The debate that seems to be stirring among cricket fans and pundits is who Ottis Gibson will opt for between Proteas legend Hashim Amla, and the young but ever so capable Aiden Markram to partner Quinton de Kock at the top of the order during the upcoming Cricket World Cup to be held in England later this month. In my opinion, there are arguments to be made for both players. On the one hand you have the most experienced ODI player in South Africa with 174 ODI caps behind his name as well as a sensational average of 49.74 runs per innings. Having said that, looking at Amla’s last 9 innings in white ball cricket, it shows an average of around 11 which could either speak to a severe lack of form or simply an inability to compete at the highest level of cricket at the age of 36.
On the other hand, you have the youngster who averages a modest 29 at an international level but comes into the tournament with a mountain of runs behind his name having finished the Momentum One Day Cup as the leading run scorer with 3 very impressive centuries. Over and above his dominance in the MODC, Markram has recently returned from an overseas stint with UK based side Hampshire where he was involved in 8 white ball cricket games with the side which saw him notch up 3 fifties, as well as a monumental 130 against Sussex to finish the season boasting an average of around 58. What makes this feat even more impressive is not only the rate at which Markram scored his runs, but also his ability to put in a solid performance with the ball in hand when needed by his skipper.
It seems a difficult decision to make, do you opt for experience and reputation, or do you opt for form and potential? I say both. What is very interesting to note about Markram's overseas and Momentum One Day Cup form is that he actually scored the bulk of his runs batting in the middle order. That is not to say that he does not have the temperament or ability to open the batting for his country, but he does seem more comfortable in that middle order with 2 of his MODC hundreds coming from the number 4 and 5 position while the bulk of his runs at Hampshire were made in that number 3 role. Another factor to take into account is that if you look at Markram's 18 ODI innings, more than half of them have in fact been in that middle order role as opposed to the top of the order.
If we assume that Amla will partner Quinton de Kock at the top of the order and Markram will fill that number 3/4 roll, what happens to Rassie van der Dussen? It seems impossible to leave out a player that has had such a great start to his ODI career and was arguably the best batsman at the recently concluded CSA T20 tournament. In his 8 innings in the green and gold, the Highveld Lions player averages an impressive 88 runs per innings, with 4 half centuries. Having said that, 8 innings is a very short amount of time to give a player a thorough analysis but what needs to be understood is that van der Dussen is by no means a young player. He is 30 years old and has been playing professional cricket for over a decade now, averaging 47 for the Highveld Lions in the limited overs format over around 100 innings.
This is where the real headache lies for the Ottis Gibson, and I believe he has 2 options. Firstly, to leave van der Dussen out, which I do not agree with. Secondly, he could play all 3 batsmen in a line-up that excludes Andile Phehlukwayo and looks like something along the lines of:
1. de Kock
2. Amla
3. du Plessis
4. Markram
5. van der Dussen
6. Duminy
7. Miller
8. Rabada
9. Steyn
10. Ngidi
11. Tahir
Now it goes without saying, but limited overs cricket is highly dynamic in nature, and therefore van der Dussen, Duminy, and Miller could all be elevated or demoted in the order based on the context of the game. An example would be to elevate Miller to that number 5 role in the event of the top 4 batting out the majority of the 50 overs. Having said that, if the Proteas were to lose 2 or 3 early wickets, I would personally feel more comfortable with van der Dussen and Duminy at the wicket to not only stabilize the innings, but also to lay a platform on which David Miller could later capitalize in the final 10-15 overs.
With a batsmen coming in for the all-rounder Phehlukwayo, who would have likely shared 10 overs with JP Duminy, the Proteas will need to find 5 overs from another one of their top 7 batsman with Markram being the logical choice, given his recent performance with the ball on the very same English wickets for Hampshire that he will be expected to play on during the Cricket World Cup.
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