Playing Dale Steyn in the first Test is a no-brainer: Omar Henry

Omar Henry, the former convenor of selectors of the South African Cricket team, is in the favour of Dale Steyn being included in the Proteas XI for the first Test match against India which will start at Newlands, Cape Town on 5th of January. Steyn has not played in the longest format of the game for quite a bit because of injury. He was expected to make a comeback in the whites recently in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, but a viral infection kept him on the sidelines.

The veteran has however been named in the South African squad for the Newlands Test match, but there are question marks whether he will be picked in the XI or not. The reason why some of the pundits reckon South Africa are better off going without Steyn is the fact that the 34-year-old has not had too much of match practice of late.

He might have recovered from the injury, but the match fitness is a different thing. To go into a Test match without having bowled enough overs is slightly risky, but Henry has a different opinion on that front.

Dale has to play

According to Henry, India‘s batting is of high quality and to put their batsmen under pressure, South Africa will have to be firing on all cylinders for which they not only need Steyn but need all the four specialist fast bowlers in the squad and also the spinner Keshav Maharaj.

“Dale simply has to play. We need to play our four best seamers against India plus the spinner. India have improved- both batting and bowling, but in our conditions, we need to attack them with our best four seam bowlers plus the spinner.” Henry was quoted saying by iol.com.

What’s worth noting is that South Africa have rarely preferred a combination of 6 batsmen and 5 bowlers in Test matches in the last couple of years. They have either operated with 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers or 6 batsmen, an all-rounder and 4 bowlers. However, with a conundrum around the fast bowlers now, it would be interesting to see what combination they field in the first Test.

Apart from Steyn, the other fast bowlers in the South African squad are Morne Morkel, Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander, while there are two fast bowling all-rounders as well in the form of Chris Morris and Andile Phehlukwayo.