Hot Steyn back to torment Zim
Ken Borland
Dale Steyn will make a return to international cricket in the ODI series against Zimbabwe which starts at the end of this month, being named yesterday in a Proteas white-ball squad for the first time in two years.
The 35-year-old paceman earns a recall after a top-class string of performances in English county cricket. He has taken 13 wickets in his last two four-day games.
But selectors chief Linda Zondi said Steyn’s selection was more a matter of him proving his fitness than any comment on his form, such is the legendary status of the man who has taken 180 wickets in 116 ODIs (economy rate 4.94), the last of which was against Australia in Cape Town in October 2016.
“Dale has done more than enough for SA cricket through the years for it to just be a matter of making sure he’s fit and always on the park, we make our judgment from there. As soon as that is apparent then he’s in.”
A large 16-man squad was named for the three ODIs against Zimbabwe, partly because captain Faf du Plessis is far from certain to be fit following his shoulder injury. With Quinton de Kock and David Miller being rested, both Khaya Zondo and Christiaan Jonker have been added to the squad as back-up batsmen.
Zondo played three ODIs, scoring one half-century, against India in February and is fresh off a pugnacious century for SA A against Australia A in Bengaluru, while the 31-year-old Jonker scored a scintillating 49 off just 24 balls against India in his only appearance, a T20 game.
De Kock, Miller and Jonker have all been named in the T20 squad to play three matches against Zimbabwe, along with new caps in the Highveld Lions’ Rassie van der Dussen and Warriors wicketkeeper/batsman Gihahn Cloete.