Selection conundrum ahead of India tour of South Africa

A problem of plenty isn’t much of an apparent trouble unless you’re the one who has the deciding hat on. South African selectors will have to do some serious weighing of pros and cons as they’ll have to make a decision between Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn for the third seamer spot against India. The India Tour of South Africa begins on January 5, 2018 at Cape Town.

Morne Morkel has edged his way into contention after he got a five-for against Zimbabwe in the Boxing Day Test. However, he can barely rest easy as Dale Steyn is expected to make his comeback after having recovered from a long-drawn injury in the upcoming series. The other two-seamer spots can be expected to have been sealed by Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander.

Morne Morkel bowls exceptionally against Zimbabwe

The selectors are in for a selection conundrum with the choice being clear – the swing of Steyn or the bounce of Morkel. While Dale Steyn has primarily been practising in the nets and has played only in the 3-day warm-up match against Zimbabwe, Morkel added a few points to his name by scalping 5 wickets for just 21 runs in 11 overs in the Zimbabwe first innings. “It was nice to get wickets under my name so when it comes to selection, guys will maybe think about me,” Morkel was quoted saying by ESPN Cricinfo.

When asked about the imminent selection question, the lanky pacer said, “We’ll have to see. Dale has been bowling exceptionally well in the nets. He looks strong, he is very fit and I reckon he would have been a handful on this [Port Elizabeth] wicket but it’s another week for him to freshen up. For me, there is no personal sort of message, for us it’s important not to get involved in those sorts of things. If we are strong and we are fit and we get the results in the wickets column, it will make nice reading in the papers. In the past, the build-up has always been great, the talk of the wickets, the talk of the bounce, we do have a slight advantage, but we still need to land the ball in the right areas, still need to bowl with intensity.”

Morkel speaks about his fitness

Morkel went on to comment on his fitness issues and said, “With the back injury I had, it was important for me to really look at the schedule and find windows where I can do my conditioning work. England was a big tour for me, I wanted to be fit and I knew if I went to IPL, which can be quite a demanding six weeks, I would be in trouble.”

He further added, “Mentally, I am a lot fresher [when I take breaks], it gives me a lot more time to work on certain things. When you play back-to-back series or games you don’t really have that time to work on certain things. But now, to set goals and to try and reach that is very pleasing.”

“It’s going to be about that last session in the day when the ball is soft and conditions are tough. Majority of the runs in Test cricket are scored after tea time. So for us, it’s going to be if we have enough petrol in the tank to knock India over at the back end of the day,” the pacer concluded when asked about the playing conditions for the upcoming series as the grass-top wickets of South Africa oozing with pace and bounce is common knowledge.

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