Proteas get an injection of young blood

By Ilhaam Hoosain
06 December 2007

On Wednesday, the national selectors gave a vote of confidence to the Proteas squad that played in the ICC World T20 when they named their starting 11 for the Standard Bank International Pro20 match against the West Indies.

It is the first of two Standard Bank Pro20 matches against the Windies – the second takes place after the completion of the Castle Test series – and will be played at Sahara Oval, St.George’s, on Sunday, December 16.

“We want to give more opportunities to younger players like JP Duminy, Vernon Philander, Albie Morkel, Gulam Bodi and Dale Steyn.

“In the case of Dale, we want him to get more experience of playing with the white ball and in coloured clothing,” commented Strydom.

He added that at the same time they have kept a hard core of experienced players such as Graeme Smith, Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers, Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini.

“We did not consider Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and Andre Nel as they all have a heavy workload with the upcoming Castle Test series and the MTN ODI series against the West Indies,” says Strydom.

Nine of the 11 players took part in the ICC World T20, the exceptions being Steyn and Johan Botha, who was injured at the time.

On standby as cover for Smith, is Morne van Wyk, should he not recover from illness in time. In such an eventuality Pollock will take over the captaincy.

Standard Bank Pro20 squad:
Graeme Smith (capt) or Morne van Wyk
Herschelle Gibbs
JP Duminy
AB de Villiers (wicketkeeper)
Gulam Bodi
Shaun Pollock
Vernon Philander
Albie Morkel
Johan Botha
Dale Steyn
Makhaya Ntini.