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Side Entry: Verreynne vs Qeshile will soon be a thing

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Ashwell Prince. Picture (Gallo Images)
Ashwell Prince. Picture (Gallo Images)

Thanks to his penchant for voicing outlandish-sounding opinions that almost always make sense upon closer inspection, few people have the ability to polarise opinion like former Proteas batsman Ashwell Prince.

Now coaching the Cobras, Prince was at it again this week by saying that his wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne should be the second wicketkeeper in the Proteas’ World Cup squad and take over the gloves from Quinton de Kock in tests so that he can shift up the batting order to number four.

And just for good measure, he knowingly put the knife in by saying he didn’t think Proteas coach Ottis Gibson had seen the young keeper play before.

After a few knowing rolls of the eyes, the numbers went a long way towards backing Prince.

Going into today’s final of the Momentum One Day Cup, Verreynne was top of the run-scoring pile with 453, which included a top score of 114 not out and four 50s at an average of 64.71.

And having been put on the spot by his coach, Verreynne himself – clearly a Prince kind of player, which is code for he’s all substance and no flash – dropped broad hints that his coach could be right with his performance in the ill-fated One Day Cup semi-final against the Titans on Wednesday.

With the spotlight reflecting off his ginger features, the 21-year-old put in a mature and gritty performance reminiscent of Mark Boucher when he dealt in lost causes for the Proteas, his patient 65 off 98 balls helping lift the Cobras from 40/3 to 187 all out.

Prince has been known to go against the grain with his observations, but where he is different to similarly contrary folk is that he can always back it up with a rational argument.

Take his call for spinner George Linde to be the one of the all-rounders to be taken to the World Cup instead of two wrist spinners in Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi, for example.

Given that Linde hasn’t looked like representing the Proteas, it sounded like a ludicrous suggestion, but the rationale was good: “I don’t always think a seam bowling all-rounder is necessary. The second all-rounder in my top eight could sometimes be a spinning all-rounder, and I think he could provide that,” he said.

“I can never really see the two spinners they’ve selected, Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi, playing in the same line-up. I can see Tahir and a spin bowler who can bat. I’m just thinking ahead – at the start of the English summer, you’ll need to play two seam bowling all-rounders, but by the end of the tournament you might want a spin bowling all-rounder because the wickets will be getting tired.”

While Prince’s Verreynne call is sound, one also has to ask about the claims of Warriors prodigy Sinethemba Qeshile.

Still only 20, Qeshile’s batting has been instrumental to the Warriors pushing for domestic honours in both the 4-Day Franchise Series and the One Day Cup, culminating in his introduction to international cricket via the Proteas T20 series against Sri Lanka.

That was in his first full season as a first-class player.

Long story short, it won’t be long before we’re talking about Verreynne against Qeshile as the replacement wicketkeeper should anything happen to De Kock.

As debates go, it’ll probably be a slow burner simply because being born a wicketkeeper in South Africa can be a bit like being born a loose forward in the mid-90s to early 2000s.

Anyone who remembers the succession of keepers who had their paths blocked by Boucher because he made the national team at 20 and didn’t look back for 15 years will understand what the young blighters are up against, given that De Kock is only 26.

Both have great claims to not letting the side down even if something were to happen to De Kock – Verreynne strikes one as a wicketkeeper’s wicketkeeper, while the nuggety Qeshile has a maturity beyond his years and is calm personified.

What will probably be a tie-breaker is who of the two can command a place in the starting line-up as a batsman.

Currently, that would be Qeshile, who played his first few games for the Warriors as a batsman and did well.

What would Prince do? Probably fit all three of them into the test team...

Follow me on Twitter @Simxabanisa

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