Proteas duo prepare to bow out of ODI cricket

Saturday’s Cricket World Cup encounter between Australia and South Africa may be a dead rubber in the grand scheme of things, but it’s not without one or two interesting subplots that could potentially make for an emotional contest.

The men from Down Under are playing to consolidate their spot at the top of the points table, having long secured a place in the semifinals, while the Proteas are eyeing a good finish to what has been a disastrous campaign.

In terms of individual players the match marks a special occasion for two in each team, with Steve Smith and David Warner coming up against the South Africans for the first time since ending up on the wrong side of an explosive ball-tampering scandal.

For South Africa, it’s the end of an era for two long-serving members in all-rounder JP Duminy and leg spinner Imran Tahir, who will be playing their final ODI.

Emotional goodbye for Proteas pair

The duo announced prior to the start of the World Cup that the competition would be their last hurrah in 50-over format.

Tahir calls time on an ODI career which began belatedly, as he had to bide his time and wait until his 30s before he was considered eligible to play for South Africa, having represented his native Pakistan at youth level.

Now finishing as the oldest man in the tournament, he is grateful at the opportunity afforded to him, and is determined to finish on a high.

“As a team, we need to think about finishing on a good note,” he said.

“But it makes me feel very sad and emotional that I’m going to leave.

“It was always my dream to play international cricket and I’m really grateful to everyone who helped me along on the way. They accepted me for who I was, the guy who came from overseas.

“It’s a big moment of my life — I always wanted to play cricket and play as long as I could and now is the right time to go. It will be quite a hurtful and sad moment for me but I’ve prepared myself for that, so hopefully it will go well for me and the team.”

Imran Tahir

No major concerns about the future

As it so often happens, an end of an era comes with anxiety about the future and, in the Proteas case, they have had to rely on the journeyman to offer them the edge, as far as the bowling is concerned, for close to a decade.

Tahir has brought an extra dimension to a Proteas attack, which has traditionally been dominated by seam bowlers, and his imminent absence means that an heir will have to step up.

Tabraiz Shamsi is the man who has been groomed to take over the main tweaking duties, but is yet to transfer domestic form to international level.

Despite this, Tahir is confident that, with a bit more experience, there is no reason to worry about the future of SA cricket.

“I’m not worried about (the) future of the team —there are a lot of youngsters.

“I strongly believe there is lots of talent but they just need experience and then they’ll get to the stage where everyone wants to see South African cricket.

“People expect higher and a lot from us — this World Cup was totally different but I’m pretty sure things will be fine for South Africa.”

Imran Tahir

Tahir goes into his final ODI with 172 wickets under his belt, while Duminy finishes with over 5 000 runs and 69 wickets, including a World Cup hat-trick to his name.