A trio of T20Is the week before a T20 World Cup seems like a good idea except, perhaps, if half your squad is unavailable.
That's the situation facing both West Indies and South Africa, who are without many players from their tournament squads, including their captains.
Rovman Powell and Aiden Markram are both at the IPL, as well as Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Nicholas Pooran, Sherfane Rutherford, Andre Russell and Alzarri Joseph for West Indies, and Heinrich Klaasen, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada for South Africa. While they are not all still at the IPL some, like Pooran and Hope, are being rested and others, like Rabada, are recovering from illness.
That makes this series an exercise that's part warm-up, part experimentation as the T20 World Cup co-hosts face off against perennial major tournament hopefuls in the first of three engagements they will have in the next three months. South Africa will return to the Caribbean in August to play two Tests and three more T20Is, which will have far less riding on them than these matches, where there are statements to be made. Especially by the following:
Openers need to find some form
Johnson Charles has re-established himself as a first-choice opener alongside Brandon King (cue the monarch jokes) since making a comeback to the West Indies T20I side in South Africa last year, where he scored a 46-ball 118 to announce his return. The trouble is that he hasn't done much since. In eight T20I innings after that, Charles has been dismissed in single figures four times and gone past 30 only once. There are signs that could change, though. He was West Indies A's leading run-scorer on a recent tour of Nepal, and will want to build on that form ahead of the T20 World Cup.
In the opposition camp, South Africa have concerns around Quinton de Kock, who has had three poor T20 league campaigns on the trot since retiring from ODI cricket last November. He was particularly out of sorts at the BBL, where he scored 104 runs in six innings, and then made 213 runs in 12 innings at the SA20 and 250 runs in 11 innings at the IPL, though that did include three fifties. At least his numbers have improved slightly at each tournament. De Kock was selected in the World Cup squad on reputation, not form, at the expense of at least two other candidates - Matthew Breetzke and Rassie van der Dussen - and in what could be his last international assignment, he will want to come good.
Discards with a license to dream
The ICC only expects confirmed squads on May 25, so there's a tiny bit of time (and perhaps one game) left for those looking to force their way into the final squads or, if that isn't possible, just make a point about what their teams might be missing.
Kyle Mayers has to be one of them. He scored no T20I fifties in 11 innings since touring South Africa in 2023 and was dropped thereafter, but made 243 runs in six innings at the BPL and boasts a T20 strike rate above 150 this year and above 143 from 40 matches last year. With power-hitting among the most talked-about attributes of top-order batters, this is his chance to show he still has it.
The same will be in the back of Rassie van der Dussen's mind. Despite being the second-highest run-scorer in T20 cricket this year, behind Babar Azam, van der Dussen could not find a T20 World Cup place ahead of de Kock, Reeza Hendricks and Ryan Rickelton, but accepted the role of stand-in captain for this series, and will want to lead from the front in all aspects of his game.
There are also some bowlers who might feel aggrieved at their omission. Such as Obed McCoy, who is one of the highest wicket-takers in T20Is this year but found no space in a squad that has Alzarri and Shamarh Joseph, Russell, Holder and Shepherd. He has an opportunity to show what he can do in home conditions. And Lungi Ngidi, who recovered from a lower back injury which kept him out of the IPL and made a decent comeback at the CSA T20s, will also want to prove the worth of his variations in the Caribbean. Ngidi took eight wickets in eight matches in South Africa's domestic competition but Anrich Nortje, who conceded at more than 13 runs an over in the IPL, was preferred over him for pace.
New kids on the block
Seamer Matthew Forde faced a baptism by fire when he made his T20I debut in December against England, finishing with figures of none for 54 in three overs.
But he has shown that he has what it takes to be international quality. In the ODI series that preceded the T20Is then, Forde took 3 for 29 in the series decider with all three strikes in the powerplay to reduce England to 49 for 5. West Indies went on to win the series and Forde will hope to build on that promise.
From South Africa, legspinner Nqaba Peter earned his first international call-up after just one season in the domestic top tier, where he took 20 wickets in the Lions' run to the T20 title at an average of 9.50. Peter bowled exceptionally in the big moments, including taking 4 for 18 in the semi-final, and could provide South Africa with an attacking slower bowling option in the future.