Bangladesh power up with Proteas legend Morkel
EIGHT South African cricketers with Indian Premier League contracts will play in a one-day series against Bangladesh before leaving for India.
Cricket South Africa on Tuesday named a 16-man squad for the threematch series, which is part of the World Cup Super League.
The series will be played from March 18-23. The IPL starts on March 26 which means that the South African players may miss the start of the tournament because of quarantine requirements.
But it is not yet clear whether IPLbound players will be available to play for South Africa in two World Championship Tests against Bangladesh which follow the one-day games and only finish on April 12.
Fast bowler Anrich Nortje, who has not played for South Africa since the T20 World Cup in November, remains unavailable as he continues rehabilitation because of a hip injury.
It now appears Nortje’s participation in the Tests and in the IPL is in doubt.
The only change from the squad which beat India 3-0 in January is the absence of fast bowler Sisanda Magala, who failed a fitness test.
The IPL players in the squad are Quinton de Kock, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada and Rassie van der Dussen.
Jansen, Markram, Ngidi, Rabada and Van der Dussen would all probably feature in a full-strength Test squad.
Test captain Dean Elgar said last week he would be asking the players to put loyalty to their country ahead of the earning potential of the IPL.
Meanwhile, Former South African all-rounder Albie Morkel will be the Bangladesh men’s cricket team power-hitting coach during the three-match
ODI assignment here beginning this week.
A report said on Tuesday that Morkel had linked up with the touring Bangladesh side at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, “where they are playing an intra-squad practice match”.
The report said that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had been looking to add a power-hitting coach to their support staff following Bangladesh’s dismal performance at the ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE and Oman last year.
“He (Morkel) will be with the ODI team for a week or so. He will help the batters,” the report quoting Jalal Yunus, the BCB’s cricket operations chairman, said.
“We will see how it goes, and then decide what happens afterwards.”
The 40-year-old Morkel, who has played one Test, 58 ODIs and 50 T20Is for South Africa between 2004 and 2015, was assistant coach for the Namibia men’s team in 2019.
Bangladesh have made several appointments to their support staff, bringing in Khaled Mahmud as team director, South Africa’s Russell Domingo as head coach, Australian Jamie Siddons as Test batting coach and Allan Donald as fast-bowling coach. Besides, spin-bowling coach Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath and fielding coach Australia’s Shane McDermott are also with the squad.