South Africa Needs To Back Six Batsmen Formula

They might have folded for their lowest total in Test cricket since readmission, but there is ample reason to believe that South Africa ought to stick to their six batsmen formula even with the gaping hole left in the middle-order by AB de Villiers.

At Galle, Sri Lanka's spinners were all over the visitors with their guile, aided by helpful surfaces and the Proteas, clueless in defence and attack, surrendered for 126 and 73, totalling 199 across two innings’.

“There's two ways of looking at it. You could sit it out and try and bat for as long as possible, but you also need to put pressure on the opposition. There were one or two more expansive shots than we would normally play, but the thinking behind the batting was to try and put some pressure back on the bowling, because they don't give you anything. That's the quality the spinners have over here. If you sit there the whole day you're also not going to score runs. There's an element of what is a medium risk, compared to a high-risk shot, especially on the wickets that we're playing on, with the ball stopping a little bit more than we're used to. It is lessons that we can learn. But we weren't good enough in this game, and Sri Lanka showed us why they were better,” skipper du Plessis had said after their collapse.

While du Plessis does have a point, is there enough to reason to abandon the six batsman formula and go back to a traditional 7-4 formation by inducting an extra batter?

There are several reasons as to why they should probably considering playing an extra batsman. For one, Quinton de Kock, their wicket-keeper and most trusted ally in the lower middle-order is woefully out of touch. In a six-man batting line-up, there is immense pressure on de Kock to click. Given his frailties against spin, the southpaw has his task cut out on these kind of surfaces.

An extra batsman in Theunis de Bruyn or Heinrich Klaasen can perhaps shore up some of their batting troubles. But is it about quantity in the batting line-up?

Would an additional batsman solve their batting crisis? Highly unlikely given that Vernon Philander, their assigned no.7 and handy all-rounder, was the only batsman to face more than a 100 balls in the first Test match.

Instead they could try and bring quality to the line-up and go for a horses-for-courses approach, one which works pretty well for the current Indian Test side. Quinton de Kock, admittedly, is a liability on these wickets how much ever talented he is and should probably be abandoned in a six batsman line-up. Heinrich Klaasen, a much better player of spin as was evident from his exploits against the Indian wrist spinners in the limited-overs series in South Africa, could take the gloves and man the no.6 spot with Temba Bavuma and Vernon Philander encompassing him.

With Tabraiz Shamsi out of the series due to personal reasons, Shaun von Berg, a leg-spinner and more than decent batsman, could come into contention. There is still reason to believe South Africa could abandon an extra pacer for an additional batsman. But if they do that, the axe is likely to fall on Vernon Philander, whose skills mean that he can create little impact on sub-continental wickets.

But it leaves South Africa with four bowlers, one of whom is Dale Steyn. Steyn has a history of repeated injuries and recently completed his first Test match in two years. He had suffered as many as four major injuries in the last three years and has a history of pulling up mid-way through a Test. If that does happen, it could leave South Africa with just three bowlers against a confidence-oozing Sri Lankan batting line-up.

Their best way out of all conundrum is to replace de Kock with Klaasen and bring in von Berg for Shamsi in a like for like move, although the debutant is a leg-spinner unlike Shamsi. They need to place trust on their six batsmen yet again and hope that they find the mental strength to grit it out against Lankan spinners. South Africa are known for their comebacks in Tests and have a history of putting aside such anomalies with strong follow-up performances.

Led by the charismatic Faf du Plessis, South Africa will know exactly what to do to turn things around. But it remains to be seen if they can bury their sub-continental demons as the teams face off at SSC Colombo on 20th.

Best XI: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, Temba Bavuma, Heinrich Klaasen, Vernon Philander, Shaun von Berg, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn.