Decision on de Kock's place 'fundamental' - Smith

The toughest task facing South Africa's selectors as they approach the quarter-finals is what to do with Quinton de Kock, according to Graeme Smith. While the former national captain endorsed de Kock's long-term future despite his current lean patch, he indicated South Africa seek a quick-fix solution as they go in search of silverware.

"That is the fundamental decision," Smith told South African talk radio station 702. "He is your long-term future and when you go back to South Africa, you are going to pick him but do you in the short term, for the quarter-final, go for the guy that's in form, that's going to win you the quarter-final?"

South Africa have one more match before they reach the knockouts - against UAE in Wellington - and Smith believes what they decide there will dictate what they will do in their quarter-final. "Do you back Quinton against UAE and hope he gets runs?" Smith asked. "That's the challenge for the leadership team. They know he can play and he can get runs but he is horribly out of form. So do you take him out of the space, give him a break and let someone else like Rilee Rossouw who is batting well go to the top and add some substance there, and give Quinny a go maybe later in the tournament or when we come back home?"

De Kock has only got into double figures once in the tournament so far, after being rushed back into action a month earlier than expected following an ankle ligament tear. Russell Domingo, South Africa's coach, said the injury had no aftereffects and de Kock has received the backing of his team-mates, including Hashim Amla and JP Duminy, and former players such as Herschelle Gibbs, who said he would stick with de Kock because he is "too dangerous a player to discard" who can "come off at any time irrespective of form."

But South Africa have never been the sort to take chances and Rossouw's promising form may be too tempting to ignore. He scored half-centuries against West Indies and Ireland and is accustomed to batting in the top order, so could replace de Kock, although that would leave AB de Villiers with the treble task of leading, keeping wicket and being the anchor batsman.

Given that de Villiers has also used himself to make up the fifth bowler's overs, an additional burden could prove one too many and de Kock may have to work through the tough period at the tournament but Smith thinks that could have been avoided had South Africa selected their squad differently. "I can't help but think they wish they had Ryan McLaren there to cover that base and then they can make that decision somewhere else," he said.

McLaren was not part of the final squad - after he lost his place following a poor series in Australia last November - which has also left South Africa without a genuine allrounder in most of their matches. Wayne Parnell, who was selected ahead of McLaren, played just one match and Vernon Philander has missed the previous games through injury.

All that has affected South Africa most when chasing, which Smith sees as a symptom of the tournament itself: "In general, the World Cup has favoured the team batting first. That's a worrying trend and hopefully as this tournament goes on people can start chasing totals."

Some teams have chased successfully like Sri Lanka, South Africa's likely opponents in the quarter-finals. Smith thinks South Africa could beat Sri Lanka as long as they use the next 10 days well. "There's enough quality and enough match-winners in that team that can beat anybody in a quarter-final," he said. "There are so many stories in the World Cup of teams that just qualified, or just scraped through on a run-rate thing and ended up going on to win the World Cup. Think about Pakistan in 1992. It's about performing at the right time. It's so important, in the next 10 days, that the guys make the right decisions, gets their heads in the right space, focus on what's important and how to win games, and go and do it. That's ultimately what they should focus on."