Two South African Test players have performed the feat of taking a wicket with their first ball in the ultimate format.
Between the two of them they have only played 10 Test matches in all so the golden start hasn’t paid off yet, although neither man is out of the frame to add to their total.
Hardus Viljoen and Dane Piedt both took wickets with their first delivery and struggled thereafter one way or another.
While Piedt has played just nine Tests but looks set to add to that total as part of the controversial Proteas Test squad to tour New Zealand.
Viljoen only took one wicket in his Test debut, that of Alastair Cook with the first ball he bowled. He has been unable to add to that tally after taking up a Kolpak deal with Derbyshire.
He might have got a chance to go to New Zealand but being engaged in the SA20 he was ineligible for the tour. Viljoen has returned to South African domestic and is playing First Class cricket for Boland so even at 34-years-old he might yet get his chance to add to that tally of just one wicket.
From the bare financial point of view it is unlikely that Viljoen would trade his part in the SA20 for a place in the Test squad a situation last lays bare what the situation is for most professionals in the game right now.
.@kentcricket new signing Hardus Viljoen dismissed Alistair Cook with first ball in Test cricket.
— BBC Sport Kent (@BBCKentSport) August 19, 2016
Has 325 FC wkts. pic.twitter.com/mUggHW9e01
Every member of the Proteas Test squad to tour New Zealand must feel like they have been given a back-handed compliment. Agreements in place for the SA20 meant that all local players in the squads would be made fully available for the entirety of the tournament unless injured or granted leave for exceptional circumstances. Thus these players are the best red-ball cricketers in South Africa who couldn’t hitch their wagon to the SA20 train.
Piedt’s First Class output has been above average for a South African off-spinner and even his stop-start Test career might be considered something of an overachievement for a player who would generally only get a bowl when the fast bowlers were tired. Fast bowlers don’t get tired when they are getting wickets so many of his overs were bowled on flat tracks. While the likes of Nathan Lyon have shown that a spinner can thrive on picking up pacemen’s scraps, Piedt didn’t quite nail the skills during his Test stints.
The Protea’s chosen Test option for spin has been Keshav Maharaj, lately backed up by the returning Simon Harmer if a second tweaker is required or the opposition is left-hander heavy.
For the trip to New Zealand, the spin options are presented by Piedt and leg-spinner Shaun von Berg, and at this stage, it is unclear if both will play. It seems most likely that Piedt will play both Tests, and they also might be his last for the Proteas.
