Out in the cold only a week ago Mike Rindel could yet find himself playing a key all-rounder's role for South Africa in the ICC Knockout trophy in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Sunday.
That's when Hansie Cronje's side tackles England in the quarter-final of a tournament which starts on Saturday with a pre-qualifying game between New Zealand and Zimbabwe.
Rindel's dual purpose abilities as an opening batsman and left-arm bowler was put to good use at SuperSport Centurion yesterday where his 10 overs cost him 41 runs for one wicket while his innings of 36 on a slow pitch was a fair reward. Naturally he would to have liked to score a lot more, especial after the failure of Daryll Cullinan, who scored only a single when facing three balls.
But Hansie Cronje, the South African captain, was not put off at the way his ``A'' side lost to a make-shift ``B'' combination in what was essentially a practice match.
The top six was the line up he was looking at for the Bangladesh showdown, and as he felt winning the tournament was what it was all about, he was not looking at making too many changes.
It cemented pre-match views that in the absence of Gary Kirsten the Rindel-Cullinan partnership could, in certain emergencies, be given an extended run.
``No, I think the top six we played here will be those we will use on Sunday,'' he said yesterday as Mark Davis led an accomplished ``B'' side to victory by 16 runs.
``The preparation has been good and as most players have been playing in the Commonwealth Games and Standard Bank League, it is all shaping up nicely,'' he added.
Although Cronje did not rule himself out as a bowler in Dhaka, he had been pleased with what he had seen of Rindel and Jacques Kallis bowling
``What we have to look at when we get there is whether we are going to play three or two spinners,'' he added. ``It largely depends on the surfaces we are going to play on.''
``It must be remembered that we have four of our top players out and we are going with a reduced squad but I am very confident we can pull this one off as well,'' he smiled.