SA won't miss big hitters - Fletcher

South Africa have come to the subcontinent without one of their trademark big-hitting, wicket-taking allrounders. Many feel they have made an error of judgement by not including someone who would typically bat at No. 7 and be tossed the ball to bowl at second change and snag a few unexpected wickets or hurl down a couple of economical overs.

That type of player has been mass produced and used in South African conditions, but it may not have been such a mistake to leave them behind this time. "You might come to a stage where the wickets are turning and trying to hit the ball out of the park may get you into trouble," Duncan Fletcher, South Africa's batting consultant said. "You might need players on the back end who can work the ball around."

That may mean that the likes of Albie Morkel and Mark Boucher - whose names were thrown into the selection ring before the tournament - and even Justin Kemp and Johan van der Wath, who were never in any real contention but fit the mould, will not be missed because of the conditions. Fletcher said that on slow or turning pitches, which make up most of the surfaces that will be used in the tournament, a crafty consolidator will do better than a flashy finisher. "We have seen on certain wickets that it could be turning big and big hitters could get into trouble during those sorts of situations," he said.

Fletcher has indicated the ability to nudge and nurdle could be more valuable at the end of an innings than the need to lash out and to have a selection of players who can play the ball along the ground and take quick singles may prove an asset. Seen in this way, the South African middle order of JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram and Robin Peterson are a perfect fit as all them are known rotators of the strike but have the ability to clear the boundary if needs be.

They don't have the same aura as someone like Lance Klusener or Shaun Pollock, but Fletcher feels that they don't need to and singled out du Plessis as someone who should "not be disregarded." Instead of fireworks, he wants flair of the intelligent kind throughout the innings, even though acceleration towards the tail end will still be foremost in the minds of most teams.

Fletcher said closing an innings with a big bang may not be a realistic target anymore because the conditions may dictate that the batting Powerplay could be used well before the end of an innings. "It will be interesting to see where it is taken in Asian conditions because most of the sides like to take it after the 40th over but when there are a lot of spinners around and depending on the wickets around it may have to be taken earlier."

Teams may have to judge when they are going through a particularly purple patch in their innings and take the powerplay when the two batsmen at the crease are making merry. It could come as early as immediately after the first 10 or 15 overs, if the bowling powerplay is taken first, and the top order is in form. In South Africa's case that looks likely because their top four - consisting of Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers - are the ones that will spearhead the line-up even more than usual because of the relatively inexperienced middle order.

Amla in particular has been a force upfront and although he was looking to temper his self-proclaimed "wild" antics against India, he showed no signs of doing that during the two practice matches. Fletcher thinks Amla's attitude to his limited-overs game is going to be one of the key features of South Africa's challenge, whether or not he becomes more tame.

"At first they thought his technique suited Test cricket but you must give a lot of credit to the man. He went away and improved certain aspects of how to play Test cricket and on top of that has come back and been a very effective ODI player. At the top of the order he plays the Powerplays very effectively and is quite difficult to play because he uses his wrists a lot."