Beuran set for World T20 call-up
BEURAN HENDRICKS should feel a lot better about his side strain when he receives his first Proteas call up today.
The Cape Cobras left-arm fast bowler is expected to be the only uncapped name read out by national selection convenor Andrew Hudson when he announces the South African 15-man squad for the ICC World T20 in Bangladesh next month.
Hendricks, though, suffered a scare over the week- end when he pulled up injured in the Cobras’ fourday clash against the Highveld Lions at Newlands.
The 23-year-old was unable to bowl in the Lions’ second innings, but his franchise coach Paul Adams believes it should not rule him out of the international jamboree, starting officially for the Proteas on March 22 when they face Sri Lanka in Chittagong.
“Beuran picked up a side strain in the first innings against the Lions. We never bowled him in the second innings as a precautionary measure. It’s a grade one strain. He won’t play in our Sunfoil Series game against the Dolphins in Paarl this weekend, but it normally needs about 10-14 days’ recuperation time.”
It is likely then that Hendricks, newly recruited by Indian Premier League franchise Kings XI Punjab for R3.5million, will be ready to make his Proteas debut in the three-match Australian T20 series that follows the on going Test series. Hendricks is being rewarded for his sensational form in the RamSlam T20 Challenge, where he rewrote the record books by claiming 28 wickets in the series to pass Highved Lions seamer Chris Morris’s mark.
The Proteas squad is unlikely to differ much from the team that won series in both Sri Lanka and Pakistan recently. There is likely to be no place for Justin Kemp, who too enjoyed a very good RamSlam T20, with the Cobras veteran all-rounder missing out to Titans slugger Albie Morkel. The left-hander is set to return to the Proteas after a two-year absence.