Duminy hoping to contribute more with ball

JP Duminy still has designs on becoming a full-fledged allrounder for South Africa, especially in shorter formats. After his career-best 4 for 16 in the one-off match against Ireland, Duminy admitted he has been working on his bowling and hopes it will be used more in future.

"I want to be able to contribute a lot more, especially in the shorter formats," Duminy said. "I want to be able to bowl 10 overs in a one-day game and four overs in a T20. That will also help the team in terms of how we go about the dynamic."

Duminy has bowled 10 overs in an ODI four times before, always with success. Against Australia in Sydney in January 2009, Duminy took 1 for 52, in the return series at home in Johannesburg that April, he took 3 for 48. Four years later, in a Champions Trophy match against India in Cardiff, Duminy's returns were 1 for 42 and later that year against Sri Lanka in Pallekele, he kept things tight with 0 for 34.

Although Duminy has not been seen much with the ball in ODIs this year - he has played 11 matches and bowled in six of those, totalling 23 overs - he was asked to do the job more in 2015. In 17 matches, Duminy only didn't bowl in once and he bowled more than five overs nine times.

Should Duminy become a genuine allrounder, he will join a slew of current South African limited-overs with dual ability. Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris (currently injured) and to a lesser extent Farhaan Behardien can all offer both disciplines, which stand-in captain Faf du Plessis said will be key to South Africa's hopes of winning trophies. "We've always said that we really need allrounders to come through to make the balance of our team easier," du Plessis had said, before the Ireland match.

But team balance is on du Plessis and Duminy's minds for other reasons, and in another format. With AB de Villiers' out of action for the next two months as he undergoes elbow surgery, both du Plessis, who is likely to captain, and Duminy can consider their Test places safe after they were dropped at different stages of last season.

They would not have feared as much in shorter formats, although they have both also come under fire there too. Duminy's unbeaten 52 against Ireland was his first half-century in 12 ODI innings dating back to July last year and while du Plessis has scored three fifties in his last nine innings, he is often criticised for a slow strike-rate, something which was evident in the Ireland game.

For the first seven overs of du Plessis' time at the crease, South Africa's run rate slowed significantly: it was 6.6 when he came in at the start of the 25th, and the team scored at a rate of 4.1 for the next seven. That was likely the difference between a score of 400 and a score of 350 - which anyway did not matter in the end given the margin of defeat - but Duminy has identified that period as an area in which South Africa need to be more proactive.

"It's an area of the game we have identified to improve on in one-day cricket. We've discussed a few options of how we can go about it better," Duminy said. "It depends on how many wickets are down and the situation of the game, but it is a crucial part in terms of winning big games. Capitalising on that period. We've spoken about it, we've put plans in place, now we've got to put in the performance."