Hashim Amla kept his place despite poor recent form while Reeza Hendricks missed out, as South Africa named an experienced 15-man squad for the World Cup 2019 on Thursday (April 18).
Amla missed South Africa’s last ODI assignment, a five-match series against Sri Lanka. He was rotated out for the first three games to test Hendricks, and opted out of the last two matches due to his father’s illness.
Since the start of 2018, Amla has only three half-centuries and one century in 17 ODI innings. However, Hendricks has managed only an average of 26.76 in 18 innings after making his debut mid-2018, forcing South Africa to go with the experienced Amla.
“Some of the (other) keepers we’re looking at, their performances weren’t up there. So we went with David Miller, who kept in the Sri Lanka series. If anything happens to Quinton, Miller can take the job. We understand one catch can lose us the World Cup, but if anything happens, we can call up another keeper,” said Zondi.
“I am also very happy to announce that two of our fast bowlers currently on the injured list, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje, are well on the way to recovery and we expect them to be ready for our pre-tournament camp next month.”
The rest of the squad, led by Faf du Plessis, was fairly straightforward. All-rounder Dwaine Pretorius and Andile Phehlukwayo made it, while there was no place for Chris Morris, who hasn’t played an ODI since February 2018. Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje form the pace attack while Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi are the spinners.
Squad: Faf du Plessis (captain), JP Duminy, David Miller, Dale Steyn, Andile Phehlukwayo, Imran Tahir, Kagiso Rabada, Dwaine Pretorius, Quinton de Kock, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Hashim Amla, Tabraiz Shamsi.
