Hard sell or not, Proteas need to perform

Even the most generous economist would admit South Africa’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka starting in Durban on Wednesday is a hard sell, and Proteas captain Faf du Plessis was insisting on Tuesday that the home team’s focus is on ensuring their own levels of performance are high and that they get some revenge for what happened when they toured the subcontinent island last July.

Sri Lanka have not won a match since October, having just finished a very challenging tour of Australia, the board have shown their displeasure with coach Chandika Hathurusingha by removing him as an on-tour selector, the ICC have made allegations of matchfixing against well-known figures in their cricket, there’s political interference from their sports ministry, and changes to the selectors and coaching staff have all just added to the uncertainty.

The new selectors, against the wishes of Hathurusingha, have axed Dinesh Chandimal as captain and left him out of the tour squad, which is extremely inexperienced with eight of the 17 having played five or less Tests.

Injuries have also played a part as only eight members of the squad that beat South Africa 2-0 in the Test series in Sri Lanka last July are on tour.

“Our eyes are on World Cup preparation, but for myself and the coach, it’s comfortable for us to keep our eyes on both that tournament and getting back to number one in the Test rankings.

There are a few one-day players in the Test team, so it’s important that their focus is not distracted. We were initially number seven in Tests and we’re gearing everything towards getting back to number one, that’s a massive driving force and if we win our next two series then we’ll only be a point or two behind.

“Sri Lanka had a tough time in Australia and there’s a lot happening around the team, but we always respect the opposition and our preparation doesn’t change. That’s something I speak about when I feel the intensity drop in our preparation. They have very good cricketers in their team and they hurt us by beating us 2-0 in their conditions, so it’s important we do the same to them.

“We need to make sure we start well and keep them under pressure, and then possibly their breaking point will come sooner because of everything that’s happening outside the team. But we’ll treat them with the same respect as a top side. We have distractions too with the World Cup and we’re up against a team that is not at their best, so we have to make sure we’re switched on,” Du Plessis said at Kingsmead on Tuesday.

Playing the same XI that beat Pakistan by 107 runs at the Wanderers in their last Test or bringing in spinner Keshav Maharaj for Dale Steyn or Duanne Olivier are both selection options for the Proteas, as are keeping the four-pronged pace attack and bringing in Maharaj for a batsman (Theunis de Bruyn) or playing Maharaj and all-rounder Wiaan Mulder as a fourth seamer instead of Steyn or OIivier.

“Generally the Durban pitch always allows for a spinner. In a perfect world against a subcontinental side we would like the option of four seamers, but history suggests we’re going to need a spinner. So one option is to go in a batsman light and back extreme firepower, or the other is to play Mulder at seven as our fourth seamer, which has a nice balance. There’s no massive pace though in the Sri Lankan team, so having one batsman less is not as high-risk,” Du Plessis said.

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