Rilee became hard to ignore

Rilee Rossouw (above) has been one of the most exciting products to emerge from South African cricket in the last 15 years, and the left-handed batsman is finally back in the Proteas fold after being named in the T20 squad to play in England at the end of July.

Having announced himself in the 2008/9 domestic season as a 19-year-old, Rossouw was first chosen for the Proteas in August 2014.

He played 36 ODIs and 15 T20s, and finally seemed to have nailed down a regular place in the batting line-up, even though he had not entirely done his talent justice yet with an ODI average of 38.71 (strike-rate 94), and an average of 29 (strike-rate 137) in T20s.

But at the start of the 2016/17 season, having just negotiated a contract renewal with CSA, who had also paid for a big shoulder surgery, he jumped ship and took up a Kolpak deal with Hampshire.

The timing of his departure – in the middle of a series against Sri Lanka – blindsided CSA, and even when all Kolpak contracts came to an end in early 2021, Rossouw seemed to still be out in the cold.

But the unavailability of Temba Bavuma for the England tour due to injury has led to Rossouw returning from the wilderness.

His form certainly justifies it: playing for Somerset in the T20 Blast, the 32-year-old has scored the third-most runs (498), passing fifty six times in his 12 innings.

According to the national selectors, they had discussions with him and he is only looking to play through to the T20 World Cup at the moment, but they believe he can provide the x-factor the team needs at the top of the order.