English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Keshav Maharaj has been “cleared for selection” for South Africa’s white-ball squads for the ongoing exchanges against Australia at home. However, Sisanda Magala has been ruled out of the second T20I with a left knee injury, Wayne Parnell has had a recurrence of a left shoulder injury, and Marco Jansen has been released from the squad to take part in his sister’s wedding festivities and will miss the second and third T20Is.
Maharaj hasn’t played international cricket since the Johannesburg Test against West Indies in March because of a ruptured left Achilles. He is available from the second T20I onwards, with South Africa 1-0 down having lost the first game by a whopping 111 runs. His rehabilitation “has progressed positively”, a CSA statement said, confirming that he had “successfully participated” in a pre-season 50-over match for Hollywoodbets Dolphins against AET Tuskers on Tuesday.
This is along expected lines. When the squads for the games against Australia were announced on August 14, Maharaj was included, with white-ball head coach Rob Walter saying, “he is ahead of where we thought he would be, so things look positive“.
Regarding Magala, CSA said that he “felt discomfort during training and subsequent scans revealed an infrapatellar tendinopathy”. The medical team will continue to manage him ahead of the third T20I on Sunday.
With Parnell out for the immediate future and Jansen, who had played the first T20I unlike Parnell, South Africa’s fast-bowling resources look fairly thin. Apart from Jansen, the first T20I featured Lungi Ngidi, Gerald Coetzee and Lizaad Williams in the pace attack, and while Williams got three wickets, all five bowlers on view – Tabraiz Shamsi the lone spinner – conceded at least 40 runs from their four overs, Ngidi going for 49.
The T20I squad doesn’t have another quick bowler.
