South Africa to send below-strength Test team to New Zealand

South Africa will ship an understrength crew to New Zealand for 2 World Test Championship matches in February, following the discharge on Tuesday of the fixtures for its home SA20 franchise competitors.

Cricket South Africa chief govt Pholetsi Moseki confirmed to AFP on Tuesday that no gamers contracted to the six SA20 franchises would journey to New Zealand.

The SA20 will begin on January 10 and end on February 10, overlapping with the Tests which start on February 4 and February 13.

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The conflict of fixtures successfully eliminates most of South Africa’s first-choice gamers excluding former captain Dean Elgar, who was not contracted for the primary version of the T20 competitors earlier this 12 months.

Several main gamers have been pre-contracted and an public sale on September 27 is anticipated to mop up many of the relaxation, together with probably second-choice and even third-choice gamers.

“It is a directive of Cricket South Africa,” stated Moseki, including that the ruling would additionally apply to gamers whose involvement ended on the conclusion of the league section of the SA20, which ends on February 4.

“Because of the time zones, players need at least a week to acclimatise in New Zealand so it will not be possible for some SA20 players to join the team for at least the second Test,” he stated.

Cricket South Africa tried to barter a postponement of the Tests however this was rejected by New Zealand Cricket.

The choice is one other blow for Test cricket in South Africa, with nearly all of future collection restricted to 2 matches, together with a high-profile house collection in opposition to India in December and January – the one house Tests of the South African summer season.

Moseki stated on the announcement of the International Cricket Council’s future excursions programme final 12 months that South Africa’s lowered Test schedule was obligatory in an effort to accommodate the SA20 in a main a part of the season.

But Moletsi stated he was assured that South Africa would ship a aggressive crew to New Zealand. “I have faith in our pipeline,” he stated.

Elgar bemoaned the state of affairs in a newspaper interview final month. “It’s tough to take,” he stated.

“It shows what the narrative is when it comes to Test cricket and again it’s the players who suffer. A high percentage of the players still really want to play Test cricket.”