The Proteas are headed for some T20 World Cup selection headaches with plenty of time but not many matches ahead of the tournament.
South Africa’s star players will make their case in the many different T20 Leagues that will go down in the time between the end of the season and the T20 World Cup.
The ninth edition of the T20 World Cup is scheduled to be co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States from 1 June to 29 June 2024.
It will be the first World Cup tournament to include matches played in the United States, and in any other country other than the West Indies in the Americas.
The tournament format has been shifted somewhat with the number of teams competing expanded from 16 in 2022 to 20.
South Africa is expected to get out of their group at the event having been drawn alongside Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Netherlands and Nepal in a group.
Each qualified team will then play three Super Eights matches which will settle the four semi-finalists of the tournament.
The Proteas play just three T20Is against the West Indies a few weeks before the tournament by which time they should have already settled on a World Cup squad.
A major problem with this is that there are just 15 places in the World Cup squad and quite a few personnel questions to answer.
There are, for instance, more fast bowlers in and around the Proteas group that could go to the tournament.
The likes of Anrich Nortje have returned from injury and others are still set to recover from the niggles currently keeping them out of action.
Lungi Ngidi has missed the IPL with injury on top of having his home season cut short but he might be in the frame to go if he gets back to full fitness.
There is also the question of who makes the best top-order options with Ryan Rickleton blowing up domestic competitions but Quinton De Kock is still available for selection in the format.
Without international matches to test combinations, the selectors will be left to fly blind with the national team.
White-ball coach Rob Walter will have to digest all of this and try to plot a path through these tricky moments to get a team to the World Cup that can compete for the trophy.
Expectations won’t be high but there is always some hope of a sporting miracle for a South African team.
