SA vs SL : Kagiso Rabada misses out with groin injury as South Africa call up three new faces
South Africa added major reinforcements to their squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka, to be played later this month, with Quinton de Kock taking over the temporary captaincy responsibility for the summer.
With Kagiso Rabada and Dwaine Pretorius missing out from the series with groin and hamstring injury respectively, Cricket South Africa have been forced to make some major changes to the squad that will take on Sri Lanka.
Medium-pacer Glenton Stuurman, whose ability to move the ball both ways was a topic of discussion last year, adds a zing to the side while Hendricks’ left-arms will be an X-factor for the home side.
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With Quinton de Kock now burdened with captaincy responsibilities, Kyle Verreynne could now very well don the gloves with one of the tallest run-makers in domestic cricket Sarel Erwee can hope to make his international debut this month.
“The concern is around workloads. For now, they (Rabada and Pretorius) are not available for the Sri Lanka tour but hopefully, they will be ready for the Pakistan series,” Victor Mptisang, convenor of selectors, told ESPNcricinfo.
South Africa call up Markram
Pieter Malan, however, misses out from the squad that played England late last year with Aiden Markram slotting back in on the back of three consecutive centuries in domestic cricket. Mptisang calls Malan’s exclusion unfortunate but added that Markram deserves a chance.
“Pieter Malan is unlucky to have missed out because of what he had done against England but Aiden Markram missed out against England and we’ve seen the remarkable form he has been in. He just comes back in,” Mpitsang said.
“The replacement will be Sarel Erwee who has been very good in the past. It shows that when you do well in the domestic structure you will be rewarded.”
This will be South Africa’s third series in the World Test Championship cycle, with the side now placed at the eighth position on the table. The side have now just one win in all those matches and a chance of qualification are as slim as ever.