South Africa announce Limited Overs Cricket

South Africa announced their limited overs squad for the ODI & T20I series against Sri Lanka away from home. Temba Bavuma will lead both the ODI & T20I units.

The 18 member ODI squad and 19 member T20I squad has commonalities in the form of Temba Bavuma, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Anrich Nortje, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen and Lizaad Williams.

The weakend ODI squad may pose trouble to South Africa’s ODI Super League performance which is crucial to their World Cup qualification scenario.

Quinton de Kock has been rested for the ODIs, which David Miller will miss with a hamstring injury. Lungi Ngidi is also out because of what CSA described in a release on Thursday as “personal reasons”. Bjorn Fortuin has been omitted from the group that were in Ireland last month. De Kock, Miller, Ngidi and Fortuin will return for the T20Is in Sri Lanka.

Junior Dala is the only new face in the ODI squad. Sisanda Magala, who limped home from the ODI series in the Caribbean in June with an ankle injury, is also in the T20I mix. Dwaine Pretorius has been named in both squads after recovering from Covid-19, which prevented him from visiting West Indies and Ireland.

South Africa squads:

ODI: Temba Bavuma (captain), Junior Dala, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, George Linde, Janneman Malan, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams.

T20I: Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Sisanda Magala, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Lizaad Williams.

Despite the presence of all of their stars in the ODIs against the Irish, South Africa lost one of the three games. Another was washed out. That left Temba Bavuma’s team in 10th place in the World Cup Super League standings. The top seven sides in March 2023 will earn places at that year’s World Cup, along with hosts India. Another two teams will come through a qualifying tournament. There’s a long way to go yet before the World Cup line-up is finalised but South Africa won’t want to leave points on the table.

They have had a largely successful few months, winning nine of the dozen matches they played across the formats in the Caribbean and Ireland. But their supporters will look for signs in Sri Lanka that they have returned to their hallmarks of quality fast bowling, dependable batting and aggressive fielding – which weren’t always apparent during their last two tours.