What if acting Cricket South Africa chief executive officer Jacques Faul or team director Graeme Smith convinced the country’s slew of Kolpak cricketers to return to international cricket …

Simon Harmer

• The spinner was the leading wicket-taker in all first-class cricket last year and continues to enjoy a fruitful career with Essex in the County Championship. He recently insisted ‘there’s zero security in South Africa’. Given the ineptitude of off-spinning in Dane Piedt recently, the Proteas could do with a return from Harmer.

Kyle Abbott

• The right-arm fast bowler is currently involved in the Mzansi Super League with the Durban Heat, reminding Proteas fans what they are missing. The self-professed ‘outsider’ would be a welcome inclusion in a Test seam attack navigating life after the retirement of fast bowler Dale Steyn, particularly against England.

Also see: Five points on Smith’s agenda

Duanne Olivier

• Another right-arm fast bowler who aborted a burgeoning Test career for attractions in the United Kingdom. Olivier has expressed ambition to play for England, but probably wasn’t convincing enough in a maiden full season for Yorkshire in the County Championship and related limited-overs tournaments. If allowed only one, the Proteas would probably opt for Olivier before Abbott.

Rilee Rossouw

• The Proteas selectors kept faith in the talented left-handed batsman despite five ducks in his first 10 ODI innings. He, too, was named in the Test squad. But he ultimately opted to play with Abbott at Hampshire. Like fellow former Proteas cricketer Colin Ingram, Rossouw has carved a path in domestic T20 leagues around the world as well. Rossouw would be a great addition to the ODI or T20I middle order.

Also see: Five points on Faul’s agenda

Wayne Parnell

• ‘If you are an accountant or an electrician or a journalist, and you were offered the chance to make good money overseas, to travel the world and do what you love, wouldn’t you grab that with both hands? We have a limited time as professional cricketers. We have to maximise our earning potential and provide the best lives for our families,’ the left-arm all-rounder told New Frame. He’s with Worcestershire now, doing exactly that. His absence, though, probably isn’t detrimental to the Proteas.

Others: Stiaan van Zyl, Heino Kuhn, David Wiese, Marchant de Lange, Dane Vilas.

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