South Africa have officially revealed their squad for the upcoming home series against West Indies- also new coach Shukri Conrad’s first test series as Proteas coach.
Temba Bavuma has been announced as new Proteas test skipper, replacing Dean Elgar, who struggled in the last series away in Australia. While Elgar has managed to keep his place, his opening partner Sarel Erwee is absent from the squad, as is Rassie van Dussen, who has been prolific in the shorter formats but not quite been able to transfer it to the longest form.
Two other surprising omissions are wicket keeper Kyle Verreynne (indicating that Heinrich Klaasen will be their first choice keeper for the WI tour) and pacer Lungi Ngidi.
Tony de Zorzi earns a maiden call up, while Senuran Muthusamy and Aiden Markram, who captained the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to a win in the SA20 at the Wanderers, also return to the squad.
South Africa Test Roster for WI series 2023 | Shukri Conrad first squad as Proteas test coach
Some very interesting calls from Shukri.
Unless Ngidi has been dropped for fitness reasons, Coetzee over Ngidi is surprising. Coetzee does have pace in his favour though.
I agree with Erwee’s exclusion, but this makes it look like Markram will open. Which has been tried before, and without much success……
Dropping Kyle is another surprise. There are some technical flaws, but he’s been amongst our best batsmen in recent times.
So….
Elgar
Markram
KP
Bavuma
Rickleton
Klaasen
Mulder/Muthusamy/Harmer (depending on conditions)
Jansen
Maharaj
KG
Nortje
If you don’t pick Muthusamy in this XI, it becomes a 7-4 rather than a 6-5 (from the other big selection point of view……..). That means TDZ has to play ahead of Ryan if you want Mulder/Harmer/Coetzee.