With the T20 World Cup arriving in February, South Africa's top three for the tournament remains a mystery.
Just about two months remain for the men’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, giving the participating teams the chance to fine-tune and finalise their lineups ahead of the tournament.
South Africa and India’s ongoing T20I series has been of keen interest, given that these two contested the final in 2024, and it was a close-run thing in the end that went India’s way.
From a Proteas perspective, a few questions remain, one of them the composition of the top three.
Tracking South Africa’s changes
At the last T20 World Cup, South Africa opened with Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram batting at three. De Kock’s international future remained up in the air after the tournament, though.
“Quinny's an enigma. He hasn't officially called time. So we have that little glimmer of hope [that he will continue to play] that sits in the background,” said then-coach Rob Walter on his availability after the final against India.
As it happened, he was not picked for any T20I squads afterwards.
For the remainder of 2024, South Africa’s preferred top three was Ryan Rickelton, Hendricks and Markram. In effect, Rickelton simply replaced de Kock as a left-handed wicketkeeping opening bat.
Matthew Breetzke, Rassie van der Dussen and Tristan Stubbs served as understudies when Markram and Hendricks were unavailable for various reasons.
Entering the new calendar year though, two things happened. In January, teenage opener Lhuan-dre Pretorius set the SA20 on fire and in May, Walter was replaced by red-ball coach Shukri Conrad, who took charge of all three formats.
Conrad: Markram and Rickelton are my preferred openers
Conrad’s first T20I in charge of South Africa was during the tri-series against New Zealand and Zimbabwe in July. South Africa sent a largely second-string side for that series. Pretorius opened alongside Hendricks in four of the five games, with van der Dussen at three.
During that series, Conrad was very clear in saying that Hendricks was no longer first choice: “There are players who have flown past Reeza. He’s been a great performer for South Africa, especially in this format, but it’s no secret that Aiden [Markram] and Ryan [Rickelton] are my preferred opening batters.”
This followed in South Africa’s next two T20I series, against Australia and England where they sent full-strength teams. Hendricks failed to make either squad, and for five games in a row this August-September, the Proteas had a fixed top three of Markram, Rickelton and Pretorius.
The 19-year-old Pretorius was particularly disappointing, averaging just over 10 and striking at 130 as he often struggled to find the right tempo at international level. Admittedly, Markram and Rickelton did not exactly set things alight either, but the two have already shown they belong at the top table.
In October, de Kock reversed his ODI retirement, and also clarified to Conrad that he was available for T20I cricket again, with “no strings attached”. The wicketkeeper himself later added that he did not expect to simply walk back into the side, and would need to earn his spot.
South Africa chose to rest several all-format players for their next few T20Is against Namibia and Pakistan. De Kock played in all four of these fixtures, opening with Hendricks in the three games against Pakistan. Pretorius and Tony de Zorzi were also deployed in the top three.
De Kock only made 31 runs in four games, but retained his place in the squad for the India series, which saw the Proteas name a more or less full-strength side. Instead, Rickelton was dropped and Hendricks returned (remember, he had missed the Australia and England series).
South Africa started the series with de Kock and Markram opening, while Tristan Stubbs batted at three in Cuttack. For the next two games, de Kock opened with Hendricks, while Markram dropped down to three.
What does all this mean for the T20 World Cup?
At this point? It is anybody’s guess.
South Africa clearly wanted to give Pretorius every chance to make it at international level, but having failed to impress, there was little harm in letting him go, and perhaps work on his game a bit more. Not yet 20, there is plenty of time for him to return to the setup.
It is clear now that following de Kock’s return, there is space in the top three for only one of him and Rickelton. Markram is secure in one of the three spots thanks to his status as captain. But the absence of a standout No.3 candidate since the last World Cup may have forced South Africa’s hand somewhat, in terms of using Markram to fill that role and recalling Hendricks.
Nonetheless, neither Rickelton nor Markram opening now after Conrad called them his preferred pair at the top is bound to jar slightly.
Two T20Is remain against India, with three more against the West Indies in January before the World Cup – possibly after the squad announcement deadline, where one would expect the first-choice top three for the tournament to play all three games. In between is the SA20.
The de Kock/Rickelton shootout might be decided by that tournament, if one of them performs exceptionally well or poorly since neither has quite secured a spot on international performances; de Kock’s 90 in Mullanpur is one of two double-digit scores in eight T20I innings since his return (he has done well in ODIs, though).
The question now is, what happens to Hendricks? Conrad’s words on his future appeared quite final, but as things stand he is the first-choice opener. If Tony de Zorzi or Tristan Stubbs (or even Pretorius) have an outstanding season, could they come in at three with Markram back at the top? The more one thinks about it, the more questions than answers appear.
The coach, however, did try to downplay things before the third T20I which India won yesterday. “It might look as if we’re unsure given the amount of changes we’ve made, but it’s certainly not changes for the sake of it,” he said.
“There are a few guys who’ve been here since the Test series, and then we’ve also got the SA20 coming up. So, it’s about managing workloads, giving everyone a good run and seeing what works and what doesn’t. But we’re pretty clear in terms of what we want.”
Conrad added that Markram was “pretty flexible” and “We know who the one opening bat is definitely. He’s a left-hander.”
That, however, provides no extra clarity…
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
