Four 6 Out team picks their Proteas T20 World Cup squad and predicts what Rob Walter and Enoch Nkwe will do.

The struggle of picking the best 15 to go the ICC T20 World Cup was real. While the main struggle was picking the bowlers, the batters were not easy as well.

In summary of the opening paragraph, Rob Walter,  Enoch Nkwe, and the team have a difficult job.

To keep things short, the method that was used by Four6Out was first pick the best possible playing XI. Then, players 12 to 15 would be 2 batters and 2 bowlers. The traveling reserve is a bowler, so he can assist with net bowling.

In T20 cricket, it is best to pick the players that are currently in form rather than players that have the class. T20 cricket, unlike Test of One Day cricket, does not give the person time to play themselves into form, especially for the batters. Picking players that are in form should be the priority.

All four major T20 tournaments have been used to determine the possible team. South Africa has the luxury of actually picking a team that is very patriotic. Regardless of how a player feels about CSA and how they do things. Regardless of how a player feels about the current government or the upcoming elections. When they put on that uniform, they become special forces of the Republic of South Africa and ambassadors of the South African people, government, and CSA.

Rob Walter is such a chilled coach, he probably has his own philosophy of picking players. The most important thing he needs to make sure of is pick players who will want to fight for him and the team before their own individual interests. 

The Proteas team will be under a lot of scrutiny, not from the government or CSA or journalists, this time around, the South African public will be invested in this team. The Springboks have messed things up for all the other major sports in the country. They are currently the blueprint of what an athlete representing South Africa at a major tournament should be. It will be a challenge for South Africa if Walter is not that guy. The partnership between Walter and Aiden is going to be an interesting one.

As Four6Out, we will state our possible team and then also predict the team Walter and Nkwe will choose.

Four6Out team:
1. Reeza Hendricks
2. Ryan Rickelton
3. Aiden Markram
4. David Miller
5. Tristan Stubbs
6. Heinrich Klaasen
7. Marco Jansen
8. Gerald Coetzee
9. Kagiso Rabada
10. Nqaba Peter
11. Tabraiz Shamsi

12. Rassie van der Dussen
13. Wiaan Mulder
14. Bjorn Fortuin
15. Anrich Nortje
16. Nandre Burger

This squad has no Quinton de Kock, Quinton is not phased at the moment whether he plays for South Africa or not. That hunger of putting his country first is gone. Ryan Rickelton has been one of the best openers in the country ever since the SA20. Reeza Hendricks has been consistent with his game, he did well in the Pakistan Super League as well. He is a batter in form. Rassie van der Dussen is more of a cover for those two openers rather than being a middle-order batter.

The middle order picks its self, these guys play attacking cricket from Adien at 3 until Heinrich Klaasen at 6. David Miiler is at 4 because Heinrich and Tristan Stubbs are better finishers than him at the moment. David also gives the middle-order some variety since he is a left-handed batter.

There can only be 15 players picked, and picking based on form was very crucial. Hence, Donavan Ferreira misses out. His place is taken by Wiaan Mulder, and his form currently justifies the means. Wiaan form with the bat has been exceptional since the SA20 and CSA T20 Challenge. Wiaan can cover the middle-order,  finisher role, and the all-rounder position.  Wiaan is currently the Marcus Stoinis and Hardik Pandya of South African cricket.

Marco Jansen takes the number 7 position as the first choice all-rounder. Marco gives the South African team a much needed variety of a left arm seamer. Marco is also tall, so his length may be awkward to deal with. Since he has not been playing recently, if he seems not to be tune, the Proteas may play Wiaan or add another bowler in Anrich Nortje.

Anrich spot in the final XI is taken by Gerald Coetzee. Anrich seems to be off as he works hard to regain full fitness. Anrich is the Proteas key weapon as the moves forward in the tournament. Anrich needs to find his confidence because he is currently more disciplined and batters fear him more than Gerald.

Kagiso Rabada is the leader of the bowling attack, with no injury worries to his name, he picks himself. Tabriaz Shamsi is the best wrist spinner in the country. Having a good wrist spinner and a former number 1 T20 bowler in the world is a weapon to have. The controversial pick in our squad is Nqaba Peter. His pick was actually a cricket decision that ended up addressing more issues rather than cricket. 

Nqaba is a good leg spinner, and his proven to be very accurate. He has the needed variations to be a successful spinner at the international level. Bjorn Fortuin can be the reserve spinner. Based on his form in the CSA T20 Challenge, Lungi Ngidi misses out. Lungi was also not one of the best bowlers in the SA20 as well. Keshav misses out on the basis that Bjorn can do the same exact things Keshav can do. Bjorn can bowl in the powerplay as well, and yes, Bjorn being a better fielder helps. Having two different wrist spinners is better than having two finger spinners.

Leaving out Nandre Burger in his current form was actually crazy but that is the thing. If there is any injury on the bowlers, Nandre is first pick.

Lizaad Williams and Ottniel Baartman miss out. They are both exceptional bowlers, but based on the team, where do they come in? Ottniel probably should be the traveling reserve over Nandre. Andile Phehlukwayo has not done anything to justify his name being part of the conversation. He did not raise his game, and that has been Andile’s career for the past 24 months.

Young Kwena Maphaka did well in the U19 World Cup and the early stages of the CSA T20 Challenge.  Had he not gone to the IPL, his name would surely be among the reserves. If the Proteas can take him and be a net bowler, they should take him.

This is the team that CSA is likely to choose.

1. Quinton de Kock
2. Ryan Rickelton
3. Aiden Markram
4. Tristan Stubbs
5. David Miller
6. Heinrich Klaasen
7. Marco Jansen
8. Keshav Maharaj
9. Kagiso Rabada
10. Anrich Nortje
11. Tabriaz Shamsi
12. Gerald Coetzee
13. Lungi Ngidi
14. Reeza Hendricks
15. Nandre Burger
16. Ottniel Baartman

Is it a good team? Yes, can it win the World Cup, probably? Is it the best team currently in form right now? No.