Which, in my opinion, is a fair question to ask. I mean, seriously, where do they go from here? They’ve weeded out the players who they thought were deadwood, they’ve rewarded the top-performers in the domestic circuit and like a generous kid offering gum to his classmates post the lunch interval, they’ve been handing out Test caps for fun. Hell, they even did fan service by reuniting the evergreen trio of Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis. But as it turned out, a combination of all these things made them worse than they actually were (who’d have thought?). Their future in Test cricket, I should say, at this point of time, looks bleak. Even darker than the piece of chicken I burnt the other day by overcooking it. Perhaps, right now, I can make a genuine argument for me being better at cooking than South Africa are at cricket.

It won’t be an overstatement to say that Kyle Verreynne is the most exciting talent to emerge out of South Africa since Kagiso Rabada. The transformation of Verreynne the batsman, if anything, has been incredible: From a sheer run-accumulator back in the 2016 U19 World Cup to now this counter-punching dynamite that instils fear in the mind of the opposition. That he made his first-class debut at just 18 years of age is a testament to his talent, but in all fairness, Verreynne has now well and truly taken his game to the next level, especially in red-ball cricket. Across the last two seasons, the 22-year-old has scored over 1000 runs for Cape Cobras at an average north of 50, batting in the middle order, but more than the runs, it is the cutting edge he brings with him that sets him apart. This was evident in England’s tour match versus the South African A team prior to the Tests where he launched a scathing attack against an English attack comprising Anderson, Woakes, Curran and Stokes. That he keeps wickets for his side might interest the Proteas, too, should QDK give thoughts about surrendering the gloves once he’s inevitably named the Test captain. For now, Verreynne’s been handed an ODI call-up, but a Test call-up isn’t far away from the youngster, one must imagine. 

Right now, wouldn’t South Africa bite your hand off if you offered to them an extremely rigid, organized yet flamboyant opener can score big? Well, that is exactly what Edward Moore is. After his breakthrough season in 2018/19, where he finished as the second-highest run-getter in the four-day sunfoil series, Moore, this season, has been proving that he is no one-season wonder, notching up over 700 runs at an average over 50 to back up his prolific 2018/19 campaign. A left-hander who is of the Dean Elgar mould - in terms of grit, not elegance - Moore has been the standout player in the country’s premier domestic four-day competition for over two years and is not far away from a national call-up. With over 90 matches and 13 centuries under his belt at just 26 years' age, not only would he add some much-needed solidity to the team, but will also bring with him some invaluable experience that the team’s so badly been missing.

Sinethemba Qeshile

Eathan Bosch

The first time I got a glimpse of Eathan Bosch bowling, I did, for a moment, think that it was Kyle Abbott. The Westville-born lad has an action that is all but a spitting image of Abbott’s and I suppose South Africa would draft him into the side in a hurry should his bowling be half as good as the latter. A tall right-armer who can swing and seam the ball both ways, Bosch came into the limelight in the 2018/19 season where he picked up 31 wickets in just 9 games for the Dolphins, finishing as the third-highest wicket-taking pacer in the season. The two above him, incidentally, were Dane Paterson and Beuran Hendricks, both of who made their debuts versus England last week. However, unlike the duo of Paterson and Hendricks, Bosch has that extra yard of pace which sets him apart, an armour that also helped him terrorize batsmen on the circuit last season. With Anrich Nortje showing the devastating effect pace can have on batsmen, should South Africa go for a bowler of a similar mould, it would, undoubtedly, be Eathan Bosch. His batting ability - 4 fifties in 23 matches with a high score of 99 - should also come in more than handy for the team, should he be summoned upon to do a job.

When South Africa were broken, bruised and battered mid-way through the Ranchi Test against India, one man stood unbowed, unbent and unbroken. Not only did he keep his composure with the ball in his hand whilst being belted around by a rampant Rohit Sharma, but also ground hard with the bat whilst ‘specialist’ batsmen around him crumbled like a pack of cards. George Linde, in that one match, apart from his quality, showed more heart, courage and grit than the entire South African side had, up until that point in that series, qualities that made you believe that he was a leader in the making. Mind you, he was the standout performer for the ‘A’ team, too, in the matches prior to the India Tests. It was indeed baffling that he was left out of the England Tests, but having already picked up 30 wickets in 6 matches at an average under 21 with the ball and having scored over 300 runs at an average close to 50 with the bat for the Cobras this season, Linde is not just knocking on the door, but literally breaking it down. Keshav Maharaj might have well and truly established himself as the country’s number 1 spinner, but with Dwaine Pretorius misfiring big time, who knows, Linde might just make the impossible come true - that of South Africa fielding two spinners in their team outside the subcontinent.