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Cricket: Dale Steyn’s imminent return – WHO to drop?

Cricket: Dale Steyn’s imminent return – WHO to drop?

While Dale Steyn is probably frothing at the mouth to have a crack at the Aussies, the selectors must be agonising while deciding who to drop to make room for their pace ace, returning for the three-match T20 series beginning on Friday. By ANTOINETTE MULLER.

There is nothing Dale Steyn would rather be doing than bowling bouncers at Australian batsmen and staring them down with his crazy eyes. Luckily for him, that’s exactly what he’ll be doing when South Africa and Australia take each other on in a three-match T20 series beginning on Friday.

Having not really played international cricket for more than three months, Steyn is probably feeling more than a little frustrated. Two injuries cut his test playing time short and while Kagiso Rabada more than compensated for his absence, Steyn’s return will be welcomed by lovers of fast bowling.

He returned to competitive cricket in the most unglamorous of fashions: playing club cricket for the Western Province Cricket Club. This is no blight on the stature of WPCC, but club cricket is something that many might feel is beneath South Africa’s best fast bowler. But it was the only option the 32-year-old had. While he is contracted with the Cobras, Steyn didn’t feel it would be right to barge in on their final party when they took on the Lions at Newlands this past Sunday.

I just felt like playing in a final for the Cobras — my first game back from injury after two months — I haven’t played anything and I haven’t helped them get into the final. So it was probably not the right option for me. So playing competitive club cricket was the best option,” Steyn told Independent Media.

He ended up taking five for 13 in 10 overs and insisted that the shoulder injury that kept him out of action for the South African summer has been “fine” for the last three weeks. While his return will be invaluable in reputation alone it does create an interesting selection dilemma for South Africa heading into the T20 series against Australia and the World T20 further ahead as selectors try to figure out who the best possible XI might be.

In the last two years, Steyn has played just five T20s for South Africa and taken nine wickets at an average of 17.00. However, in his absence, Kyle Abbott, Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris have astutely led the attack. Abbott has taken 17 wickets in 15 games (average 22.52), Rabada has taken 12 in 10 (average 23.66) and Morris has taken five in four fixtures (average 25.40). Based on these numbers alone, it would seem that Morris would be the man to lose out, but nothing is simple in T20 selection.

In the one-day international and T20 series against England, Morris proved an invaluable finisher with the bat. This means Morris could retain his place in the side as an all-rounder, leaving South Africa with a decision to drop someone else. Some might suggest David Wiese should get the boot, but he is South Africa’s second highest wicket-taker in the last two years with 18 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 13.61. Like Morris, Wiese does have the ability to pull a rabbit out of a hat when the pressure is on.

JP Duminy isn’t in fantastic form, but he is South Africa’s second-highest run scorer in T20s in the last two years with 409 runs at an average of 45.44 (not far behind Faf du Plessis’ 446) and on the subcontinent his part-time spin will be more than useful.

So South Africa might have to make a call between Abbott and Rabada, and in moments like these, you must be quite pleased not to be a selector. The fact that the conditions in South Africa are likely to be vastly different from that they are likely to encounter in India doesn’t make the decision easier. One thing is for sure, though, Steyn will have to play if South Africa want to be sure that he is 100% bowling and match fit.

But Steyn’s return isn’t the only thing that the selectors will be pondering. The powers that be will also be keeping a beady eye on Aaron Phangiso. The spinner’s action was ruled to be illegal this week following independent tests conducted at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre, an ICC accredited laboratory.

He has been suspended from bowling in domestic cricket and will not be available for the first two T20s against Australia. Phangiso will remain in the squad while working with South Africa’s spin bowling coach Claude Henderson and CSA’s high performance manager Vinnie Barnes in an effort to remedy his action. For the time being, he will also remain in the World T20 squad and will undergo a second round of independent tests next week.

Should Phangiso fail this test and be banned from bowling internationally, it will be another blow for the spinner. In the last three months, Phangiso has had to deal with the story of him being too drunk to board a plane from Dubai surfacing and being spotted by TV cameras mimicking doing a line of cocaine. Phangiso has apologised, but it has not done his reputation any good. A ban from bowling will severely test Cricket South Africa’s player management skills with a player who is clearly in need of some TLC. DM

Photo: South Africa’s Dale Steyn celebrates after taking the wicket of Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez during the second day of their first test cricket match in Johannesburg, February 2, 2013. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings.

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