Jordan Hermann, Lesego Senokwane, Grant Roelofsen and Dewald Brevis — a quartet of batting tyros — are the primary drivers of optimism for provincial cricket, finishing this season’s Four-Day Series as the leading run-scorers.
Brevis, currently 55 runs behind Hermann’s aggregate of 602 , may yet end as the top run-getter should he have a good final at the Wanderers, adding extra gloss to a season in which all that rich youthful potential is finally being realised.
Of the four, Brevis is next in line for a spot in the Proteas batting order — probably in the limited overs formats initially, with a Test call-up likely later this year.
The overall health of the domestic system is determined by the options that are available for Proteas head coach Shukri Conrad, and in the batting specifically, he should be smiling.
Roelofsen, Senokwane and Hermann have all taken advantage of opportunities this summer, with the latter two in particular — given their improvement and in Hermann’s case, consistency in the last three seasons — worthy of national recognition.
The South Africa A side heads to the West Indies next month for a tour that will include two Four-Day matches and Senokwane and Hermann should be on that flight. At Proteas level currently, Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton and Tony de Zorzi have a firm grip on the top order spots, but pressure being applied by domestic batters keeps them on their toes.
Senokwane: Showing improvement
The end to Senokwane’s season has been a bit limp, but that is understandable after the awful incident in Potchefstroom at the start of the One-Day Cup where he was the victim of racial abuse from a young spectator.
The 27-year-old should probably have been benched for a week to clear his mind, but played throughout the One-Day campaign for the Knights and then because of rain, had just two more innings’ in the Four-Day Series, in which he scored 4 and 2.
Like all of the Knights’ players, he now finds himself in the unfortunate position of not knowing what the future holds as Cricket SA conduct mediation processes with the Free State and Eastern Province unions over the latter’s failure to field three black African players in a One-Day Cup match.
If the Knights are relegated, Senokwane has to move to another team, because the upward curve his career has been on deserves continued exposure to the highest form of competition.
Over the last three seasons, he averaged 41.26 in the Four-Day Series. Impressively, he has shown improvement over that period from scoring 230 runs in 2022/23, when he averaged 28.75; he finished the 2023/24 season with 455 runs with an average of 37.91 to this summer, where his 559 runs came at an average of 55.90. He made his first double hundred too.
Hermann: proof of talent
The left-hander hasn’t progressed as steadily as Senokwane, but that’s because he’s maintained a high level for three seasons. Besides close followers of the local game, no-one had heard of Hermann until the first season of the SA20, and a big partnership with Markram for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the semifinals garnered wide acclaim.
Later that season, after returning to his provincial side the Warriors, it was his unbeaten 187 that helped secure a seven wicket win in a successful fourth innings chase of 370 in Paarl, marking him out as a batter with a bright future.
In two of his last three seasons — including 2024/25 — he’s scored over 600 runs in the Four-Day Series, becoming a fixture at the top of the order for the Warriors. His consistency is exemplary but perhaps the one criticism, at what is still an early stage in his career, is the poor rate at which he converts fifties into hundreds.
Over three seasons, Hermann has made 11 half-centuries, but has scored just three centuries. He’s still only 23, and has played just 26 first-class matches, but will be aware that when being gauged for the Proteas that kind of statistic will count against him.
Nevertheless, a first-class average of 47.73 indicates consistency and will ensure his name remains in any conversations about the national team. Series like those in the West Indies or later this year for SA A against New Zealand A, are vital for Hermann to prove that at a level higher than provincial cricket, he can thrive.
Bowlers hit by injuries
This has been a very difficult season for fast bowlers. At the national level, injuries have curtailed the progress of Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee and Lizaad Williams.
Even when Conrad made a call to Anrich Nortjé, that fell through because of a back injury, while Lungi Ngidi hurt his groin and was out for three months. It all meant an earlier than planned call-up to the Test side for Kwena Maphaka.
At domestic level, the likes of Daryn Dupavillon and Eathan Bosch were also sidelined for periods with injuries.
So concerned is Cricket SA that the director of national teams Enoch Nkwe said an inquiry would take place as to why there was such a spate of injuries. Workloads should be less, given there’s less cricket, but perhaps switching between formats as often as occurs in the domestic schedule creates demands on quick bowlers that weren’t present in the past.
Then there’s the state of the country’s pitches, many of which are slow and aid spin. Of the top six wicket-takers in the competition this season, four are spinners. The top two, Shaun von Berg and Prenelan Subrayen, are veterans who bowl in Paarl and Durban on surfaces tailor-made for spinners.
Of the seamers who round out the top 10 wicket-takers, only Lutho Sipamla — who had taken 19 wickets for the Lions at an average of 21.15 before the final — can realistically be viewed as a candidate for the Proteas. His improvement this season after struggling with injuries has been one of the few positives for seamers this summer.
Another concern is how little impact leg-spinner Nqaba Peter has made for the Lions. After exploding onto the scene in last year’s T20 Challenge, and earning call-ups to the Proteas ODI and T20 squads, his development has slowed. For a player whose craft demands he bowls more, it is worrying he has played just two first-class matches this season and taken only two wickets.
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