5 Future Stars of South Africa Cricket

South Africa’s production line of young talent always seems to be churning, and the recently concluded T20 series against Australia featured some of the nation's future stars.

The good news is that there is more where they came from. Indeed, some of the names might already be familiar to you, if you’re a South African supporter. The others will systematically make their way through the ranks to eventually reach the top level of cricket.

Picking just five players naturally means that there are some who have missed out. Add your thoughts about who else will be a South African star in the future in the comments.

All stats via ESPNCricinfo and all quotes obtained firsthand, unless otherwise stated. 

Stiaan van Zyl is a southpaw right from the textbooks.

Elegant, classy and patient with the ability to hit out when needed, Van Zyl was the leading run scorer in South Africa’s four-day competition last season. He was included in the nation’s squad which toured Zimbabwe earlier in the year, but he has not yet been given the opportunity to make his mark.

Van Zyl can bat anywhere from opener to six, but he might have to wait a while longer for his debut.

South Africa play the West Indies at home over the summer. Unless there is an injury, the spots in the Test team are currently full up.

Alviro Petersen’s form remains a concern, but the opener is likely to retain his place for at least the first Test against the Windies. Van Zyl’s long wait will be worth it, though, both for the man himself and purveyors of classy left-handed batting. 

Temba Bavuma is a compact and tidy player. A middle-order batsman with plenty of power, he proves that dynamite does indeed come in small packages.

He finished last season's four-day competition with 714 runs at an average of 39.66, including three fifties and one hundred. He struggled somewhat in the limited-overs formats, but he has been steadily on the rise over the last few seasons.

Bavuma struggles most to convert his starts into big scores, but he showed just what he is capable of on a recent A-team tour to Australia. In the two unofficial Tests, he scored 217 runs at an average of 108.50, including one fifty and one hundred.

He wasn't part of the one-day squad, but Bavuma’s future is looking bright. He’s only 24 years old, so there’s plenty of time to muscle his way into the team in the next few years. 

Those who watched South Africa’s Test against Zimbabwe earlier in the year will already know who Dane Piedt is.

A crafty spinner who topped the four-day competition’s wicket-taking table last season, Piedt is one of the emerging stars of the South African Test team. 

For years, South Africa had to settle for so-called bits-and-pieces spinners, but Piedt’s meteoric rise means that they finally have a reliable spinner who can bamboozle batsmen with variation and bat a bit too.

Having played as a batsman in his school days, Piedt took up spin bowling by sheer chance. His school coach asked him if he fancied turning his arm over, and that, as they say, was that.

Currently recovering from shoulder surgery, Piedt should be fit to play against the West Indies in South Africa later in the year. 

Reeza Hendricks made his international debut in the recent T20 series against Australia. His aggressive approach makes him perfectly suited to the shortest format of the game. Hendricks has been rising through the ranks since making his first-class debut back in 2006.

He was the fourth-highest scorer in last year's domestic T20 competition, with 317 runs at an average of 45.28 in 10 games.

Hendricks is only 25. If he has another good season domestically, he could very well become a regular member of the T20 team. 

Kagiso Rabada was instrumental during South Africa’s U19 World Cup-winning campaign earlier this year.

He finished the tournament with 14 wickets in five games at an average of 10.28 and an economy rate of 3.10. His efforts included figures of six for 25 in the semi-final against Australia, a feat which helped South Africa to the final. His bowling clocked the 140 km/h mark on a few occasions, and he has earned himself a contract with South Africa’s Lions franchise.

He also recently made his international debut against Australia. Although Rabada has a lot to learn, his raw talent has set him up to be one of South Africa’s brightest bowling stars.

Having only turned 19 in May this year, he has plenty of time to fine-tune his skills and set the bowling world alight.