Van Niekerk omission divides South African cricket

Dane van Niekerk's omission on fitness grounds from South Africa's T20 World Cup squad amounts to self-inflicted sabotage of the home side's chances of winning their first senior global trophy. You didn't need to go far to find that view after the selectors announced and defended their decision on Tuesday.

"Absolutely broken," Van Niekerk posted on social media after she was left out because she had failed to complete a run of two kilometres in nine-and-a-half minutes or less. "One of the best captains in world cricket," Marizanne Kapp, Van Niekerk's wife and South Africa's star allrounder, replied. "You will be missed! The Lord has bigger plans!" Dale Steyn wrote: "Oh f**k, I missed my 2km time by seconds, must mean I'm s**t." Also on social media, Herschelle Gibbs took the opposite view: "You miss it by two or 10 seconds, it's a fail irrespective of who you are ... it's 2023 not 1990."

The real-world repercussions have started. Cricbuzz understands Kapp has withdrawn from the T20I series final between South Africa and India in East London on Thursday, and the sudden international retirements of Van Niekerk or Kapp, or indeed both, cannot be ruled out.

Had Van Niekerk made the grade she would have captained South Africa in the T20 World Cup, which will start at Newlands on February 10 with a game between the hosts and Sri Lanka. Instead Sune Luus will lead the side.

It isn't the first time South Africa's teams have been affected by CSA's insistence on the enforcement of fitness and conditioning standards that are less stringently observed by cricket authorities in other countries. Lizelle Lee retired from the international arena in July over a failed skin folds test. Sisanda Magala has fallen foul of the rules several times and been punished by omission from the side. He is currently in the ODI squad and showed his value by taking a matchwinning 3/46 against England in Bloemfontein on Friday.

Van Niekerk hasn't played since September 2021. She fractured an ankle in a fall at her home in January last year, which put her out of the ODI World Cup in New Zealand in March and April. Now mended and prepared, she is fitter than she has been in the past - or before July 2022, when CSA, to keep up with a steadily quickening, more physical global game, raised the height of the fitness hoops players had to jump through to be eligible for selection.

South Africa have won 15 of their 28 completed T20Is with Van Niekerk as captain. Since she has been injured, they have won just five of 12. From Van Niekerk's T20I debut in June 2009, only Shabnim Ismail and Kapp have taken more wickets in either format for South Africa. Only Lee has scored more runs in T20Is for South Africa than Van Niekerk. Had the fitness criteria been hiked to where they are now when Van Niekerk's career was starting, she might never have played for the national teams.

Did CSA understand the effect their decision on Van Niekerk might have on the mental well-being of a squad going into a major tournament? "We considered everything," Clinton du Preez, CSA's women's selection convenor, told a press conference on Tuesday. "We had the discussion around what happens if Dane doesn't make it; how does that impact. But from a player point of view we've created succession in the leadership within the team. The morale of the team is fine. I believe the team have pulled together and that they accept the decision we have made, and that it is required for the good of our players."

Du Preez made plain that the failed fitness test was all that had deprived South Africa of Van Niekerk's talent, skill, experience and leadership: "Dane was given an extensive opportunity to meet the minimum criteria, or the fitness benchmark for eligibility into the World Cup. She recently did another fitness test and unfortunately did not meet the minimum criteria, and therefore she's missed out. It's purely based on not meeting the fitness criteria that she's missed out."

He said a different method to test Van Niekerk's fitness, believed to involve a treadmill, had been used in addition to normal running: "We've tried extensively to assist Dane to get over the line. As a selection panel and a management team we made the commitment that we want to give her the best opportunity to try and get into the squad. Therefore we considered all the other options."

Van Niekerk's worth as a player and captain was not in doubt, Du Preez said: "Dane has been an integral part of the team. Her skill-set will always be missed on the field. We've had this discussion with her. We've extensively reminded her of that, and appreciated the hard work that she's put in to try to get to the fitness levels."

If CSA understood that, why were they rigid about a decreed standard of fitness? "It's about remaining consistent with our decisions," Du Preez said. "It's not something that has been brought about recently. Many other players have gone down this route. We've had open discussions about it with everyone. Everyone was quite familiar with the situation and what was required.

"In December we had the discussion with Dane, where we set out clearly what she needs to do and where we expect her to be while acknowledging the improvement she has shown.

"For us as a team, and with the management team to support them, they really want to set the fitness benchmark and ensure all the players meet that. It isn't anything untoward towards Dane as a cricketer. We treat everyone fairly and we want to remain consistent in our decisions."

That is the other side of the argument. If all the players who are not Van Niekerk are able to satisfy the stopwatch, why not Van Niekerk? What would it say if allowances were made for favourites? Why should players bother busting a gut when the same degree of measurable gut-busting is not required of everybody?

Some of those players might pose a different question, which could cut both ways: why put in the hard work if some suit can, at the stroke of a pen, undermine an entire squad days before a World Cup?