All cricketing eyes will be on the SA men's senior team at the World Cup from next month.
The make-up of the men’s T20 World Cup squad has generated plenty of discussion, unsurprisingly, with the omission of Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs seemingly confusing many fans.
Serious cricket followers have also wondered why Simon Harmer and Matthew Breetzke aren’t in the squad and so, too, maybe Jordan Hermann, Lhuan-dré Pretorius, Ottneil Baartman and even Evan Jones.
Questions have been asked about why Tony de Zorzi and Jason Smith, both with just two T20 internationals to their names, have been included in the 15-man squad for the tournament starting next month.
If truth be told, the squad picked by the selectors doesn’t elicit confidence ahead of the showpiece.
Out of the 15, the only man who’s shown consistent form in recent times is the out-of-retirement Quinton de Kock.
Selections
Injury-plagued Anrich Nortjé has looked good in the SA20 so far while there have been a few encouraging performances from the likes of Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen and David Miller, but my concern is that they, and too many other players in the Proteas squad, are too inconsistent to give one serious hope of the side going far.
Even senior men, whose places in the squad are hardly questioned, such as captain Aiden Markram (210 runs at an average of 23 in nine T20I matches in 2025) and Kagiso Rabada (six wickets in five T20I matches at 27 and economy rate of 10 in 2025) are hit-and-miss a lot of the time.
Potential match-winner Dewald Brevis struggles for consistency and so, too, does Kwena Maphaka while Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj and George Linde have had mixed fortunes in the ongoing SA20.
Opportunity to stand up
While value to a team is seen differently by all, form and consistency are often the key building blocks of success. I’m not sure there is enough of that in this World Cup squad for the side to be considered contenders.
But, on the flip side, if these players perform to their potential you just never know what might happen. They all have the ability … it’s about doing it on a regular, consistent basis.
The T20 game is like nothing else in cricket and you really need only one or two men to stand up in a game, and one or two others to chip in with an important cameo, to win, so here’s hoping that happens at the World Cup.
