The veteran South African pacer Dale Steyn has been looking forward to featuring in the 2019 World Cup, despite the fact that he played his last One-Day International (ODI) back in 2016. However, now he has received a call-up for South Africa’s 16-member squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe announced by Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Friday.
Steyn has been facing injuries on a regular basis which has kept him out of the game for long stretches but now he seems to be completely fit and made his intentions to play an active role in South Africa’s 2019 World Cup campaign quite clear. CSA has also given a maiden ODI call-up to Christiaan Jonker, who had a successful List A career and looked good in the lone Twenty20 International he was part of earlier this year against India where he scored 49.
Justifying the selections, CSA’s national selector, Linda Zondi said, “The selection of Christiaan Jonker is part of the ongoing process of our Vision 2019. He had an outstanding debut in the T20 format against India and we want to see whether he can convert that finishing form into the longer white-ball format as well.”
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Imran Tahir, who was rested for the Sri Lanka series, will be marking comeback into the side along with Khaya Zondo. Meanwhile, Quinton de Kock and David Miller, who has decided to take some rest from first-class cricket earlier this week, have been rested with the selectors willing to experiment with some other options ahead of the World Cup next year.
Faf du Plessis will be leading the ODI and T20I squads but his availability will be subject to him being fit as he had sustained a shoulder injury during South Africa’s tour to Sri Lanka and has been making a steady recovery since. Talking about his injury, South Africa’s team doctor Dr. Mohammed Moosajee said, “Faf continues to make a recovery from the shoulder injury he suffered in Sri Lanka. It is a week by week case and a call will be made in due course.”
South Africa will host Zimbabwe for three ODIs which will be played between September 30 to October 6. That will be followed by the three-match T20I series from October 9 through to October 14. The T20I squad sees two new faces in Rassie van der Dussen and Gihahn Cloete, while pacer Kagiso Rabada has been given a rest from the T20I squad with a view to managing his workload.
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ODI squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Christiaan Jonker, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Lungisani Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Khaya Zondo
T20I squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Gihahn Cloete, Junior Dala, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Robbie Frylinck, Imran Tahir, Christiaan Jonker, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Lungisani Ngidi, Dane Paterson, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen
Schedule for ODI and T20I series
September 30: 1st ODI, Diamond Oval, Kimberley (Day)
October 3: 2nd ODI, Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein (D/N)
October 6: 3rd ODI, Eurolux Boland Park, Paarl (D/N)
October 9: 1st T20I, Buffalo Park, East London (D/N)
October 12: 2nd T20I, Senwes Park, Potchefstroom (D/N)
October 14: 3rd T20I, Willowmoore Park, Benoni (Day)
