The struggle continues CSA on the drive to unearth new allrounders for the Proteas

Focus on T20s means youngsters aren’t having to bowl second spells or bat for longer

● Where once upon a time they were ubiquitous and South Africa was actually accused of trying to force too many into a starting team, nowadays, seam bowling allrounders are like hen’s teeth.

It’s been more than 20 years since the national men’s side fitted Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener into a starting XI. Now they’re coaching or commentating and it’s left the current selection panel scratching their heads and supporters yearning for days gone by.

“We actually need a very strong core of all- rounders,” head of selectors Victor Mpitsang said when naming the squad for the ODI series with England.

Where have they all gone?

“It still seems like we are trying to fill the hole left by Jacques Kallis — and he retired eight years ago. There was panic when he was coming close to retirement but it seems that the work required back then to fill the gap wasn’t done,” says Dave Nosworthy, the former head coach of the Lions and Titans.

The Kallis/Pollock/Klusener era was an exceptional one for the national team and was the high point in the post-isolation era for a country that had produced generations of many great all-rounders.

By 2015, a year after Kallis’s retirement, South Africa’s World Cup hopes blew up because they couldn’t rely on anyone who could make 70 or 80 with the bat and bowl with control for 10 overs.

AB de Villiers, who captained the Proteas that year, ended up bowling in a semifinal trying to fill a gap.

Nosworthy’s current work, as the director of cricket at St Davids school in Sandton, keeps him in touch with development trends at junior level and he says it’s concerning that coaches are seemingly turning away from producing all-rounders.

Instead being a specialist — batter or bowler — is the direction that is being taken, driven by a lot of private coaches. “The fact that there is no timed cricket and a focus on T20s at schools means youngsters aren’t having to bowl second spells or bat for longer. Becoming an all-rounder is not being encouraged enough as it could be.”

Instead at provincial level, attempts are being made to turn players who show some prowess with their second commodity into all-rounders.

Marco Jansen, named the Emerging Male Cricketer of the Year this week by the International Cricket Council, is now being pushed as the primary all-rounder for the Proteas. “At best, Marco’s shown glimpses,” says Nosworthy.

The 22-year-old notched up a maiden Test half-century in Australia and won a match for his SA20 franchise, the Sunrisers Eastern Cape, with the bat by scoring 66 that included taking 28 runs from an over bowled by Rashid Khan.

“Jansen won’t be at the level of Kallis with the bat,” AB de Villiers said this week. “Yes, he can score some runs — but for him I’d say, ‘make sure your bowling is right up there, try to be the best in the world but definitely work on your batting’.

Shaun Pollock is more the comparison, he contributed with the bat and made a couple of Test hundreds.”

Growing the core of all-rounders means assessing what is in the system. With the 2027 World Cup being a priority for limited overs coach Rob Walter, he is plotting how to improve the players who could be in their prime then.

Jansen is one candidate, as is Wiaan Mulder, while Evan Jones has caught the eye for the Lions domestically and in the SA20 playing for the Paarl Royals.

Then there’s Andile Phehlukwayo, who many had hoped would become the next Klusener, but in over 100 international matches across the three formats has made little impression.

“He’s shown signs, but he has been inconsistent,” says Nosworthy.

Wayne Parnell is another, although despite his discipline with regard to his fitness regime, getting to 2027 may prove difficult as he’ll be 38 by then. Getting the players up to speed with the demands of being an allrounder will require Walter working closely with his colleague Shukri Conrad, who is overseeing the Test team and wants to create more meaningful first-class matches.

“There will be crossover, it’s always easier for the white ball component if there is a strong four-day element,” says Nosworthy.

“There’s no big secret, you’ve got to get the guys playing as much as possible. They have to get used to bowling a third and fourth spell and to bat for longer and you only get that in first-class cricket, but beyond that it needs to be competitive cricket.

“So they will have to create high performance opportunities, maybe through the A side, but of course with schedules these days there also has to be a fine balance.”

Striking that fine balance to create a more balanced team, is not a problem South Africa used to wrestle with. Now the system needs to operate smartly to provide them because achieving that goal in 2027 may depend on it.

Players must get used to bowling a third and fourth spell and to bat for longer Dave Nosworthy

Director of cricket at St Davids school in Sandton