Online Reporter
Seamers Gerald Coetzee and Nandre Burger will make their return to international cricket after eight and 11 months respectively in South Africa’s T20I tri-series in Zimbabwe next month.
Coetzee was sidelined by a hamstring and then a groin injury over the home summer while Burger has been out with a lower-back stress fracture.
Both are currently in action at the Major League Cricket tournament in the USA.
South Africa are without regular captain Aiden Markram, batters Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs and David Miller, allrounder Marco Jansen, pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj (who will lead the Test side in Zimbabwe).
Anrich Nortje has a stress-related injury of the back and was unavailable for selection. Tabraiz Shamsi, who like Nortje is no longer contracted to CSA, has also not been included.
Head coach Shukri Conrad revealed that he will have a conversation with wristspinner in the next week or so to determine his plans with the national side going forward.
Heinrich Klaasen has retired from international cricket.
“The all-format guys have been rested. If you go back to what their last couple of months have looked like, they played Test Series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan back home, then they had SA20, then they went straight from there into an IPL, and the IPL went on for a bit longer.
“Then we had the World Test Championship Final. Their last couple of months have been chock-a-block. If you cast your eye on what the next few months look like for us, starting with this series and then a couple of days after we go to Australia and England, we felt it was the best thing for them to freshen up,” Conrad said from Zimbabwe.
“That was the big thing for me, for them to get a really good break away from cricket and freshen up. Then also use this opportunity to look at guys that potentially could stake a claim to make that T20 World Cup squad. Our sights are firmly now on what that T20 World Cup squad could look like.”
In Markram’s absence, Rassie van der Dussen will captain the side, having also done so on South Africa’s tour to West Indies before last year’s T20 World Cup.
There is experience in the form of Reeza Hendricks and Lungi Ngidi and four uncapped players.
Exciting left-handed batter Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who is also in the Test squad, is in line for a T20I debut alongside Rubin Hermann, left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy and allrounder Corbin Bosch.
On Pretorius, Conrad said: “He’s a special breed. He’s come up, played in the U19 World Cup, did really well there, debuted in the SA20 and was phenomenal there. Then he played first-class cricket for the Titans, scored a hundred on debut, and a hundred in the final, so that says that there’s something special about him. We’re obviously excited to have him and some of the other younger bucks in the set-up and to see what his journey is going to look like going forward.”
Zimpapers Sports Hub/ Eespncricinfo.com
