Injuries and imbalance leave South Africa on the brink ahead of West Indies test

It has, for the most part, been a fortnight of misfortune – if it could go wrong, it has gone wrong. Injuries are injuries. And when it rains, it only pours

There is a ghost hanging over South African cricket.

And over the course of the next month, it is a ghost that will be going nowhere; one that, instead, may well become more prominent as the fallout to South Africa’s – thus far – rotten World Cup campaign is surgically dissected.

It has, for the most part, been a fortnight of misfortune – if it could go wrong, it has gone wrong. And, indeed, for the most part, misfortune is all it has been. Injuries are injuries. And when it rains, it only pours.

First Anrich Nortje – ruled out by a fractured hand before the tournament had even begun, then Hashim Amla – pinned by a Jofra Archer bouncer, then Lungi Ngidi – his hamstring letting him down early on against Bangladesh, then Dale Steyn – defeated once again by that troublesome shoulder.

But before all this, there was AB de Villiers. One of the all-time greats, but no longer around. He called it quits last year, you see. But then, as the defeats piled up – three out of three as South Africa arrive at Southampton, so too has talk of De Villiers, a world-class match-winner.

In his absence, one might say, his impact on the tournament has been more conspicuous than many of South Africa’s current incumbents in the top seven. JP Duminy has neither the range of strokes nor the power to operate as his side’s finisher-in-chief, while Aiden Markram and David Miller have been shifted in and out of a side to which they should surely be fairly central.

The pressure on Quinton de Kock – a proven top-tier talent – and Hashim Amla – a great whose best days have become rarer – is extreme. Likewise, the same applies to Faf du Plessis – the captain of this ship whose holes are having to be plugged by the day.

It is a vessel on life support – even in this stretched out World Cup format, four defeats in succession does not scream of a mission that is remotely salvageable.

^{De Villiers offered to make a last-ditch return to the South African squad for the World Cup.}

It is a side that feels both a batsman light and a bowler heavy – a classic reminder of the importance of an all-rounder, someone with the ability to bowl 10 overs and to bat in the top six. It is why, even when not contributing with their principal discipline, both Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes remain such linchpins of England’s ODI squads.

As Afghanistan have found with Mohammad Shahzad’s injury, losing a player who performs in two facets of the game – as batsman and wicketkeeper – is difficult to compensate for with a single change.

During the 2015 tournament, De Villiers himself bowled, as if to highlight that lack of genuine all-rounder – a Klusener, a Kallis. To bemoan the lack of a player of the calibre of Kallis or, indeed, of the 1999 Klusener model is to miss the point. Those are once-in-a-generation players. And even then, that is if you’re lucky.

But, at the last World Cup, Duminy, De Villiers and Farhaan Behardien bowled 65 overs between them. It screams of a missing ingredient. You pick five bowlers and you are a batsman short. You pick bits-and-pieces cricketers and your target increases.

There is, perhaps, a certain irony, therefore, in what Ottis Gibson’s side will come up against on Monday. The West Indies. Brutal power from one to eleven. A plethora of batsmen who could perform the finishing role lacking from this flimsy South African outfit. An abundance of all-rounders with the exact skillsets for which Du Plessis would kill – Jason Holder, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite - albeit to a lesser extent.

More than Chris Gayle, more than the raw pace of Oshane Thomas, more than the relentless run-getting of Shai Hope, it is that engine room of three-dimensional middle-order stars that make this West Indies side such a dangerous proposition. There could scarcely be two more contrasting sides – in structure alone – at this tournament.

South Africa could well come out on top in this one, such is their plight and their tendency to fight until all is lost. Much is lost, but then again, that is the quirk of this format. How much? We don’t know.

Our coverage of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is brought to you in association with Cricket 19, the official video game of the Ashes. Order your copy now at Amazon.co.uk