Australia's own 'Kallis quandary'

For so much of the lead-in to the Australia-South Africa Test series that begins on Wednesday, the dominant question has been ‘how will the Proteas cope with the sudden loss of their first-choice allrounder, Jacques Kallis?’.

Now, in a curious twist of fate and timing, the Australians find themselves confronting the very same quandary with yesterday’s news that Shane Watson – the man who fills the same multi-purpose role to give the Australian set-up its unique balance – will miss the first Test, possibly more.

QUICK SINGLE: Watson succumbs to injury

Kallis was a special, once-in-a-generation talent for his capacity to play as a genuine top-order batsman, but also bowl with an economy and capacity to take wickets that meant he could have earned his spot with the ball alone, as well as provide a safe pair of hands in the slips cordon.

Precisely what Watson brings to the Australian team, although not quite matching the freakish talent, remarkable durability and stunning consistency that Kallis produced over 18 years and 166 Tests.

Where South Africa have now established a clear advantage over the team laying claim to their No.1 world Test ranking is in being able to simply replace Kallis’s role – though not his ability – with another allrounder, albeit one who will drop a few rungs on the batting order.

The reason they are able to achieve this flexibility is because they boast a wicketkeeper who is also a legitimate top-order batsman – AB de Villiers, who averages more than 51 with a career-best Test score of 278.

That means, even without the services of Kallis, they can play six specialist batsmen as well as four specialist bowlers – including spinner Robin Peterson – and then slot in replacement allrounder Ryan McLaren or Wayne Parnell without disrupting the carefully-constructed team stability.

For Australia, the loss of Watson requires a far more complex and comprehensive reshuffling.

It is accepted that uncapped Alex Doolan will be thrown into the No.3 batting berth against the combined mettle of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel.

This represents a notable leap of faith and explains why Shaun Marsh – already tried and discarded as a No.3 Test batsman – has been hastily summoned lest the selectors lose their nerve on match eve.

Which leaves the No.6 batting spot, held for five consecutive winning Tests by George Bailey, who now finds himself suddenly not only out of the best XI but considered to be beyond the best 16, up for grabs.

As such, the selectors will need to consider whether the need for someone who can bat a bit and bowl a bit more leads to the inclusion of Moises Henriques who, until a fortnight ago, was rated the third-best allrounder in the country and not needed in the touring party.

That was until the second-choice allrounder James Faulkner was found to require knee surgery, a procedure that is expected to sideline him until the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh beginning mid-March.

Given Henriques’ modest batting record – 202 runs at 33.66 in the Bupa Sheffield Shield this season and a similar record in his three Tests to date (156 runs at 31.20) – it would seem that Australia might then be entering the first Test a specialist batsman short.

Against arguably the world’s best Test bowling attack.

On a pitch tipped to favour the seamers.

At a venue where South Africa has lost just one of 18 Tests played over the last 18 years, with that defeat coming 14 years ago.

The fact that Henriques was added to the squad when Faulkner was injured prompted incredulity from former Test batsman Dean Jones, although there was no compelling case tendered by another seam-bowling allrounder to fill the vacancy.

“I just can’t believe Henriques has been called in, I really can’t,” Jones said. “The problem is I can sort of go with the selectors a little bit because there’s not too many other (allrounders) around, and he had a good first Test against India.

“But he has this tendency in the history of his career to make one good score and then he goes to sleep for two months and we don’t see him.”

Henriques’ contribution in the centre-wicket trial game at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Friday, the outing in which Watson sustained his calf injury, was solid if not spectacular.

He scored 16 from 28 balls before bottom-edging an attempted pull shot from Ryan Harris on to his stumps, a not uncommon occurrence on a fourth-day pitch exhibiting variable bounce.

And while he served up a few four balls in his nine overs, he finished with the comparatively tidy figures of 0-23 while not putting the frighteners up any of the Australian batsmen.

Of concern, however, was the fact there were times during his bowling spells on Friday and again during yesterday’s training session at the same ground where he appeared to be favouring his right leg.

Team medical staff claimed they were unaware of any injury concerns, but the combination of a bowler who is unlikely to find penetration where the front-line quicks can’t and a batsman who has managed just one score in excess of 50 this summer might prompt a radical re-think from the selection panel.

That is, to ditch coach Darren Lehmann’s preferred adherence to taking five specialist bowlers into a Test and, instead, relying on part-time spin to soak up overs that the four quicks – likely Mitchell Johnson, Harris, Peter Siddle and Jackson Bird – cannot.

And play an extra specialist batsman instead.

Given the scratchy form of the top six during the recent Ashes series, that permutation would provide greater peace of mind as well as the prospect of posting a combative first innings score against South Africa’s potent attack.

If that’s the case, either Marsh or Phil Hughes will be called on to fill the No.6 batting spot and the tourists will be compelled to make two changes to the XI that soldiered through the Ashes summer unchanged and undefeated.

Which, in turn, validates the argument that an allrounder the calibre of Kallis or Watson is effectively two players in one.