The Proteas are back in South Africa following back-to-back white-ball tours to Australia and England. They will take a short break before a one-off T20I in Namibia and a series in Pakistan that includes games in all three formats.
With the first game of that series, a Test that starts 12 October, it gives us a moment to run the rule over the players and assess their performances in Australia and England. From a team perspective the Proteas won both the ODI series 2-1, while they lost the T20I series against Australia and drew the T20I series with England. Overall, that’s a reasonable result. From an individual player perspective, here’s our report card:
Aiden Markram: 8
Still adapting to life at the top of the order after spending the bulk of career playing four. Markram was the pick of the Proteas batsmen and undoubtedly their most consistent performer over the four series. While he failed to make a century, he had two scores in the 80s and several other useful contributions. It’s no coincidence that in the two stinging ODI defeats (by 276 runs against Australia and 342 runs to England) that Markram was dismissed for scores of two and a duck. At this stage he is critical at the top of the Proteas batting.
Ryan Rickelton: 3
He’s solid behind the stumps but his form with the bat has dropped off alarmingly since the start of the year. He was sensational in the Test series against Pakistan and carried his form into the SA20, but things got patchy with the Mumbai Indians in IPL and have continued their downhill trajectory since then. Rickelton hasn’t managed a score of more than fifty in his last ten knocks for South Africa. His best score in the period under review was the 71 he made in the series opening T20I at Cairns. If the power-hitters who come in down the order are to have a proper launch platform, Rickelton needs to up his game.
Lhuan-dre Pretorius: 3
Pretorius only played in the T20 games and sadly, he failed to live up to the big expectations he brought with him. His job is obviously to score quick runs from the number three position, and while his strike-rate was good enough, the volume of runs returned was not good enough. In all he managed 52 runs from five innings with a top score of 24 in Cairns. He is young and full of potential, and he is undoubtedly tasked with scoring from ball one, but sometimes a degree of circumspection is required.
Dewald Brevis: 7
Brevis announced to the rest of the world what South Africans already knew when he smashed a brilliant and undefeated 125 against Australia in the second T20I. That knock was the undoubted highlight of his tour although some of his follow-up knocks, with scores of 53, 49 and 42, were also good. If anything, he needs to bring a degree of consistency to his game. While that may be a tad unfair to say given where he bats and the expectation that’s on his shoulders whenever he walks to the crease, he shouldn’t be happy with a tour average of 35.22.
Matthew Breetzke: 8
Only in the mix for the ODI games, Breetzke continued his excellent run of form as he became the first batsman in ODI history to post scores over fifty in his first five innings. He failed for the first time in the Rose Bowl drubbing, but prior to that he posted scores of 85, 88 and 57. At 26-years-old Breetzke has the opportunity to develop himself into an excellent all-format cricketer. He certainly ends the tour with his reputation enhanced.
Tristan Stubbs: 5
Stubbs played in all the games but wasn’t at his best. He made a few gaffes in the field while he made plenty of starts, at no stage did it ever feel like he was dominating attacks in the way that Proteas fans know he can. He scored a total of 272 runs at an average of 24,72. His top score on tour was 74 in the second ODI against Australia in Mackay. Stubbs didn’t have a bad tour, but just like the fans, he would have expected more of himself.
Temba Bavuma: 5
One solid score of 65 against Australia, Bavuma was once again struck down with injury. An outstanding cricket brain and a wonderful ODI batsman, Bavuma will be disappointed with his overall level this tour as he averaged just 23.5 from four outings.
Wiaan Mulder: 6
Mulder brings excellent balance to the ODI team given his ability with both the bat and ball. He averaged 15.5 with the bat and bagged four wickets. He spent the bulk of his time batting at seven but appeared once at three as well. He is versatile that’s for sure, but he has yet to truly dominate a white-ball attack in the way he did against Zimbabwe when he smashed that epic 367*.
Corbin Bosch: 7
While he is emerging as a very useful allrounder, Bosch is first and foremost a bowler. He weighed in with a useful return of 11 wickets on tour – his best return three for 20 in the second T20I in Darwin. He weighed in with an undefeated 32 against England at Lord’s and finished the tour with a batting average of 12. He did all that was asked of him, and even if he is only an understudy to Marco Jansen, he is making it hard for Shukri Conrad to leave him.
Keshav Maharaj: 9
Injury brought his activity to a premature end just as he was about to make his return to the T20I side. But as an ODI bowler, Maharaj used the series against Australia to ascend to the top of the ICC rankings before entrenching his position there against England. Maharaj took 14 wickets on tour across six games only going wicketless in the second ODI against Australia. He averaged 19.42 per wicket and weighed in with some useful runs as well. Maharaj is getting on a bit (he’s rapidly approaching his 36th birthday) but he is getting better-and-better. Without doubt he is the best spinner South Africa has produced in the post-isolation period.
Lungi Ngidi: 8
Ngidi showed once why he is South Africa’s premium white-ball quick. While Kagiso Rabada gets the fanfare, it is Ngidi, with his willey variations and excellent slower ball, who boasts a better average and strike rate than his more revered counterpart. Ngidi was injured before the end of the tour, which meant he missed the T20I action against England, but before that he bagged an excellent 11 wickets at an average of 22.63. His best return was five for 42 in the second ODI against Australia which secured the series for the Proteas.
Kagiso Rabada: 6
Rabada played just five games on the tour, claiming six wickets in the process. Along with the rest of the bowlers he was horribly mauled at Old Trafford, going for 70 runs in his four overs. While it is hard for bowlers to dominate in T20I, the Proteas badly needed their spearhead to step up and impose himself as Phil Salt and Jos Buttler teed off. Unfortunately, however, it wasn’t to be.
Kwena Maphaka: 8
Although he faded a bit towards the end of the tour, Maphaka still managed nine wickets – all of them on the Australian leg of the tour. His best return was four for 20 in the Darwin T20I. Maphaka is undoubtedly a work-in-progress, but progress is good. He looked excellent in the field, holding a number of excellent catches, but best of all generated good pace and showed the ability to trouble world-class batters.
