BY RYAN WILLIAMS
Proteas captain Heinrich Klaasen has called on the ou toppies in his squad to wys their skill in the three-match T20I series against Pakistan.
A number of South Africa’s top guns aren’t available for the three T20s against the visitors, with the Test match against Sri Lanka at St George’s Park only ending on Monday.
That means that when South Africa take the field for the first match at Kingsmead tonight, Klaasen will bank on the senior manne such as Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi and Reeza Hendricks to make their stemme dik.
Standing in for Aiden Markram, who is one of those marked absent after playing the Test series against Sri Lanka, as skipper, Klaasen says of having experienced players such as Nortje and Shamsi back in the squad: “It’s fantastic that we have those guys back.
“We have a lot of players who have played against Pakistan – even at domestic level – so we get a lot of information from the players and we are taking confidence from that.
“I am leaning on senior players and that will be massive, I need the senior players to step up and to take the pressure off the younger players.”
Locked And Loaded 💪🏏🇿🇦
The Proteas Men are grinding it out in the nets ahead of tomorrow’s 1st T20I against Pakistan at Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium 💪🏟️
See you tomorrow 🫵#WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #SAvPAK pic.twitter.com/YL0rnh0oXQ
Klaasen wants to kick off the South African summer in woelige style and adds: “It will be great to start off on the right foot...
“It’s about making the right decisions on the day. We are looking forward to seeing what everyone brings to the table. To start off with a good series win, that’s the priority.”
𝐀 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲! 🇿🇦🇵🇰
The first T20I between these cricket powerhouses kicks off tomorrow at 18:00 (CAT) 🤩🏏#SAvPAK | #SummerOfCricket pic.twitter.com/enPm534pa1
Proteas: Heinrich Klaasen (captain), Ottneil Baartman, Matthew Breetzke, Donovan Ferreira, Reeza Hendricks, Patrick Kruger, George Linde, Kwena Maphaka, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Nqaba Peter, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Andile Simelane and Rassie van der Dussen.