Dwaine Pretorius: How one missed flight has left him fighting for Proteas career

Dwaine Pretorius has bent the selectors’ ears his way shortly before a World Cup on two previous occasions and the 32-year-old all-rounder will be hoping to do it a third time when the Proteas tour Sri Lanka next month.

South Africa has such a great tradition of all-rounders and competition for those places has been stiff, but Pretorius made the cut for both the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2019 World Cup. The latter tournament was the last time he played an ODI for South Africa and he finished a wretched tournament for the Proteas as their most economical bowler.

And now the T20 World Cup looms in October and November and Pretorius has one chance to stake his claim for that touring party with his performances in Sri Lanka.

Frustrations

That he has left it this late is no fault of his own – he has had terrible luck with injury and then caught Covid, which meant his last match for the Proteas was in February in Pakistan.

“The last six months have been the most frustrating of my career,” Pretorius told The Citizen on Thursday.

“First I broke my ribs taking a catch and then the night before flying to the West Indies I tested positive for Covid. Missing that one flight meant I missed two tours, to both the Caribbean and Ireland, so it was a shocker.

“Covid has brought a lot of new challenges, bubbles aren’t easy and there’s no leeway.

“So it’s been a tough one, but I just have to get over it and deal with it. It’s the third time I’m going through this sort of pressure, it was the same in 2017 and the 2019. I just take it game-to-game and focus on what’s in front of me now.

“I will try and play my brand of cricket that I believe can add value to the team.”

All-rounder role

The T20 World Cup is also being played on the subcontinent and Pretorius has bowled cannily in those conditions before and he strikes the ball strongly in the lower middle-order. He is a really valuable white-ball cricketer.

Andile Phehlukwayo has been left out of the T20 squad for Sri Lanka and that leaves Pretorius, Wiaan Mulder and spinner George Linde to fight for probably two all-round places in the XI.

“If I try and do a role that is not me, then the chances of success are so much less,” Pretorius said. “I know I can do the fifth/sixth bowler role and I have the power with the bat to finish innings. I will just try and prove that again and hopefully the selectors will decide I am the type of player they want in the World Cup squad.

“It’s a fight-or-flight situation and you just have to back what makes you you. I can score boundaries from ball one, but it’s risky and I could get out for less than 10 every time and then I will miss the World Cup.”

Meanwhile, opener Janneman Malan has also been left out of the T20 squad and Lungi Ngidi (personal reasons), Quinton de Kock (resting) and David Miller (hamstring injury) will miss the ODIs in Sri Lanka. Fast bowler Junior Dala returns to the Proteas squad, having also last played in Pakistan in February, and he will boost the wicket-taking capability of the attack.

Proteas squads

ODI – Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma (captain), Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, George Linde, Wiaan Mulder, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Junior Dala, Beuran Hendricks, Lizaad Williams.

T20 – Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, George Linde, Wiaan Mulder, Bjorn Fortuin, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Beuran Hendricks, Sisanda Magala, Lizaad Williams.