With one eye on the 2026 Twenty20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, Proteas head coach Shukri Conrad said he had to make tough calls when selecting his squads for the upcoming white-ball cricket tour of Australia.
The Proteas will be involved in three T20 matches, followed by as many one-day internationals on the tour that spans August 10 to 24.
Some of the more experienced players have had to make way for younger talent but Aiden Markram, Kagiso Rabada and Temba Bavuma will return to white-ball cricket for the tour.
The trio were rested for the tour of Zimbabwe after the Test Championship final in June.
Young talents Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Dewald Brevis have been named in both the ODI and T20 squads, while offspinner Prenelan Subrayen, who recently made his Test debut against Zimbabwe, has earned his maiden call-up, also for both formats.
Excluded were Reeza Hendricks, Gerald Coetzee, Tabraiz Shamsi and David Miller.
Conrad said he had several talks with Miller and he allowed him to play in England’s shorter format competition, The Hundred.
The coach said he never really had the opportunity to chat with Shamsi after he opted out of his national contract.
“If you look at the T20 squads, if you look at the spinners selected, that should give you a good idea of who the front-runners are. It doesn’t mean that we’re going to rule anyone out,” he said.
The immediate focus is the T20 World Cup. Rassie is very much in contention for the T20 World Cup. He gives you the option of either batting at the top or batting at three. He’s great in a leadership position
— Shukri Conrad
He felt Coetzee had fallen behind in the pecking order but emphasised that it was not the end for him. Coetzee has been plagued by injuries in the past two years.
“I think you cannot ignore what Corbin Bosch has done over the last few months,” Conrad said. He’s banged the door down.
“We’ve still got a few months to go and there’ll be opportunities going forward where Gerald will be able to stake a claim.”
In the case of Hendricks, he felt some players had gone past him.
In the shorter format, he believed Markram and Ryan Rickleton had proven themselves as openers, while Pretorius and Rassie van der Dussen would be there as cover.
“It is no secret that Aiden and Ryan are the preferred opening batters,” Conrad said. “It was hard for Reeza to fit in.
“Rassie [van der Dussen] and Lhuan-dre [Pretorius], as opening batters, can also give you that cover in the middle.
“Unfortunately, for Reeza, this is how it has fallen; the other guys give us better options.”
Conrad explained the rationale behind the non-selection of Van der Dussen for the ODIs.
“The immediate focus is the T20 World Cup. Rassie is very much in contention for the T20 World Cup. He gives you the option of either batting at the top or batting at three. He’s great in a leadership position.
“With the 50-over format, because I’ve got a bit more time, I’m certainly not going to rule Rassie or any of the older guys out. But because we’ve got time until 2027, it gives me a chance to blood some of the younger players and then see how they develop.
“And then post the T20 World Cup, we’ll probably be in a better position to decide on guys like Rassie and David,” he said.
Proteas squads
T20: Aiden Markram (captain), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, George Linde, Kwena Maphaka, Senuran Muthusamy, Lungi Ngidi, Nqaba Peter, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Prenelan Subrayen, Rassie van der Dussen
ODI: Temba Bavuma (captain), Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Aiden Markram, Senuran Muthusamy, Keshav Maharaj, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Prenelan Subrayen.
Daily Dispatch
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