South Africa announce squad for T20 World Cup 2024, Aiden Markram to lead

Source: Asian News International (ANI)

Johannesburg [South Africa], April 30 (ANI): Aiden Markram will lead South Africa's charge for the first time in an ICC event after being named the T20I skipper as the Proteas named their squad for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 which will be held in the USA and West Indies.

Among the notable inclusions are Anrich Nortje and Quinton de Kock, who were recently excluded from Cricket South Africa's central contract list.

Nortje has been away from international action since September 2023 due to back injury. De Kock announced his retirement from ODIs after 2023 Cricket World Cup, having already bid farewell to Test cricket in 2022.

Ryan Rickelton and Ottniel Baartman have benefitted from their incredible performance in the recent SA20 tournament and are the two uncapped T20I players in the squad. Rickelton was the leading run-scorer in the game with 530 runs at an average of 58.88 and strike rate of 173.77 for MI Cape Town while Baartman took 18 wickets in eight matches for defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

In terms of youth, the Proteas have a strong batting core in Markram, De Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller and Tristan Stubbs.

The pace battery will be led by Kagiso Rabada and Nortje with the support of Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee while Bjorn Fortuin, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi will be the frontline spinners.

South Africa squad: Aiden Markram (c), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs.

Travelling reserves: Nandre Burger and Lungi Ngidi. (ANI)