“Having Laura Wolvaardt as the official captain, together with a blend of young and experienced players bodes well for our succession planning,” Clinton du Preez, convenor of selectors, said. “It will also assist within the excitement we have around the squad in giving young players an opportunity and therefore we are looking forward to seeing them put up their hand and make impactful performances in this upcoming tour.”
“The inclusion of Ayanda Hlubi and Eliz-Mari Marx gives great confidence to rewarding performances at the professional level,” du Preez said. “They have been instrumental with their domestic performances in the past season for their respective provinces.”
Following impressive outings on the emerging tour and in the domestic T20s, seam-bowling allrounder Annerie Dercksen also returned to the 15-member side after completing full recovery from the finger fracture that kept her out of the Pakistan tour.
“For the T20Is, this is where we are going to look, where possible, to blend in youngsters and give an opportunity to expose them at this level to keep growing the base,” head coach Hilton Moreeng said. “Overall, we have a lot of good youngsters coming through and the squad is becoming 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 youngsters to show what they can do while not losing sight of what we want to achieve overall when it comes to the entire tour.”
The three T20Is will take place in Benoni and Kimberley between December 3 and December 8, with the three ODIs to be played between December 16 and December 23 in East London, Potchefstroom and Benoni respectively.
South Africa squad: Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Annerie Dercksen, Mieke de Ridder, Lara Goodall, Ayanda Hlubi, Sinalo Jafta, Masabata Klaas, Sune Luus, Eliz-Mari Marx, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Tumi Sekhukhune, Nondumiso Shangase, Delmi Tucker