Behardien will take over the Twenty20 captaincy on an interim basis
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
South Africa have appointed middle order batsman Farhaan Behardien as their Twenty20 captain for for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka.
Behardien will be in charge of a new-look Proteas side, which will have just four members – Behardien, David Miller, Imran Tahir, Aaron Phangiso – from their World Twenty20 squad for the first two Twenty20 Internationals.
The decision to make a host of changes and give regular skipper Faf du Plessis, Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, Quinton de Kock and Kagiso Rabada some time off is the result of a heavy schedule.
“We have decided to rest some of our key senior players for this series,” Linda Zondi, South Africa’s convener of selectors, said. “This is the last chance we have to do this as the ODI series that follows is an important part of our build-up to the Champions Trophy tournament in England in the middle of the year.
“Those senior players who are involved in the Indian Premier League will be playing non-stop from now until the end of August with the tours coming up to New Zealand and England in addition to the ICC event.”
However, two veteran players – AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel – could feature in the third Twenty20 International as they have not played any cricket since the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in June last year due to elbow and back injuries respectively.
The duo will first have to take part in a List A game for Northerns three days before the final Twenty20 International on January 25 and should they show signs of being fully fit, then it is highly likely that they will make their international comeback later this month.
Some of the new faces in South Africa’s squad will include pace bowlers Dane Paterson and Lungi Ngidi.
Paterson claimed six wickets in nine matches at an average of 39 in South Africa’s domestic Twenty20 competition this year, but had been among the top 10 wicket-takers in the 2014/15 and 2015/16 editions of the tournament.
Ngidi, meanwhile, finished with 11 wickets in nine matches at an average of 33.11.
In regards to the batting department, Jon-Jon Smuts has been included as he was was the top run-scorer with 371 runs at an average of 41.22.
Theunis de Bruyn was also drafted into the side, along with Heino Kuhn and Reeza Hendricks, who have played five Twenty20 Internationals each.
Mangaliso Mosehle is set to take over the wicketkeeping duties since De Kock has been rested. Mosehle is also a useful middle order batsman and was the eighth-highest run-scorer in the CSA T20 Challenge with 277 runs in 11 matches at an average of 25.18.
All-rounder Chris Morris was overlooked since he is still recovering from a knee injury, as were pace bowler Kyle Abbott, batsman Rilee Rossouw and all-rounder David Wiese as they all recently signed Kolpak deals.
Abbott and Rossouw signed up with Hampshire, while Wiese joined Sussex.
South Africa T20 squad: Farhaan Behardien (capt), Theunis de Bruyn, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Heino Kuhn, David Miller, Mangaliso Mosehle, Lungi Ngidi, Wayne Parnell, Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo, Jon-Jon Smuts