Increasing stress levels could see players skip international duty and leagues: Allan Donald

Mumbai: South African legend Allan Donald on Monday said it would come as no surprise if players begin skipping leagues and even international assignments due to mounting physical strain caused by an increasingly packed schedule.

With the third edition of the SA20 impending, South Africa will enter a crucial two-Test series against Pakistan with their qualification for the final of the World Test Championship at stake with several of their bowlers injured.

Anrich Nortje (fractured toe), Lungi Ngidi (groin), Gerald Coetzee (groin), Nandre Burger (lower back stress fracture) and Lizaad Williams have been sidelined whereas Proteas have included Keshav Maharaj and Wiaan Mulder, who also suffered injuries recently for Tests against Pakistan.

"The injuries, unfortunately to a guy who is a box-office bowler, Anrich Nortje, and a couple of others, is not ideal. It is what the rest of the world wants to see, a guy bowling at 155 clicks and and making things happen," Donald said during an interaction organised by SA20.

"It is, unfortunately, the brutality of the world game and where it is. What these guys are going through now (with) all the leagues, I'm not surprised that a lot of the guys will miss a league here, a tournament there and maybe even for their country.” "It's an ongoing cycle, it's hard to stop the level of the stress that gets put on the bodies unfortunately. But again, it's an opportunity for someone else to take a claim and that's what we want to see,” Donald added.

Donald, who is the SA20 ambassador and will also serve as the bowling coach of the Durban Super Giants, said the South African T20 competition has the potential to surpass Australia's Big Bash League.

"You got the Big Bash, the IPL which is just a product on its own, it's just massive. SA20 has got the potential to be going past the BBL, seeing that it's only a month long (tournament), but this means so much to cricket in South Africa and domestically." Donald said players are completely aware of their workload and they no more need to be told about when to take a rest.

"We were already seen Nortje basically just saying 'I don't want another a national contract. I want to focus, look after my body a bit more’." "He's had serious injuries (and) so all of a sudden South Africa are losing a huge asset, but that is now where the players are putting themselves in terms of looking after their own workloads." "You simply cannot blame them. There's so many leagues out there at the moment, even the T10 at the moment is making its voice heard. There's nothing you can do, you know," he added.

Talking about workload management, Donald said Nortje is only trying to look after himself by opting out of the national contract, adding that IPL is where the players want to be seen.

"He's a very smart man. He knows how to manage himself. But he's going through a very, very torrid time in terms of injuries and his injuries haven't been (the) Mickey Mouse ones. They've been really bad. He's now gone down again and we're going to miss him in SA20." "The players now know where they stand. The IPL is the benchmark. That's where they want to be seen and be ready for when that time comes around." Donald picked Kwena Mphaka, Codi Yusuf and Corbin Bosch as the players to look out for in third season of SA20.

"Corbin Bosch really had a fantastic season for for the Titans up in the North. He's been rewarded last night (with South Africa ODI debut) for his great work this season,” he said.

"There's this young kid called Codi Yusuf, playing for the Lions. But Kwena Maphaka, the left-arm sensation, who has been signed by the Paarl Royals, lookout for him.

"I think he's going to be the ground breaking youngster that everyone is talking about. He's had a taste of the IPL extremely quickly when he was still at school,” he added.