Aiden Markram, Anrich Nortje, Sinethemba Qeshile named in South Africa squad for Sri Lanka T20Is

Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock will be rested for the second and third T20Is of the series.

Aiden Markram, Anrich Nortje and Sinethemba Qeshile were named in South Africa’s squad for T20I series against Sri Lanka on Sunday. Markram and Nortje are picked for all the three Twenty20 internationals, Qeshile is picked for the second and the third Twenty20.

Faf du Plessis will lead the side in the first match of the series, JP Duminy will take over the captaincy in the last two T20Is. Like Faf, Quinton de Kock will also feature in the first T20I with the wicketkeeper-batsman Qeshile will replace de Kock in the squad in the second and the third game.

“The first match forms part of our vision 2019 to continue exploring our options for the ICC Men’s World Cup,” said Cricket South Africa (CSA) National Selection Panel convener Linda Zondi, “and the squad for that match consists largely of the squads that have been doing duty in the Momentum ODI Series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. We would have liked to include Hashim Amla but unfortunately he remains unavailable because of his family situation.

“We have used our T20 International matches in the past as the first port of call to widen the pool of talent. This has resulted in Rassie van der Dussen, Gihahn Cloete, Janneman Malan and Lutho Sipamla being brought through the pipeline with considerable success during the course of the current season,” Zondi continued.

“Sinethemba Qeshile has had an outstanding rookie season of franchise cricket and is certainly one of the form batsmen in franchise cricket at the moment. He looks a really exciting prospect,” said Zondi

“JP Duminy will take over the captaincy for the last two matches while we give a short break to Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi who are involved across all three formats for the Proteas,” concluded Zondi.

Squads:

1st T20I: Faf du Plessis (Captain), Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukway, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Rassie van der Dussen.

2nd and 3rd T20Is: JP Duminy (Captain), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Chris Morris (Multiply Titans), Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Sinethemba Qeshile, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lutho Sipamla, Dale Steyn, Rassie van der Dussen.