make decisions individually and if they feel they can do it [play all three formats], I am happy for them. But guys need to take decisions into their own hands. For me, I am happy where I am."
De Kock isn’t quite sure yet whether his Test retirement has contributed to him striking 419 runs, which includes a century and three fifties, at an average of 59.85 thus far this year.
“I’ve always been a decent white-ball player anyway”, De Kock reckons, but there’s no doubt the Proteas are looking to get the best out of one of their most experienced batters every time he joins up with the national team.
He certainly was in fine touch in Leeds, stroking an undefeated 92 from 76 balls, that had even had the partisan Headingley crowd purring in appreciation.
And after missing out on a couple of matches in the preceding T20I series in India due to an injured hand, De Kock will be looking to continue this form this week, especially with captain Temba Bavuma not available to join him at the top of the order.
It is critical that even in the absence of Bavuma that the Proteas begin to find some rhythm and formulate their respective gameplans in the shortest format ahead of the T20 World Cup.
“It is key for us to play these games,” De Kock said. “There’s a T20 World Cup happening this year and there’s a World Cup next year. We will take it step by step. Our focus was to play as well as a team.”
There are a couple of notable changes to the T20I squad with David Miller taking over the leadership reins from Keshav Maharaj, while youngsters such as Tristan Stubbs and the uncapped Gerald Coetzee along with the recalled veteran Rilee Rossouw inject some fresh energy into the Proteas team.
IOL Sport