Last shot at a World Cup spot

South Africa's franchise cricketers have 16 days to try and force their way into the national team for next year's World Cup. The one-day competition, which starts today and will go through five rounds before October 26, is the only 50-over domestic cricket that will be played before the 2015 tournament. It is also the last chance for fringe players to catch the selectors' eyes.

Although South Africa's ODI squad has been declared "almost finalised" by the convener of selectors Andrew Hudson, he has assured hopefuls that they are welcome to bang down the door. "We have a domestic series at home and we will keep an eye on that. If there are outstanding performances domestically, I will never rule that out," Hudson said last month, when the squad to tour New Zealand and Australia was announced. "We want to send a message to franchise cricketers to say if you perform at domestic level you will be considered."

For the likes of Jacques Rudolph, Colin Ingram, Farhaan Behardien, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Rory Kleinveldt and Marchant de Lange, that will come as welcome news. They have all represented South Africa in the past and are all looking for ways to make a comeback.

Titans' coach Rob Walter confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Rudolph only made himself available to the franchise for the 50-over competition in order to push for a World Cup spot. Rudolph's recent form hints that may not be too far-fetched an aim: he topped the run charts in the English one-day competition with 575 runs at 82.14.

Ingram and Behardien were the third and fifth highest run-scorers in last year's South African one-day cup, and both have been spoken of as outside candidates for a reserve batsman spot. Tsotsobe, Kleinveldt and de Lange will hope to be included as additional bowling options, especially as Vernon Philander's limited-overs form has been inconsistent recently. Tsotsobe, however, admitted a recall would not come easily.

"It's difficult to get back into the national side because there is a lot of competition. But competition is healthy and I'm getting my confidence back," Tsotsobe said. "I'm getting there, I think I'm 100 percent. I still need to bowl a couple of overs just to make sure I'm on the right path. If I produce results, the selectors will reward good performances."

While the six players mentioned above, and a few others, will dream that the five matches to come could see them claim wild-card spots for the World Cup, the reality is that there is only one gap South Africa will look to fill. Following Jacques Kallis' retirement and Faf du Plessis assumption of the No.3 role, there is a conundrum regarding how many lower-order allrounders South Africa need in their team. Ryan McLaren has already laid claim to one spot, but if there is a need for a second bowling all-rounder, a player like Albie Morkel, David Wiese or Chris Morris could come into contention.

Morkel may not get the chance to stake a claim because he is out of action until early December with an ankle problem. Wiese has a similar injury, but is expected to return for at least some of the matches. Morris is also expected to feature regularly after recovering from surgery over the winter and taking seven wickets in the Lions' first game in the first-class competition. He sat out the second game with an injury, but is likely to return soon.

Morris was called up to South Africa's ODI side during last year's Champions Trophy, and he could be seen as a welcome addition to a team still searching for glory at an ICC world event.