Gqeberha – International cricket makes a return to East London’s Buffalo Park as the Proteas take on the West Indies on Thursday. IOL Sport’s Ongama Gcwabe picks five game changers ahead of the first one-day international.
Jason Holder
The smiling assassin is one dangerous player, as fans in South Africa witnessed during the Test series in which Holder forced SA to work hard for their 2-0 series victory.
The confidence he carries from the Tests will be a big factor for him in the ODI series.
Fifty-over cricket suits Holder’s style and his hunger to improve with bat and ball makes him a dangerous campaigner. As a former captain, the players in the team look up to him and feed off his energy. If there is one player who the Proteas need to quickly nullify in the West Indies team, it is Holder, because once they get him out of the game, the Caribbean side are likely to crumble.
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Quinton de Kock
It has been a quiet last couple of series with the bat for De Kock. The last time the left-hander reached the three-figure mark in ODIs was in January last year. Since that 124 at Newlands, De Kock has played 10 games and scored only two fifty-plus scores.
De Kock will see this series as a big opportunity for him to get big runs again and that can only mean trouble for the West Indies bowlers.
Shai Hope
The West Indies captain will be leading for the first time in SA and will want to get off the mark with a win over the hosts. Hope’s game fits perfectly for the conditions that will be on offer in East London.
His patience at the crease, his skill of playing spin and also his experience should really carry him through. The 29-year-old will lean on his impressive ODI average of 48.95 and his 13 hundreds in the format. He is one to watch come Thursday.
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Bjorn Fortuin
The 28-year-old spinner has been in and around the Proteas white-ball set up for a while, but seldomly gets a go in the playing eleven. With Keshav Maharaj out injured, Fortuin has a chance to showcase his skill.
The World Cup, which is coming up in six months time, will also be a massive motivation for Fortuin to use this series as an audition for the tournament every player dreams of being a part of.
Tristan Stubbs
The young man is a long-term solution for SA. Power hitting often comes naturally to players and in this current crop, only a few come close to Stubbs' ability to clear the boundary. He showed this season that he can construct an innings and that he is not just a boundary hitter as some might think.
The 22-year-old has the potential to win games for the Proteas at No 6. The West Indies will be keeping a close eye on the youngster.
@imongamagcwabe