3 Big Questions Facing South Africa Ahead of England Series

It’s taken a while for the impact of Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis’ retirements to finally hit South Africa, but the cracks are starting to show. It’s not all doom and gloom, but the youngsters who have taken up the mantle are still very inexperienced, and it shows.

This will be a watershed series for the Proteas as a number of players have points to prove, and the reserves will be tested once again as injuries are bound to play a part.

The bulk of South Africa’s players will feature in first-class games ahead of the Boxing Day Test to try to find some form. Like England, South Africa have a few questions hanging over their heads before the series begins.

Can AB de Villiers keep all series?

AB de Villiers has been named as wicketkeeper for the first two Tests of the series. South Africa’s chief selector, Linda Zondi, has insisted this is not a permanent solution.

The powers that be believe that using De Villiers behind the stumps will add more depth to the batting. While that’s true, De Villiers has also said previously that he is not a fan of keeping in Tests because of issues with his back.

De Villiers is South Africa’s best batsman and risking an injury to him during such an important series simply isn’t worth it. It also means that De Villiers will probably slot in down the order so that he can have as much time as possible for recovery.

This strategy is far from ideal, and the Proteas will be keeping a beady eye on how both Dane Vilas and Quinton de Kock get on in the first-class matches they’ll be playing. De Kock is definitely the future for South Africa, but selectors don’t seem to trust him enough to bat in Tests.

Can South Africa risk not playing a front-line spinner?

England were spun out by Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates recently, but South African tracks aren’t exactly spin friendly. Dane Piedt is in the squad for the first two Tests—in Durban and Cape Town—but Johannesburg and Pretoria will likely be far more tailored to the quick bowlers.

Still, considering England’s struggles against spin, South Africa will have to ask themselves if simply relying on the part-time spin of JP Duminy and Dean Elgar will be enough on fast tracks? South Africa should guard against the results of the first two Tests being the sole determinant for their decision to play a spinner in the final two matches.

What to do if the opening pair fails yet again?

In India, Stiaan van Zyl and Dean Elgar didn’t exactly look convincing. Sure, the conditions were extreme, but Van Zyl never really looked comfortable opening the batting. Granted, he has only recently been earmarked as a Test opener and has not had much time to adjust, but is this really a risk to take during such an important series?

Van Zyl has opened the batting for his domestic team in limited-overs cricket before, but he hasn’t quite adjusted to the role in the longest format of the game. He will have a bit more time to adjust to this role when he plays for his franchise in a four-day game later this week, but how long South Africa will persist with him during this series is one of the key points they have to consider.

An out-of-the-box option would have been to let Hashim Amla, regular opener for the one-day team, open the batting with Van Zyl moving down the order. This is a highly unlikely solution, though, as Amla seems to have been entrusted with shifting back to batting at No. 3 and serve as an anchor.