Whether the squad is the oldest or the second-oldest ever chosen, however, depends entirely on whether Hashim Amla goes to England for what will be his third World Cup.

According to Andrew Samson, Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) official statistician, if Amla is chosen in April in favour of Aiden Markram, then the SA squad will be the oldest ever chosen since SA’s debut in the 1992 World Cup, at an average age of 30 years and 101 days.

If Amla is chosen instead of Reeza Hendricks (but Markram is in the squad), the average age of the squad will still be high at 29 years and 341 days, making it the second-highest ever chosen.

If Markram and Hendricks are both chosen, but Amla isn’t, the average age of the squad goes down further to 29 years and 186 days, making it among the highest ever chosen but certainly not the highest.

All of Samson’s age calculations are based on the premise that the following players go to England: Quinton de Kock, Hendricks/Amla/Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Faf du Plessis (captain), JP Duminy, David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi and Imran Tahir.

With the exception of what might happen when the squad is announced next month, only once in the history of South Africa’s participation in the World Cup has the average age of the squad exceeded 30, and that was in the 2007 tournament in the Caribbean.

In that tournament the SA squad contained five “thirtysomethings” at the time, including Andrew Hall, Charl Langeveldt, Herschelle Gibbs, Shaun Pollock and Roger Telemachus.

The oldest member of the squad was Telemachus at 33.

The average age of that 2007 World Cup squad, when South Africa were beaten by Australia in the semi-finals, was 30 years and 38 days.

Taking the 2019 tournament into account and the Proteas have participated in eight World Cups. The youngest side (average age 27 years and 273 days) they’ve ever fielded was in the 1996 World Cup co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

In four tournaments to date, the South Africans have fielded teams with an average age of 28, with the number of days varying. The next youngest side to the 1996 World Cup side was the team they fielded for the 2003 World Cup on home ground.

The average age of that side was 28 years and 78 days.

The next youngest side after that was the 1999 World Cup squad, a side many have felt had the best chance of ever lifting the trophy but who were sent home amidst the heartbreak of the 213-run tie in the semifinal against Australia in Edgbaston in Birmingham.

The average age of that squad was 28 years and 131 days.

Two other teams have had average ages of 28 – the 1992 team and the 2011 team; the “class of ‘92” had an average age of 28 years and 313 days, while the 2011 team at the World Cup in India and Bangladesh had an average age of 28 years and 153 days.

While calculating average age of squads is straightforward, it is far more difficult to tease out the relationships – or possible relationship – between age and success, largely because there are so many other variables.

There would appear to be a virtue to age in that it correlates to experience but experience itself is no guarantee of success, as the 33-year-old Shaun Pollock found out in his last World Cup in 2007.

Experience can also be perceived as a slightly nebulous category – something which means something, in other words, but in actual fact means very little.

Does it equate to being supple – and thinking on your feet – for example? Or does it mean a kind of grace under pressure? It is difficult to tell.

If the squad worked with by Samson is more-or-less correct, it would seem to have the virtue of young fast bowlers (Rabada, Ngidi, Nortje) with the older players generally being the batsmen (Du Plessis, Amla, possibly, Van der Dussen and Duminy).

Spin bowlers, however, are among the oldest members of the squad, with Tahir’s work in the middle overs taxing his over-worked 40-year-old body.

We don’t have long to find out, with national selection convenor, Lindi Zondi, scheduled to announce the side the day before Easter Friday.

- African News Agency