Pieter Malan to lead South Africa A squad for home four-day series against India A

11/11/2021

Cricket South Africa (CSA) have announced a 14-member A squad, which will play three unofficial four-day Tests against India A between November 23 and December 13. The series will present an opportunity for players to make selection claims ahead of senior teams’ Test series scheduled soon after.

Pieter Malan, who has played three Tests for South Africa, will lead the A team during their three-match four-day series against India A to be played in Bloemfontein, beginning November 23.

Lutho Sipamla, George Linde, Senuran Muthusamy, Beuran Hendricks, Glenton Stuurman and Sinethemba Qeshile are other internationals featuring in the squad. The series carries a major significance for players to put selection claims for the national squad, with India’s long tour of the country soon after, featuring three Tests, three ODIs and four T20Is.

“Test cricket remains one of CSA’s key focus areas, along with ensuring that the format continues to thrive and hold relevance in our country,” CSA convenor of selectors Victor Mpitsang said in a press release.

“It is therefore vital that a steady stream of talent continues to emerge from our high-performance programme.

“The COVID-19 pandemic saw the disruption of the South Africa A team’s fixtures and CSA is pleased to see the return of content for this programme. We are looking forward to more tours for this team in particular, as the A team programme is a crucial one to CSA’s overall pipeline strategy.

“The senior South Africa and India teams will be clashing this summer here at home, so this is an ideal opportunity for players with Proteas ambitions to put their hands up and make a case for themselves.”

India too, had named their 14-member A squad earlier this week, which will be led by Priyank Panchal.

South Africa A squad: Pieter Malan (c), Sarel Erwee, Dominic Hendricks, Raynard van Tonder, Sinethemba Qeshile, Senuran Muthusammy, Marco Jansen, Migael Pretorius, Beuran Hendricks, Lutho Sipamla, Glenton Stuurman, George Linde, Jason Smith, Tony de Zorzi

India A squad: Priyank Panchal (c), Prithvi Shaw, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan, B Aparajith, Upendra Yadav (wk), K Gowtham, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Umran Malik, Ishan Porel, Arzan Nagwaswalla

Fixtures:

November 23-26: 1st Four-Day game at Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein

November 29-December 2: 2nd Four-Day game at Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein

December 6-9: 3rd Four-Day game at Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein.