South Africa will be sweating over the fitness of batter Tony de Zorzi, who is out of the SA20. If he does not recover for the T20 World Cup, how could they replace him?
Tony de Zorzi was among the more puzzling names in the Proteas’ T20 World Cup squad announced earlier this month. A T20 strike rate of under 120 from 78 matches is thoroughly unremarkable, but that figure was in excess of 135 over the last calendar year. De Zorzi has also shown his ability to play in subcontinent conditions, with Test centuries in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The left-hander suffered a hamstring injury in the second ODI against India in December, and was ruled out of the following match as well as the subsequent five-T20I series. He was still injured when the SA20 got underway on December 26, but made the T20 World Cup squad regardless.
De Zorzi has since been ruled out of the entire tournament, which runs until January 25. ESPN report that he is expected to return for South Africa’s T20I series against West Indies which starts two days later, but as with any injury this is far from certain, and depends on his recovery process.
There is the very real possibility that de Zorzi ends up missing at least a part of South Africa’s World Cup campaign. Who has the best case to replace him, if so?
Ryan Rickelton
One of the big initial omissions from the squad. Rickelton only played 15 of South Africa’s 29 T20I since the last T20 World Cup, thanks to his all-format commitments.
He missed out on the squad primarily due to Quinton de Kock’s international retirement reversal, as chief selector Patrick Moroney made clear last week. De Kock made 90 and 65 vs India around six other scores of under 25, but it was enough to trump Rickelton’s T20I record of averaging 22.5 and striking at 137 since the 2024 tournament.
After his second SA20 century of the season, Rickelton said he felt he was “batting quite nicely in India. I just didn’t get any returns.”
While his SA20 form is tempting, it is not new. Throughout his spell with the national team, Rickelton averaged 42 and struck at 162 in T20 cricket outside of the international format; South Africa’s main sticking point appears to be his inability to carry this form to the next level.
Given that, according to Moroney, the initial squad selection was never about Rickelton vs de Zorzi, a call-up in this case may be unlikely. Rickelton is also hamstrung somewhat by his tendency to be tied up by spinners; since the last World Cup, he strikes at 115 against slow bowlers on a good length. With de Kock (SR 104) and Aiden Markram (94) already in the top three, de Zorzi (SR 145, but a much smaller sample) appears to be South Africa’s pick to break up that weakness.
Conversely though, when spinners miss their length, Rickelton is the most devastating of the Proteas’ top-order options, striking at 174. In this year's SA20, he has struck at 142 even against good-length balls. It is an interesting trade-off for them to consider; he has only batted outside the opening slot 13 times in his T20 career, but in an emergency there could be worse situations to be in.
Tristan Stubbs
The other big omission, Stubbs was not so much replaced by de Zorzi as he was by Jason Smith. It was another contentious call, with the rationale reportedly being that Smith has improved his boundary-hitting ability significantly. He did show glimpses of this during his 14-ball 41 in the SA20 opener.
That aside, one may say Stubbs was the most hard done by when the squad was announced. Throughout the last 18 months or so, he has been asked to essay a variety of roles and positions for South Africa; across four different batting positions (including No.3), Stubbs has attempted to do everything from negotiating an early wicket to accelerating in the back half, without really nailing anything down.
It is hard to see how this changes without a truly exceptional SA20 campaign. His unbeaten 47 for SEC last evening showcased more of his best work, but the returns have not quite been at sit-up-and-take-notice levels – 75 runs in four innings including that knock.
Add to all this the fact that Stubbs’ T20 record against spin bowling has been relatively poor since the last World Cup – he strikes at under 100 when they hit a good length, and 146 when they miss. The latter is a good number on the surface, but pales in comparison to South Africa’s alternatives. While his potential remains immense, one feels if he were this close to the squad to start with, South Africa may have simply picked him anyway.
Jordan Hermann
“We believe Tony is versatile enough that if we have a good Powerplay, he can move down the order and play a role later on,” Moroney said on de Zorzi. The main point against Rickelton as a replacement would hinge on this, since dropping to three may already be a step too far for him. Aiden Markram could move down in a similar way to de Zorzi, but South Africa may not want two left-handers in Rickelton and de Kock opening together then.
Additionally, since neither the historical record nor recent form is in Stubbs’s favour, another alternative emerges in the form of his SEC teammate Jordan Hermann. Left-handed like de Zorzi, the 24-year-old batted mainly in the top three for his SA20 franchise across the first three seasons before moving to No.4 and No.5 this year.
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Hermann has only batted four times, but each innings has been a significant contribution. Perhaps most hearteningly, he has shown signs of improvement with his hitting of spin, across lengths. Prior to this year, he struck at 114 against slow bowling. This SA20 season, that figure is 166.67, along with an average of 100. His takedown of Delano Potgieter in Paarl was David Miller-esque, and showed that he does have the power game in his locker – evidence of his ability to play the long innings was on show during his century in season two.
In terms of fit for the role as well as recent form, Hermann could trump both Stubbs and Rickelton as a potential de Zorzi stand-in. The only question is whether South Africa would be adventurous enough to hand him a maiden senior call-up for a World Cup.
The others
Outside of these three, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen have batted in the top three for South Africa in the ongoing cycle.
Still only 19, Pretorius is a precocious talent. But his initial struggles as a T20I batter culminated in coach Shukri Conrad telling the youngster beforehand that he would not be picked for this tournament. One assumes that is unlikely to change even if de Zorzi were unavailable.
Hendricks appears to have fallen out of favour. Conrad said last year that other batters had “flown past him” at the top of the order.
Van der Dussen remains an interesting outside choice, as someone with bags of experience. He has struck at 150 opening the innings in the SA20 so far, but 138 against spin (including 93 against good-length bowling). Rickelton, Hermann and Pretorius have been far superior in that regard and de Kock is roughly on par. These other four are all left-handed as well, and three of them can keep wickets.
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