NEIL MANTHORP: Aussie-SA T20 series will miss a constellation of stars on both sides

Given the start of the 50-over World Cup in five weeks’ time, it’s easy to imagine that the three-match T20 International series between SA’s men and their Australian counterparts which begins at Kingsmead on Wednesday is without consequence. But the next World Cup in that format starts in a little more than nine months.

Both teams have omitted many of their biggest names from their T20 squads. David Warner and Steve Smith, originally selected to open the batting, are still in Australia along with the injured Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell, who is on paternity leave. Captain Pat Cummins is also injured while Josh Hazlewood and star all-rounder Cameron Green will only play in the five-match ODI series next week.

The home side will do without Quinton de Kock, David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen in the top order while Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortjé won’t be around to open the bowling. But there is plenty to look forward to, notably a debut for 20-year-old Dewald Brevis and perhaps for Matthew Breetzke too.

There may be a sense of compassionate justice to Temba Bavuma’s rehabilitation into the format after his horror run as captain in the last World Cup in Australia at the end of 2022 but, respectful as such a sentiment may be, he still has some way to go to reach minimum international strike rate requirements.

Rassie van der Dussen’s recall gives him the opportunity to show that overly “measured” starts are not a prerequisite to all of his innings. Fast bowler Gerald Coetzee will hope to establish himself as the “next cab on the rank” while Sisanda Magala and Marco Jansen are still establishing their all-rounder credibility.

The visitors are likely to cap 27-year-old left-arm fast bowler Spencer Johnson, who has laboured long enough with the expectation of replacing his namesake Mitchell, who terrorised opposition batsmen for longer than a decade. All-rounder Aaron Hardie is also likely to debut in the city where his mother grew up and his grandfather still resides.

All three matches are being played in Durban, the second on Friday and the third on Sunday afternoon, as part of the centennial celebrations of Kingsmead’s first Test match in January 1923. The irony of that runs deep. Like celebrating a chocolate festival with a Weight Watchers diet.

It was the third Test of a five-match series against England, which was tied at 1-1 before England batted first for a total of 428 compiled in a leisurely 185 overs. The home side replied with 368 with a top score of 91 from opener Herbie Taylor and 52 from his partner, Bobby Catterall.

There was a dashing 72 from Cyril Francois. He was born in Lewisham, played seven seasons for Transvaal, returned home, and then returned to the highveld to retire. Wicketkeeper Tommy Ward was born in the Punjab and suffered an untimely death at 48 when he was accidentally electrocuted while working at the East Springs Gold Mine.

Medium-fast bowler James Blanckenberg is proof that today’s money-seeking T20 “mercenaries” are not pioneers. Cricketers have been seeking a better payday for centuries and Blanckenberg finished his playing career by boarding a ship to Southampton, from where he travelled north to play four seasons for Nelson Cricket Club in the Lancashire League, earning more than he had been paid, in total, in his entire life before that.

But one of the most fabled members of that 1923 Test team was Norwegian-born off-spinner Eiulf “Buster” Nupen, whose father was a famed railway architect and builder whose expertise in his home country had led to a job offer at Transvaal Railways.

Young Eiulf didn’t speak a word of English in his early years, never mind play cricket. At the age of seven he was playing with a couple of hammers in the railway workshop when a flint flew into his left eye, blinding him. He wore a glass eye for the rest of his life. His father sent him to King Edward School in Johannesburg where he flourished on the matting wickets on which the game was played.

He made his Test debut at just 19 and was all but unplayable on matting, though less effective on grass. At the age of 20 he was “caught up” in the Rand Rebellion and shot through both knees. The surgeon informed his father that both legs would need to be amputated. His father informed the surgeon that he was wrong. That was in March. By December he was back in the Test team, his bowling prowess considered ample compensation for his mobility issues.

After five long months without international cricket, it will be wonderful to see the Proteas back in action. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Enjoy the action.

Australia T20 squad: Travis Head, Matthew Short, Tim David, Josh Inglis (wkt), Ashton Turner, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Sean Abbott, Aaron Hardie, Mathew Wade, Marcus Stoinis, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Ellis, Spencer Johnson, Adam Zampa.

SA T20 squad: Aiden Markram (capt), Temba Bavuma, Matthew Breetzke, Reeza Hendricks, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Dewald Brevis, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Bjorn Fortuin, Keshav Maharaj, Sisanda Magala, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lizaad Williams.