The Proteas will take three spinners and welcome Quinton de Kock back into their fold for their marathon tour to India, Cricket SA convener of selectors Linda Zondi announced yesterday.
The tour, which will include a four-match Test series named the Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela series, will also see a debut for Khaya Zondo in the T20 team. Imran Tahir and Dane Piedt return to the Test side along with Simon Harmer.
“When you look back five years ago, we struggled for spinners in South Africa,” said Zondi. “Now we have a volume of spinners. Seeing how well Dane Piedt has done in India with SA A gave us the confidence to see what options we could use. To go with three spinners is exciting.”
De Kock has been picked for the ODI and T20 squads, while Dane Vilas will keep the gloves in the Test team. Zondi says AB de Villers was expected to keep the gloves for the T20 side, but that might change depending on the wishes of coach Russell Domingo.
“It’s important for us as a new selection panel to be consistent in selection, because they didn’t have much game time in Bangladesh. We need to back the players,” said Zondi.
“We weren’t worried about (De Kock’s) keeping, but we were worried about his runs. He has done the job. It is nice to see players who, when you drop them to the SA A team, they perform.
“We want to keep all our options open for the Test series. We also have JP Duminy as an option in this department and I believe we have covered all our bases by having both holding and attacking spin options in our squad. It is good to have Dane back from his injury and Imran was our No 1 spinner for our last Test (excluding Bangladesh) series on the sub-continent against Sri Lanka.
“The tour to India is a very long one. It lasts for more than two months and we can’t expect Dale Steyn and Morné Morkel to field too heavy a workload. Chris (Morris) comes back after a spell out through injury while Marchant (de Lange) has done well at the IPL. It is an ideal opportunity to explore our back-up options ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 which will be played in India. It is vital in this format to get wickets up front.”
Of the five players who struggled with injuries after the New Zealand tour – Hashim Amla, Tahir, Morris, Faf du Plessis and Rilee Rossouw – two, Amla (neck and thumb) and Tahir (left hamstring), have fully recovered.
Team manager Mohammed Moosajee said: “Chris had a right groin strain during the Bangladesh tour and is being treated at his franchise, he should be ready for the start of the tour and have played some warm-up T20 games for the Titans. Our two concerns at the moment are Rilee, who was diagnosed with a left foot stress fracture during the New Zealand series. Healing takes from six to eight weeks. He is currently non weight-bearing in a moon boot and on crutches. The aim is to get him ready for the ODI series in India.
“Faf has a left knee injury, which has responded slower than expected. He saw a knee specialist in Cape Town last week where he received a second cortisone infiltration into the area.
“It seems to have worked. We are looking at building up to full intensity (soon).”
Proteas Test squad: Hashim Amla (captain), AB de Villiers (vice-capt), Temba Bavuma, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Simon Harmer, Imran Tahir, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Stiaan van Zyl, Dane Vilas
ODI squad: AB de Villiers (captain), Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Aaron Phangiso, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Dale Steyn
T20 squad: Faf du Plessis (captain), Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Marchant de Lange, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Eddie Leie, David Miller, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, David Wiese, Khaya Zondo