“Having Laura Wolvaardt as official captain, along with a mix of young and experienced players, bodes well for our succession planning,” said Clinton du Preez, coordinator of selectors. “It will also add to the enthusiasm we have around the team by giving young players an opportunity and we therefore look forward to seeing them put their hands up and put in impactful performances on this upcoming tour.”
“The inclusion of Ayanda Hlubi and Eliz-Mari Marx gives great confidence in rewarding performances on a professional level,” said du Preez. “They have been instrumental with their national performances this past season for their respective provinces.”
After impressive outings in the emergent tour and domestic T20s, bowling all-rounder Annerie Dercksen also returned to the 15-member squad after completing her recovery from a fractured finger that kept her out of the tour of Pakistan.
“For the T20Is, this is where we are going to look, where possible, to integrate the youngsters and give them the opportunity to expose them to this level to continue to grow the base,” said head coach Hilton Moreeng. “Overall we have a lot of good young players and the team is getting stronger and stronger every day with a more challenging environment, so we as a team are looking forward to that.
“It’s another opportunity for some of these young guys to show what they can do without losing sight of what we want to achieve overall when it comes to the whole tour.”
The three T20Is will be held in Benoni and Kimberley between December 3 and 8, and the three ODIs will be played between December 16 and 23 in East London, Potchefstroom and Benoni respectively.
Team South Africa: Laura Wolvaardt (captain), Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Annerie Dercksen, Mieke de Ridder, Lara Goodall, Ayanda Hlubi, Sinalo Jafta, Saturday Class, Sune Luus, Eliz-Marie Marx, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Tumi Sekhukhune and Nondumiso Shangase, Delmi Tucker
