Johannesburg — Dean Elgar’s worst nightmare came to pass on Thursday with confirmation that he won’t have his primary fast bowling attack at his disposal for the two match Test series against Bangladesh.
Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi, all frontline members of the attack, who starred for the Proteas in their series win against India and the second Test triumph in New Zealand will play no part in the series against Bangladesh that starts at the end of the month.
It is a hammer blow for Elgar, who is desperate to continue the Test side’s upward trend of this summer in a series in which vital ICC World Test Championship points are up for grabs.
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In addition to the bowlers, Rassie van der Dussen, who gained his first full time IPL contract in February and Aiden Markram will also be heading to the lucrative Indian T20 competition. Cricket South Africa’s new CEO, Pholetsi Moseki said on Wednesday that the organisation’s hands were tied regarding allowing players to fulfil IPL contracts over national commitments. Moseki cited the Memorandum of Understanding CSA has with the players body, the SA Cricketers Association. In terms of the MoU the IPL is the only T20 league that is recognised as having a window and in that regard, the agreement with SACA is that the players be allowed to go. However Cricket SA could still issue a directive that they don’t. but Moseki said Wednesday CSA was reluctant to do so, given the financial implications for the players.
“As CSA we support (the players wanting to go) because the money they make there helps their post cricket career livelihoods. It’s a delicate balance. We released some of the players midway through the Pakistan series last year,” said Moseki.
Last year, Cricket SA did say that players needed to complete a portion of the ODI series with Pakistan before they could head to the IPL. One-Day captain Temba Bavuma cited that decision while saying that this year’s situation was “far from ideal.”
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“From a player point of view, as someone not affected by the IPL, I think, I would have liked that this decision was dealt with a lot earlier and with a lot more urgency,” Bavuma said on Thursday. “The fact that on the eve of a One-Day series, and when the Test squad is supposed to be announced, we are still not sure what is happening, from my point of view, that is not ideal. We could have learned from previous years, especially with Pakistan last year, and a decision could have been made a lot earlier by everyone involved.”
“The loss of the IPL players is not ideal,” said selection convenor, Victor Mpistang, “but we back the CSA system, its ever growing pipeline and most of all, the players we have selected.”
Khaya Zondo has been called up to the Test squad for the first time, while Lizaad Williams, who was in the squad for last year’s tour to the West Indies and Daryn Dupavillon also make a return.
South Africa Test squad:
Dean Elgar (capt), Temba Bavuma, Daryn Dupavillon, Sarel Erwee, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Wiaan Mulder, Duanne Olivier, Keegan Petersen, Ryan Rickelton, Lutho Sipamla, Glenton Stuurman, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams , Khaya Zondo.
The 11 South Africans who were bought for IPL 2022 with Proteas Test players in bold:
Kagiso Rabada: $1.233 million (R18.75 million), Faf du Plessis: $933 000 (R14.2 million), Quinton de Kock: $900 000 (R13.7 million), Anrich Nortje: $866 000 (R13.2 million)*, Marco Jansen: $560 000 (R8.5 million), David Miller: $400 000 (R6.1 million), Dewald Brevis: $400 000 (R6.1 million), Aiden Markram: $346 000 (R5.3 million), Rassie van der Dussen: $133 000 (R2 million), Dwaine Pretorius: $66 000 (R1 million), Lungi Ngidi: $66 000 (R1 million)
*Nortje is currently injured
IOL Sport