Imran Tahir and Faf du Plessis
- Imran Tahir will be a particularly advanced 42 when the rearranged T20 World Cup is played in Australia next year.
- Pace ace Dale Steyn, who plies a more punishing trade, will be in a not dissimilar boat at age 38.
- AB de Villiers has not played a T20 international for SA since 2017.
The quartet are undeniably “pushing it” even as things stand. But what price now veteran Proteas superstars Imran Tahir, Dale Steyn, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis getting the final major-tournament fling they desire – or are believed to, in most cases – at the T20 World Cup?
One of those worst-kept secrets in the game was confirmed by the International Cricket Council on Monday: That the jamboree, scheduled for Australia in October, has been postponed by a year to late 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
By then, all of the foursome will be even more noticeably at ages where many distinguished predecessors worldwide in the game have already stepped down.
Tahir looks especially vulnerable, at least on paper: He will be 42 when the 2021 event comes around.
The leg-spin maestro has already, for several years, been lauded for his effervescent ability to defy the ravages of Father Time: Just for one thing, he keeps himself in excellent physical condition and has consciously worked on increasing both the standard and mobility of his fielding in late career.
He can take heart, too, in some age-related statistical data that works significantly to his favour.
The record for the oldest player in a major ICC limited-overs tournament is held by the 47-year-old Nolan Clarke, albeit for lower-tier nation the Netherlands.
Also a leggie, the Barbadian-born all-rounder played several matches at the 1996 World Cup on the subcontinent.
He broke the record previously held by John Traicos, the Zimbabwean off-spinner (though Egypt-born), who was 44 at the 1992 event in Australia/New Zealand, and had played Test cricket for South Africa much earlier in 1970.
But they remain exceptions to the general rule when it comes to retirements; few 40-somethings are still thriving by then at the highest levels.
Tahir’s last Proteas appearance was an ODI – his 107th – against Australia at Old Trafford on 6 July last year, at the back end of South Africa’s dismal CWC 2019 campaign.
But he has an understanding with Cricket South Africa that he can still be called up at T20 level for key occasions – if required.
Spin bowlers, for obvious reasons, tend to have longer potential career spans in the game than pace counterparts do, given the greater physical demands on the latter.
Which brings Steyn into the spotlight: The great strike bowler had signalled some months ago his desire to push onward for a crack at another major one-day trophy – South Africa have not won one since the inaugural version of the Champions Trophy in 1998.
But that was for the scheduled 2020 T20 World Cup, when he would have been 37 rather than the 38 he will now be for the pushed-out event.
Steyn is the country’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker (439) and last played for the Proteas in a T20 clash with Australia at the Wanderers in February, when he claimed the scalps of David Warner and Matthew Wade.
He has been dormant – like many other international cricketers – since early March, when he played in the eventually suspended Pakistan Super League.
De Villiers, meanwhile, who remains one of the genuine bums-on-seats strokeplaying drawcards globally, will be 37 at next year’s T20 World Cup if he is available and considered for SA selection after a long absence.
Despite a glittering, marathon Proteas career across the three formats, he has not turned out for the country since the series-clinching final Test against Australia at the Bullring in late March 2018.
Perhaps more relevantly, his last T20 cap had come in reasonably distant October 2017.
No longer the white-ball captain since Quinton de Kock’s elevation to the role, Faf du Plessis has just turned 36, with more than a year to go now to the reworked T20 World Cup.
But his recent limited-overs numbers at the crease for the Proteas have stayed extremely solid, especially in the 50-overs landscape.
All four seasoned customers – and you always need a blend of youth and experience in the squad ranks – could yet prosper sufficiently to make it to the 2021 tournament Down Under.
But it has become just a little more touch and go.
*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing
