Alviro Petersen Must Go If SA Want to Continue Smooth Transition

As far as “transitional phases” go, South Africa aren’t doing too badly. Since Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis retired, South Africa have lost just two Tests. They have won a Test series in Sri Lanka for the first time in over a decade, and they have blooded two rookies without much trouble.

Since losing the experience of 283 Tests between two of their stalwarts combined, the difficulty of South Africa’s assignments have ranged from gruelling hikes to a walk in the park, but they have made just the right kind of adjustments to make it work.

First, they moved Faf du Plessis to No. 3, where he has scored three fifties in seven innings. He stands on the brink of scoring his first hundred in that position, having finished Day 1 against the Windies on an unbeaten 99.

After that shift, South Africa blooded Dane Piedt in Zimbabwe, and the spinner announced his arrival on the international stage with a wicket off his first ball. The pipeline continued to pump in Centurion with Stiaan van Zyl making his debut in the first Test against the Windies following an injury to JP Duminy. Van Zyl marked his international bow with a century.

At some point during the current Test in Port Elizabeth, Temba Bavuma will get a chance to try his hand at international cricket. Whatever happens to Bavuma on debut, South Africa can be quite pleased with the way they have handled the loss of two of their behemoths.

Even Dean Elgar, who started his international career by bagging a pair, has upped the ante since being appointed opener. In Sri Lanka, he scored a ton in his new role, and on Friday against a lacklustre West Indies attack, he notched up his career best Test score of 121. Since permanently shifting to the opening berth, Elgar has averaged 45.00 and scored two of his three career hundreds.

Through all of this, just one glaring flaw remains in South Africa’s line-up. Alviro Petersen’s form and approach has been woeful since he last scored a Test century back in January 2013. He averages just 24.26 since that Test and has scored just three half-centuries in 25 innings, and he consistently gets out for scores in the 20- to 30-run range.

Although everyone goes through a bad patch of form, it’s part and parcel of the game, but struggles can only go on for so long. At some point, players have to be forced to go back to basics, and that time has now come for Petersen. He is already 34 years old, and while many batsmen have had long and fruitful careers beyond that age, South Africa’s time to build their new-look team is now.

Moving Van Zyl up to open when JP Duminy returns from injury is the most logical step. With a busy year coming up for South Africa next year (they tour Bangladesh and India and then host England), it is important to allow new faces at least some time to settle.

Duminy won’t recover from injury in time to play in the third Test against the Windies, so Van Zyl has more than enough time to get his teeth into international cricket, but Petersen simply cannot be allowed any more chances. Dropping him for the next Test in Cape Town might seem somewhat harsh and would leave the team with plenty of inexperience, but in order to move forward it’s the best thing to do.

There is plenty of support from his teammates, but planning for the future should be South Africa’s number one priority.

It is, of course, entirely possible that Petersen himself will decide to call it a day on his own terms long before he is forced to. Seeing out his final playing years as a Kolpak cricketer is not the worst way to go. But only time will tell how the bell tolls.

All quotes and information obtained firsthand.