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January is the window that South Africa have earmarked for their flagship T20 tournament, which kicked off to much fanfare in 2023. To ensure its success – which depended on their biggest stars being available for the tournament – CSA forfeited an ODI series against Australia even though there was a chance that might affect their qualification for the 2023 World Cup. Although they tried to reschedule the upcoming Tests against New Zealand, they were once again left with a decision to make. Long story short, the first-choice picks will be playing the SA20. These newbies will head out to the other side of the world.
Brand is yet to play a Test but when he does, on February 4, he will be captaining his country. Brand is an experienced domestic cricketer, who spent some time at Cardiff MCC and has built his professional career in Centurion. He has also spent time with the Somerset and Glamorgan Second XIs. He is 94 away from 3000 first-class runs and has a batting average of 39.27, including six hundreds, and also has a track record as a leader.
He has captained in 18 of his 51 first-class matches, including for a significant part of the 2021-22 season when he led Titans to the domestic first-class trophy and finished as the tenth-highest run-scorer in the competition. He also led the South African A side against West Indies A earlier this year, a series that was organised to help prepare players for the New Zealand Tests and which South Africa won 2-1. Brand scored a century in the opening game and was the fifth-highest run-scorer in the series.
Three of the top six are players who have been in or around South Africa’s Test squad: Keegan Petersen, David Bedingham and Zubayr Hamza and all three have strong records. Petersen and Hamza were the leading and third-highest run-scorer in the South African A series against West Indies and all three are involved in the ongoing rubber against India.
Petersen was named in the Boxing Day Test after being dropped last summer, against West Indies, and scored 2 but has four half-centuries in 12 Tests and 11 years of experience in the domestic system. Bedingham, who considered trying to play for England when he was at Durham, has returned home and debuted against India and impressed with a confident 56 while Hamza could feature in the New Year’s Test. Hamza last played Test cricket in New Zealand in 2022, and has six caps, 212 runs and a top score of 62. He is also the fourth-highest run-scorer in the ongoing domestic four-day competition and appears to have found his touch after serving a nine-month ban for a doping violation.
The only other capped batter in the 14-man squad is Khaya Zondo, who has played five Tests, the most recent against Australia earlier this year. He was the fourth-highest run-scorer in the series against West Indies A.
Former South African Under-19 batter Raynard van Tonder, who has a first-class average of 42.84, is likely to be capped in New Zealand along with Ruan de Swardt, who averages 45.75.
Former Kolpak players Duanne Olivier and Dane Paterson will lead the attack and offer pace, movement and most importantly experience. Olivier, who has played 15 Tests, was establishing himself as a regular in the South African side before he went to Yorkshire in 2019. He has 59 Test wickets, at an average of 21.93, including a best of 6 for 37 against Pakistan, three five-fors and a ten-wicket haul.
Paterson, a bowler in the Vernon Philander mould of subtle seam movement, played two Tests for South Africa in 2020 before a brief stint as Kolpak and then overseas player for Nottinghamshire. He has more than 550 first-class wickets at an average of 23.63, and conditions in New Zealand are expected to suit him.
The rest of the attack will be made of uncapped players, including allrounder Mihlali Mpongwana, who was named in the ODI squad for the India series but did not get a game. He earned the praise of T20I captain Aiden Markram, who said he “thinks about the game in a great way” and adapts well to conditions. He operated as a third and sometimes fourth seamer in the series against West Indies A but has only played one other first-class match this season. Alongside him is another former Under-19 player, Tshepo Moreki, a swing bowler with 93 first-class matches to his name.
Offspinner Dane Piedt played nine Tests for South Africa between 2014 and 2019 before becoming part of a wave of cricketers who left the country to join the Major League Cricket circuit. He now lives in Washington, USA, but answered an SOS from Test coach Shukri Conrad to come back to South Africa this season with a view of travelling to New Zealand. Piedt played two matches for the second-division Knights side and was the leading wicket-taker in the series against West Indies A and can expect to add to his international caps on this trip.
While New Zealand may not be a place to play two spinners in a Test, Conrad has decided to do so, with the addition of 37-year-old legspinner Shaun von Berg. Von Berg has played on South Africa’s domestic scene since 2009 and has regularly been among the leading wicket-takers in the first-class competition. He is currently playing for Boland and has 15 wickets from five games in the four-day tournament.
Clyde Fortuin was part of South Africa’s Under-19 World Cup-winning side in 2014 but did not go on to reach the heights of his team-mates, Markram or Kagiso Rabada. Instead, he has racked up 74 first-class caps, 68 of them as wicketkeeper, and was the only wicketkeeper used in the A series against West Indies. Though his batting average overall is just 27.10, he has shown recent form and was the fifth-highest run-scorer in the last season’s first-class competition.
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