Ottis Gibson says the Proteas would like to look at form first when selecting their World Cup XV. 

The debate about the Proteas’ World Cup XV continues.

The Proteas have yet to confirm their full list of players, with some places still up for grabs and uncertainty lingering over certain players in the starting XV.

Faf du Plessis said in his press conference on Saturday that the Proteas are 98-99% sure of their World Cup XV, but there will be an opportunity for that 1% to be filled by any player in red-hot form.

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Gibson, however, gave us a little more insight into their selection thought process.

‘First and foremost, you’d want to pick on form,’ said Gibson on Tuesday. ‘But if there’s no form to go with then you have to look at reputation, I guess.

‘That’s something we will have to look at. Obviously, with regards to Hash [Hashim Amla], he hasn’t played any cricket in a long time because of his family situation, so when we sit down to discuss a team that will certainly be one of the things we will have to consider.’

The T20I series comes after the Proteas dominated Sri Lanka 5-0. This gave the Proteas a strong indication who their XV for the World Cup will be.

Gibson did not, however, rule out the possibility of a fringe player to sneak his way into the selectors’ hat.

‘Not sure about IPL, but I think in this international T20s you still have an opportunity,’ said Gibson.

‘We said as a selection panel that we sort of look at it like the Ryder Cup selection where the Ryder Cup captain has a wild card pick.

‘So there’s still an opportunity for someone who comes in and does something unbelievable in the next couple of games. There is still a chance for selectors to consider that person.’