Cricket South Africa (CSA) on September 6 (Tuesday) became the third nation to announce the squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup after Australia and England. The Protea cricket board named a strong 15-member squad with Temba Bavuma leading the country once again, just like last year. The most notable omission, however, comes in the form of Rassie van der Dussen, who sustained a finger injury during the second Test match against England and is expected to be sidelined for a couple of months. South Africa will miss the services of the 33-year-old, who has scored 1044 runs in 41 T20Is at an average of 36.
Meanwhile, Rilee Russow has also been named in the squad. The left-handed batter made a comeback to the Proteas T20I setup after a gap of six years in July earlier in the year. Young swashbuckling batter Tristan Stubbs will also travel to Australia to participate in his first ICC T20 World Cup.
South Africa's bowling unit looks extremely dangerous. The quartet of Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi and Wayne Parnell would pose an immense challenge for any batting line-up on bouncy Australian pitches. Meanwhile prodigious left-arm seamer Marco Jansen has been named as a reserve.
"This has been a really tough squad to select, simply because we had so many players in excellent form over the past few months and performing at a level that made the selectors sit up and notice them," CSA Convenor of Selectors, Victor Mpitsang, said.
"Someone like Tristan Stubbs who was not in the frame a year ago has done incredibly well to force his way into the mix based on his performances and his selection should be an inspiration for every young player out there. We are also delighted to welcome back our captain Temba Bavuma from injury and we have no doubt his return will further galvanise the team.
“This group of players showed off their brilliant skill and talent when they overcame England in England recently. These sort of performances only bode well for us heading to the World Cup. Overall we are delighted with mix of players that have been chosen and look forward to watching them represent the country in Australia.”
The same squad is set to travel to India later in the month to compete in a T20I series before the World Cup.
SA T20 WC Squad: Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen, Reeza Hendricks, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Rillee Rossouw, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs.
Reserves: Bjorn Fortuin, Marco Jansen and Andile Phehlukwayo.
