The Proteas will return to cricketing action for the first time since the World Cup and the first time since that selection debacle when they begin their T20 series against Bangladesh on the weekend. They will take on a resurgent Bangladesh team, who have been buoyed by the surprise announcement that their Champions Trophy qualification is now at risk.

Bangladesh, who recently beat Pakistan and India, thought they had qualified for the Champions Trophy in 2017 as per the ICC rankings. But Pakistan, West Indies and Zimbabwe will now play in a tri-series in August. These matches will all count towards qualification and could jeopardise Bangladesh’s qualification. As a result, Bangladesh will be fired up as they continue their steady rise and improvement in one-day cricket.

And Bangladesh will be more confident than ever that they actually have a shot. With a World T20 at stake next year, South Africa will be working on combinations, testing out new tactics and trying to find a way to make the new limited overs playing condition changes work for them.

But at the centre of all the usual selection headaches is yet another sticking point: transformation. Transforming the fabric of South African cricket, or rather the fact that South Africa has produced just one prominent black cricketer in over two decades of democracy, has been a sticking point for the governing body for some time now. So much so that they have moved to take a more ‘aggressive’ approach by introducing a higher number of quotas at for black players at franchise (three, up from two) and provincial (four, up from three) levels.

The reasons behind South Africa’s struggle to produce quality black cricketers are many and varied but come down to three simple points: access to resources (from kit to facilities to the time it takes to play cricket), the fact that cricketers don’t really earn a decent income until they’ve made it to franchise level (the luxury of waiting around to make it is something most South Africans cannot afford) and the fact that cricket is largely played by former model C schools and the structures of it do not exist in townships, nevermind the facilities and infrastructure to play.

Still, there has been some progress and some of it is evident in selection of the limited overs squads for this tour, particularly the T20 team. Across all three squads, there are four black players. Now, that might seem like very few comparatively, but considering the above-mentioned challenges, it is a small but encouraging step forward. The T20 squad has three black players in the 14-man squad.

Theoretically, two of those players will feature in the starting XI for both T20s. Kagiso Rabada, the speedster who shot to fame during the Under-19 World Cup in 2014 has already made his bow, and with Dale Steyn absent from the T20 squad, he is likely to play. Rabada has already enjoyed a meteoric rise in his first season as fully fledged franchise cricketer and, if managed well, surely has a long career ahead of him. Rabada also forms part of the limited overs and Test squad, although he is unlikely to play barring injury to one of South Africa’s stalwarts.

But the T20 side offers some promise for other players, too. With Imran Tahir, one of South Africa’s best limited overs spinners, omitted from the T20 squad, it’s a tussle between Aaron Phangiso and Eddie Leie for the spinner’s role. For transformation drum bangers, the irony cannot be lost here. Two black players are in direct competition with each other for the spinner’s role, just like they were at the Lion’s franchise a season ago. Leie is a far more attacking and cunning bowler than Phangiso and with ‘X-Factors’ being all the rage in T20 cricket these days, Leie would make a great addition to the T20 team. Leie, who had a brief stint (and will return to that stint after the T20 tour) with the St Lucia Zouks in the Caribbean Premier League recently, should be a shoo-in for a T20 debut. The leggie finished last season’s domestic T20 with 14 wickets (joint second-highest) at an average of 18.21. Who knows, on turning tracks in the subcontinent, selectors might even be bold enough to pick two spinners. Should it so happen that all three players are selected for the starting XI, they will certainly all be there on merit.

The one-day and Test team is far less likely to appease those desperately trying to transform South African sport from the top down. This is not going to change overnight and that it hasn’t happened in 20 years shows just how far grassroots development still needs to come before the gap is bridged. DM

Photo: South Africa’s Hashim Amla celebrates reaching his century as he is watched by teammate AB de Villiers (L) and England’s Matt Prior (R) during the third cricket test match at Lord’s in London August 19, 2012. REUTERS/Philip Brown