South Africa announce T20 World Cup 2024 squad
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 have named their squad for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 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 sidelined from international action since September 2023 due to a back injury, while De Kock announced his retirement from ODIs after the 2023 Cricket World Cup, having already bid farewell to Test cricket in 2022.
The South Africa opener was in fine form during the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.
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 tournament 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.
To go with the youth, the Proteas have a strong batting core in Markram, De Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller and the promising 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.
Heinrich Klaasen hit a 4,4,6 against Reece Topley in the 45th over of the England-South Africa ICC Men's Cricket World Cup encounter.
Speaking on the squad, coach Rob Walter said: "Selecting this group was extremely tough considering the amount of T20 cricket that has been played recently and the form that has been on show. I want to congratulate the two uncapped players, Ryan and Ottniel, on their selection.
"We have seen some incredible performances from our players in 2024 and that made my job very tough indeed. I am nonetheless proud and confident that we have named the strongest possible squad that no doubt has every chance of success in the West Indies and USA.”
South Africa begin their T20 World Cup campaign on 3 June, against Sri Lanka in New York.
All teams are allowed to make changes to their squad until 25 May, after which any alteration will require approval from ICC's Event Technical Committee.
