Tabraiz Shamsi's absence from the Proteas lineup in the second ODI in India has highlighted the lack of wrist spin depth in the national team setup.
Tabraiz Shamsi’s absence from the Proteas lineup in the second ODI in India has highlighted the lack of wrist spin depth in the national team setup.
He’d also have been a valuable asset in the thrid ODI had the South Africans managed to put a decent total on the board.
Apart from Shamsi, there simply aren’t any wicket-taking wrist-spinners knocking on the national team’s door.
In last season’s List A provincial competition, Imaad Fortuin was the top wicket-taker among all spin bowlers but managed to claim just 11 scalps in seven matches.
To Fortuin’s credit, he is very good at drying up the runs on South African pitches and even elsewhere but doesn’t provide the wicket-taking threat that Shamsi does.
Every other major cricket-playing nation has multiple wrist-spin options in and around their white-ball teams.
Tabraiz Shamsi's 5️⃣ wicket haul | 2nd ODI, #SLvSA
— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) September 5, 2021
Full Highlights👉https://t.co/UkQj91u7Uk @OfficialCSA pic.twitter.com/38Bic6Cj2R
England have Adil Rashid backed up by the likes of Matthew Potts, while Australia bank on Adam Zampa but have given more international game time to Mitchell Swepson.
India sport an embarrassment of riches in this department with Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal being regular contributors to white-ball success in recent seasons.
They also have greater depth with the likes of Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy also threatening to break through to be regular international bowlers.
India also have Rahul Tewatia and Ravi Bishnoi trying to get into the team and those two would likely play regularly for most countries in the ODI and T20I realms.
Pakistan have several options in that regard as well, although they suffer from inconsistency.
Two STUNNING deliveries from Mitch Swepson!
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 5, 2020
But which was better? #SheffieldShield pic.twitter.com/Rkke3x7FwS
Few top nations will see the paltry number of overs sent down by wrist-spinners than in recent seasons of South Africa’s domestic game, and while that may be because other options yield better results for skippers and teams, it has left a gaping hole in the national team setup.
The only player South Africa sent to the last Under-19 World Cup who can claim to bowl wrist spin was Dewald Brevis, and it doesn’t appear that he is being encouraged to develop his bowling.
That’s not Brevis’ fault at all, nor should CSA or any coaches be needlessly putting pressure on a young man with phenomenal batting talent.
There don’t appear to be any concerted efforts to improve and develop wrist spinners in South Africa, and if there are they don’t seem to yield anything at all.
South Africa does not have a rich history of developing leg-spinners, with arguably the best wrist-spinning wicket-taker in Proteas history being Pakistan-born Imran Tahir.
Tahir was pushed out to pasture before time and without an adequate replacement anywhere near the national team setup.
Both Tahir and Shamsi have shown that wrist-spinners can not only contribute in South African conditions, but they can dominate.
Wrist spin requires certain natural physical gifts coupled with sharp mental acuity, resilience and one might even suggest attitude.
South African cricket’s attitude towards wrist-spinners has made it tough for any of them to show any kind of resilience because opportunities are so limited.
It’s hard to force the development of a wrist-spinner, but without a certain amount of patience with the novices of the game, this gaping hole in the Proteas’ armour will only grow.
