The two players to drop out are Neil McKenzie and Morne Morkel while in a third change Ashwell Prince of the Chevrolet Warriors takes over the captaincy from the injured Graeme Smith.
“Ashwell will take over the captaincy from Graeme and will also fill his position of opening batsman,” commented selection convener Mike Procter. “We felt that it was best just to make one change than to change the top order which would have involved moving several players around.
“Ashwell is delighted to be back in the side and to assume the captaincy in Graeme's place.
“Imraan Khan fully deserves his chance. He scored his third century of the season in the SuperSport Series at the weekend - the only player to do so - and is the only batsman to have scored more than 600 runs with an average just above the 60 mark.
“We are following the same route with Wayne Parnell as we did with Lonwabo Tsotsobe. They have both benefited enormously from being part of the national squad. We feel that the best thing for Morne Morkel at the moment is to go back to the Nashua Titans and play a few rounds of domestic cricket. He remains very much part of our plans going forward.”
Castle Test squad: Ashwell Prince (Chevrolet Warriors, capt), Hashim Amla (Nashua Dolphins), Mark Boucher (Chevrolet Warriors), AB de Villiers (Nashua Titans), JP Duminy (Nashua Cape Cobras), Paul Harris (Nashua Titans), Jacques Kallis (Chevrolet Warriors), Imraan Khan (Nashua Dolphins), Albie Morkel (Nashua Titans), Makhaya Ntini (Chevrolet Warriors), Wayne Parnell (Chevrolet Warriors), Dale Steyn (Nashua Titans).
The selectors also named a 15-man squad for the two Standard Bank Pro20 Internationals. “We have rewarded players who have done well in the Standard Bank Pro20 domestic competition,” commented Procter, “and they will all get a game in one of the matches at least.
“We have recognised that Pro20 is a different form of the game from ODIs, being a very fast game. Our record has not been particularly good of late in this format and this is our last chance to identify players before the ICC World T20. It is not just a question of seeing how they do in matches but also to give the management team the chance to assess all aspects of their respective games.”
There are two new caps in Yusuf Abdulla of the Nashua Dolphins and Roelof van der Merwe of the Nashua Titans.
Jacques Kallis and Makhaya Ntini are being rested for the Pro20 matches.
Standard Bank Pro20 squad: Johan Botha (Chevrolet Warriors, capt), Yusuf Abdulla (Nashua Dolphins), Hashim Amla (Nashua Dolphins), Mark Boucher (Chevrolet Warriors), AB de Villiers (Nashua Titans), JP Duminy (Nashua Cape Cobras), Herschelle Gibbs (Nashua Cape Cobras), Johann Louw (Nashua Dolphins), Albie Morkel (Nashua Titans), Justin Ontong (Nashua Cape Cobras), Wayne Parnell (Chevrolet Warriors), Robin Peterson (Chevrolet Warriors), Dale Steyn (Nashua Titans), Roelof van der Merwe (Nashua Titans), Vaughn van Jaarsveld (bizhub Highveld Lions).
