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Kaieteur News
Wednesday August 14, 2019
Nortje, Second and Muthusamy part of Test squad to India, no Faf for T20Is ESPNcricinfo - Quinton de Kock will captain South Africa’s T20 side during their upcoming trip to India. There are also three newcomers in the squad for the three-match T20 International series, with Temba Bavuma and Anrich Nortje included and Lions allrounder Bjorn Fortuin in line for an international debut. Faf du Plessis was not included in South Africa’s T20 squad, but will captain South Africa in the three-Test series that follows the T20s, with Bavuma named as his vicecaptain. Cricket South Africa’s acting Director of Cricket Corrie van Zyl stressed that du Plessis “remains an important part of our plans for white-ball cricket” despite his absence from the T20 squad. Nortje was one of three new caps in South Africa’s Te s t s q u a d , a l o n g w i t h wicketkeeper Rudi Second and spin-bowling
Rudi Second celebrates his fifty. (PTI) allrounder Senuran Muthusamy. Offspinner Dane Piedt returns to the Test squad on the back of very impressive performances in domestic four-day cricket, having topped last season’s bowling tables with 54 dismissals.
Also included is Zubayr Hamza, who was one of only two batsmen to make double hundreds in the franchise fourday competition last season, and made his Test debut against Pakistan in January. “All three newcomers to the Test side have more
than earned their spurs through impressive performances in last s e a s o n ’s F o u r- D a y Franchise competition,” said van Zyl. “ We f e e l w e h a v e covered all the options for the conditions we are likely to encounter on the subcontinent with Muthusamy and Dane Piedt, who was far and away the leading wicket-taker in our FourDay competition, providing the back-up to Keshav Maharaj. “Zubayr Hamza made an impressive start to his Test career against Pakistan last season when Faf du Plessis was ruled out and the retirement of Hashim Amla creates a further opportunity for him.” Aiden Markram, Theunis de Bruyn and Lungi Ngidi were not considered for T20 selection as all three are part of the South Africa A
squad that will be playing f o u r - day cricket in September. Allrounder Chris Morris, who has been playing for Hampshire in the Vitality Blast, did not make himself available for selection. Dale Steyn, who recently retired from Test cricket, did make himself available for T20 selection, but was not picked. “As far as the T20 squad is concerned, Temba Bavuma and Bjorn Fortuin were two of the standout players in the CSA T20 Challenge last season while Nortje was outstanding in the Mzansi Super League until ruled out by injury,” van Zyl said. “This is very much a form squad with players being rewarded for their consistent performances at franchise level. This applies equally to Junior Dala and Jon-Jon Smuts. “The T20 series gives us the last chance to have a look at our leadership and batting options as the next edition of
the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is now little more than a year away which is why we have gone with an inexperienced leadership group,” explained van Zyl. “This is our last chance to do this before we settle on an established squad.” Test match squad: Faf du Plessis (capt), Temba Bavuma (vice-capt), Theunis de Bruyn, Quinton de Kock, Dean Elgar, Zubayr Hamza, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Senuran Muthusamy, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Vernon Philander, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Rudi Second. T20I squad: Quinton de Kock (capt), Rassie van der Dussen (vice-capt), Temba Bavuma, Junior Dala, Bjorn Fortuin, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Jon-Jon Smuts.
Athletics: Simbine on world mission but rues Semenya absence LONDON (Reuters) South African sprinter Akani Simbine will look to become the fastest man on earth at next month’s world championships but he will run with a heavy heart that his compatriot and friend Caster Semenya will not be joining him in Doha. Simbine, 25, has enjoyed a stellar year in preparation for his fourth world championships, winning 100-metres gold at last year’s Commonwealth Games and triumphing at London’s Diamond League meeting in July. However, what should be a golden period for South African athletics with Simbine’s rise and the achievements of Olympic 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk has been overshadowed by the ongoing saga of Semenya’s participation in the sport. The 28-year-old double 800m Olympic gold medallist is fighting an International Association
of Athletics Federations (IAAF) regulation that female middle-distance runners with a high natural level of testosterone must take medication to reduce it. The Swiss Federal Tribunal (SFT) last month reversed a ruling that temporarily lifted the I A A F ’s testosterone regulations imposed on Semenya, effectively ruling her out of the Sept. 28-Oct. 6 world championships in Qatar. Simbine, who has talked to Semenya on the phone, said the case was sad for the whole country. “ T h e r e ’s a k i n d o f knock-on (effect) on the South African sporting world, not just athletics because Caster was Queen of South African sports and now we can’t see her anymore,” he told Reuters in telephone interview. “But as athletes and sports people we support her as much as we can...
because she is one of us at the end of the day. To show the world that we are together as one and she’s not fighting this on her own. “Seeing a friend going through something like this is heartbreaking and upsetting and is really not nice.” Simbine has his own g o a l s t o f o c u s o n n o w, however, starting with his bid to become the first South African to win a sprint medal at the world championships. Born in a poor suburb of Johannesburg, Simbine flourished on the track while studying an Information Science degree at the University of Pretoria, encouraged by his parents who insisted he made sure of being able to make a living outside of athletics. They need not have worried so much, though, as he set the 100m national record of 9.89 seconds in Hungary in 2016 at the age of 22. That was a month before Simbine’s Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro where he finished fifth in the final but almost a second behind sprinting great Usain Bolt. With the multiple world champion Jamaican now retired from the sport, many are vying to be the next king of the track. AMERICAN COMPETITION Simbine is aware of the fierce competition he faces,
South Africa’s Akani Simbine in action during the men’s 100m final at the Diamond League. (Action Images via Reuters/Matthew Childs/File Photo) particularly from Americans. Christian Coleman has the world leading time this year of 9.81 seconds while compatriot Noah Lyles is second with 9.86. Also up there is world champion Justin Gatlin who will be defending his title on what could well be his final appearance in the global event. But Simbine, whose Diamond League winning time of 9.93 is tied-fifth best in the world this year, is confident he can win the final on Sept. 28. “I believe I can be the best and if I’m in the sport then I can’t just say ‘Oh well, Christian is running fast, Noah is running fast, Gatlin is running fast, I
can’t beat them’ – then I’m in the sport for the wrong reasons,” he said. “ S o f o r m e i t ’s j u s t about the right belief in what my coach and I are doing and that we are producing something that’s not been seen before in South Africa because there hasn’t been a South African on 100m podium, so for us it’s a really great, exciting thing. “I know where they (the Americans) are at. I know toe to toe if they are at their best and I am at my best, it will be a good race.” OLYMPIC DREAM After Doha, attention turns to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which Simbine is planning for, helped by the support of commercial
deals such as his threeyear sponsorship by Avanti Communications signed this month. The Games may be a year away, but Simbine, who was a promising football player before deciding to focus on sprinting, is daring to dream. “Every day,” he said when asked if he allows himself to visualise crossing the finish line in first place. “Not a day passes where I don’t dream of holding the gold medal and being the fastest man and just achieving goals that I set for myself and showing the world that a South African boy can be the best in the world.”