South Africa announce ODI squad for Caribbean tri-series: Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Friday announced the ODI squad for the upcoming tri-series in Caribbean featuring Australia and West Indies next month. South Africa have rested speedster Dale Steyn for the tour while left-arm pacer Wayne Parnell is making his comeback. The selectors have opted to leave Steyn behind for the tri-series, following the 32-year-old’s recent struggles with injuries and fitness that compelled him to miss Tests against India and England.
Uncapped spinner Tabraiz Shamsi has been called up. The 26-year-old wrist spinner will become the 116th player to represent the Proteas in ODIs if he gets selected in the playing XI. The legacy of IPL contributing to highlight the potential of youngsters continues and Shamsi joins the list of players to get a call from national selectors after IPL performance.
Faf du Plessis has also been named in the squad despite sustaining a finger injury during the IPL. Explaining the condition, Mohammed Moosajee, South Africa”s team manager said, “Faf sustained a broken left ring finger during the IPL two weeks ago and had fixation surgery to repair the bone tip this Tuesday in Cape Town. The surgery was a success and we are expecting a period of between four to five weeks for a full recovery. At this stage, we are targeting for him to return to action for our second ODI against Australia on June 7.”
Cricket South Africa selection committee convener Linda Zondi said the decision to leave Steyn behind did not mean the fast bowler’s one-day career was over.
“In the short term our immediate focus must be to get back among the top-ranked Test nations and for this reason we are resting Dale Steyn for this tour,” Zondi said.
“He is vital to our ambitions in the longest format and he is going to have a heavy workload in the months ahead with home and away series against New Zealand, a home series against Sri Lanka and an away Test series in Australia which is where we need to perform.
“He is certainly not out of the ODI picture and could well feature in the home series against Australia later this year.”
South Africa Squad:
AB de Villiers (c), Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Tabraiz Shamsi.
