New Proteas player Marques Ackerman could potentially debut against Australia in the first Test, which will take place in Durban this weekend.
Before his retirement in 2019, it was almost assumed that Hashim Amla would occupy the third position in the Proteas lineup for Test matches. However, after Amla played his last Test match against Sri Lanka in February 2019, the Proteas team experimented with eleven players in this position. This does not include left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, who served as a night watchman in one of the matches.
Players who have occupied this position include Zubair Hamza, Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rashid van der Dussen, Tonisse de Bruyn, Heinrich Klaasen, Tony de Zorzi, Reinars van Toonder, Tristan Stubbs, Raynan Rickelton, and Wian Mulder. Some of them have succeeded by demonstrating the required level of play, but there has been no consistency in terms of runs scored or player selection.
During Shukri Conrad's tenure, which began in 2023, De Zorzi, Stubbs, Rickelton, and Mulder have featured in this position. Van Toonder played there as a temporary replacement during the New Zealand tour when senior Proteas players participated in the SA20 league earlier this year.
Marques Ackerman received an invitation to the squad, joining the Proteas ahead of the first Test against Australia. Nevertheless, none of the players have been able to maintain a long run due to injuries and form issues, leading to recent changes in batting order.
Ideally, Conrad would like to settle on a permanent player for position No. 3, but he is also a coach who relies on his intuition regarding conditions. For instance, Stubbs played against India on the subcontinent in their last Test match last November, scoring 49 and 94 runs, which helped Proteas win a historic two-match series.
However, Conrad may decide to keep Stubbs lower in the batting order for the matches against Australia, as he has the ability to dominate tired attacks that bowl him old balls.
De Zorzi withdrew from the Test series against Australia, starting in Kingsmead, Durban, on Friday, due to a hamstring injury. This will likely allow Rickelton to continue playing in the upper order alongside Aiden Markram.
This could open an opportunity for 30-year-old newcomer Marques Ackerman to debut on home soil at number 3 after impressive two years of red-ball format performances, both domestically and for South Africa A.
Ackerman, captain of the 'Dolphins', topped the first-class run-scoring charts in the 2023/24 season. In the last 10 red-ball matches for South Africa A, he scored over 1000 runs at an average of 82.92, including four centuries, the best being 256 runs off 237 balls against Bangladesh A in August.
Among all the batters in the squad, Ackerman and David Bedingham are likely to have played the most red-ball matches in recent months. Since Bedingham is likely to bat at number five or six, Ackerman may get a chance to establish himself as a permanent Proteas No. 3.
With years of first-class experience, it is not the same as throwing a 20-year-old into deep water against one of the greatest attacking teams in Test history. While this is a significant step forward, Ackerman has demonstrated over the past years that he is capable of succeeding in any condition. He also possesses a playing style that Conrad likes at number 3—a player who aims to dominate and challenge the opposition bowlers.
Proteas has been looking for a player who could replace Amla over the last seven years. Can Ackerman be the man who can perform against the highly rated Australian attack?
