Cricket South Africa (CSA) has announced the 17-man squad for the final two Test matches of the ongoing four-match Test series against Australia. While the series is currently 1-1 after the second Test, the third Test will begin on March 22 at Cape Town and the fourth Test will begin on March 30.
While CSA has retained their previous 15-member squad for the upcoming two Tests, they added two more members in the squad. While they have retained the currently suspended pacer Kagiso Rabada in the squad, two pacers Chris Morris and Duanne Olivier have been also added to the squad.
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Talking about the squad, CSA National Selection Panel Convener Linda Zondi said, “Circumstances have forced us to name a large squad at this stage so that we can cover all possible options. Once we have finalised our playing XI, we will release players to their franchises for the final round of the Sunfoil Series.
“We have retained the 15 players who produced an excellent performance to level the Test Series in Port Elizabeth. Olivier was the pick of our bowlers for South Africa A in their tour match against Australia while Morris has been in excellent form in domestic cricket, taking four wickets in an innings and making more than 150 runs, including a century, for the Titans in the Sunfoil Series against the league-leading Warriors.”
Rabada’s fate will be decided on Monday. Due to recently achieving total nine demerit points in the international cricket, Rabada has been suspended for the last two Tests of the series. He has challenged against that decision which has the hearing date on March 19.
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On the other hand, the pace bowling all-rounder Chris Morris and the right-arm pacer Duanne Olivier have been added to the squad. 30-years old Morris has played his last Test in last July against England at The Oval while 25-years old Olivier has played his last Test in last October against Bangladesh at Bloemfontein.
Full South African cricket team squad for the last two Test matches: Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wiaan Mulder, Lungisani Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada.
