Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Monday has announced a 13-member squad to face Sri Lanka in the T20 series starting January 20th. All-rounder Farhaan Behardien has been named as the skipper for the first two matches while the senior players have been given the rest, making way for six new faces in the side.
CSA Selection Convener, Linda Zondi has said picking up so many new faces is their last chance to do so, as the ODI series which follows will be the start of preparation for the Champions Trophy. He has also mentioned that in order to give the senior players some rest ahead of the action-packed cricket coming their way, including that of Indian Premier League and tours to New Zealand and England, they have been kept aside.
“We have decided to rest some of our key senior players for this series. This is the last chance we have to do this as the Momentum ODI series that follows is an important part of our build-up to the ICC Champions Trophy Tournament in England in the middle of the year. Those senior players who are involved in the Indian Premier League will be playing non-stop from now until the end of August with the tours coming up to New Zealand and England in addition to the ICC event.”
Talking about the captain, Zondi said Farhaan has been on the score-sheet for the better part of franchise T20 competition and his experience in the International sector will help him. David Wiese, who signed the Kolpak deal with Sussex on Monday, was originally in the squad before the all-rounder announced his exit from International cricket to the board.
“Farhaan was one of the standout players in our franchise T20 Challenge, being the second leading runs scorer behind Jon-Jon Smuts and having the best strike rate. David Wiese was one of our original selections but he has informed us that he intends to take up a Kolpak contract and has therefore been withdrawn from the squad.”
Speaking about Ab de Villiers, who has been out of the game from a while now, Zondi said he is yet to resume training but will play in the domestic tournament along with pacer Morne Morkel and both will stay in contention for the third and final T20 game.
“Both AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel are due to resume playing at domestic level later this month and could come into contention for the third T20”, he concluded.
Here is South Africa’s T20 squad against Sri Lanka:
Farhaan Behardien (capt), Theunis de Bruyn, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Heino Kuhn, David Miller, Mangaliso Mosehle, Lungi Ngidi, Wayne Parnell, Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo and Jon-Jon Smuts.