Free T20 caps up for grabs
A bit of a rumble is building up over the South African Universities team taking part in the African Games in Ghana, after it came to light that the players would be awarded full Proteas T20 International colours.
They are playing under the banner of Team SA in the T20 event, and both the men’s and women’s competitions were given full T20I status by the ICC.
The SA women’s team, which was completely made up of SA Emerging players who also became capped Proteas, won the silver medal after they lost against Zimbabwe in the final last week.
The men’s team have now followed suit and 14 of the 15 players in the squad have become official Proteas internationals after their matches against Ghana, which they won by 134 runs, and Kenya, which they lost by 70 runs.
That includes 20-year-old captain George van Heerden from Stellenbosch University, who scored a stunning century in the big Ghana win.
The only player who is yet to receive his Proteas colours is the UWC’s Lwando Tywaku, who is likely to get a run in their final pool game against Uganda today.
Before the sudden glut of national caps being handed out over the past few days, only seven players received Proteas T20I colours over the past two years, namely Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Dewald Brevis, Gerald Coetzee, Matthew Breetzke, Donovan Ferreira and Nandre Burger.
The Proteas Test team also handed out caps to several players who ordinarily wouldn’t have received them recently, after a team made up mostly of franchise players took on New Zealand.
The African Games situation is however completely different and unique and I understand why Cricket South Africa would send an SA University team to compete in it. Sending a full-strength Proteas team to the African Games just wouldn’t make sense.
Handing out caps willy-nilly is never ideal, but CSA had little choice in this matter thanks to the ICC making it an official tournament. Let’s just hope the SA team can beat Uganda in their final pool match and go on to win the gold medal.