Last Chance Saloon: Jacques Rudolph playing to save his career.

Last week, I wrote about Jacques Rudolph and how he stood to gain the most out of JP Duminy's injury if he made the most of his opportunities.

I wrote how Rudolph has perhaps struggled to make runs in the number six batting slot because South Africa's top order had done very well over the last 12 months and when he did come in it was always in search of quick runs, which perhaps is not his natural game. But in the 2nd Test in Adelaide, Rudolph had the opportunity to make plenty of runs, in part because the top order collapsed and because he batted at no.4 because of an injury to Jacques Kallis and perhaps some tiredness on AB De Villiers' part due to the extra burden of keeping wicket.

Regardless, Rudolph couldn't make the most of his chances and scored 29 and 3. The man who did take advantage of his opportunity though was Faf du Plessis, Duminy's replacement for this test. I thought going in to the Test though that the South African selectors would relent and give Thami Tsolekile the gloves but even he says he didn't expect to get into the XI as quoted by Australian papers. 

Duminy will not make an immediate return to the Proteas but between know and when he does come back there could be a lot of players who have put their names in the hat for a place in the team. Rudolph needs to be careful beacuse other players offer a little more than solid batting, like du Plessis who can turn a few with his wrist and is also an excellent fielder. Robin Peterson and Duminy also bat and bowl a bit so when the selectors look back, maybe they could decide Rudolph offers the least if he's not scoring big runs. Rudolph will survive until the 3rd Test but when the Proteas return for their home series against NZ & Pakistan, he might find himself back playing for the Titans if he doesn't put up a very big score in the final test. The SA batting line up will be under a lot more scrutiny since Kallis is expected to miss the final Test through injury putting a lot more pressure to make runs on the other batsmen. When the third Test does come around, Rudolph might find himself in the match to fight for his career. Who knows, it could be motivation he needs.