SA20 auction leaves Conrad short on bowling options for NZ Tests

The good news for Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad after the SA20 mini-auction is he’ll have lots of batting talent to choose from for the team’s Test series in New Zealand next February. 

On the flip side, he’ll be wondering how to get 20 wickets, given the dearth of bowling options. 

Wednesday night’s draft for the second edition of the tournament Cricket South Africa (CSA) hopes will replenish its coffers, saw notable monetary rewards for Matthew Boast, a 20-year-old all-rounder, and Dayyaan Galiem, another all-rounder. They were picked up for R1.6m each by the Pretoria Capitals and Joburg Super Kings respectively. 

Neither would have been part of Conrad’s plans for New Zealand, which were compromised with the two-match series coinciding with the final weeks of the SA20 in February. A directive from CSA means players contracted to that competition won’t be available for the Proteas.

Conrad will spend the next few days sifting through the players not picked on Wednesday, hoping he will get support from CSA to “ring fence” those he wants to take to New Zealand.

For Conrad the worrying possibility is should players contracted to the SA20 get injured before that tournament starts on January 10, his candidates for New Zealand could be diminished further, should players get late call-ups. CSA is understood to be waiting for Conrad to select the SA A side for its three-match series against West Indies A in November, before making a final decision to “protect” those players from the SA20. 

As it stands, though he will be without captain Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram and youngsters including Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis and Jordan Hermann, Conrad can still call on an experienced and skilled group of batters. 

Among those are Tony de Zorzi, Dean Elgar, Janneman Malan, Keegan Petersen, Raynard van Tonder and Zubayr Hamza. Four of those have Test experience and Malan has also played internationally in the T20 and ODI formats.

Meanwhile, David Bedingham, who returned to Western Province and has extensive county experience with Durham and earlier this year declared his eagerness to break into the Proteas team after flirting with England, is another Conrad may consider. With Kyle Verreynne chosen by the Capitals early on Wednesday, Sinethemba Qeshile will be the favourite for the wicketkeeper’s berth.

Conrad’s seam bowling options took a blow when the Sunrisers Eastern Cape picked up all-rounder Beyers Swanepoel late in the auction, thus removing a bowling alternative and lower order batter from Conrad’s grasp. 

Duanne Olivier and Lutho Sipamla, who played in South Africa’s previous series in New Zealand in 2022, also went unsold, and Conrad will hope the duo get more match time in the coming weeks. Beyond those two, however, the fast bowling stocks are limited.

Glenton Stuurman, who also made his Test debut in New Zealand last year, Tshepo Moreki, who toured with Conrad’s SA A side to Sri Lanka, Johan van Dyk from Northern Cape and WP’s Mihlali Mpongwana, the lanky 23-year-old who has made several useful contributions with the bat, will all come into the equation when Conrad picks that SA A side for the series against the West Indies.

Boast, with less than 10 professional matches under his belt — six of those in the T20 format — was the biggest surprise of Wednesday’s auction. Though available in the rookie category, which was newly-formulated for next year’s SA20, Capitals assistant coach Jacques Kallis said the youngster’s all-round skills were likely to appeal to a number of teams and the franchise were happy to spend big on him.

“We got a good look at Matthew last year when he bowled to us at training. We were impressed; he bowls with good pace and can give it a good smack with the bat,” Kallis said. 

Seam bowling all-rounders were a feature of the auction with Galiem, Swanepoel and Jason Smith, who went to the Durban Super Giants for R175,000, all being snapped up.