AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn all set to return for longer formats

Three big names are set to make their comebacks to the red ball cricket for the South African side. AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, and Chris Morris have been named in the South African Invitation squad which will take on Zimbabwe in a three-day warm up match at the Boland Park in Paarl. The warm up match will be played under the lights and this will be the warm-up game for the visitors before they take on South Africa in the first ever four-day day-night fixture on the Boxing Day at Port Elizabeth.

Interestingly, the three big guns are all going to be a part of the warm-up game. The selection conundrum for the team continues to persist though. They will have to figure out ways to accomodate these players in the national setup somehow. Talking about AB de Villiers, the hard hitting batsman has been out of action from the longest format of the game for almost a year now.

He had taken a break from the Test cricket following an injury that he had picked up in the last season. He, however, played in the limited overs format for the Proteas recently. He hammered an attacking 176 in one of the ODI matches against Bangladesh recently. Commenting on Dale Steyn, the speedster made a return to competitive cricket by turning up for the Titans in the domestic circuit.

He will be keen on getting back on the Test roster. Meanwhile, all rounder Chris Morris will be making his comeback after he had picked up a back injury in England last year. AB de Villiers is expected to hog most of the limelight though. In his absence, Temba Bavuma was the one who took his place in the Test side. The convener of selectors, as per the quotes in ESPNcricinfo, mentioned that they wish to keep Bavuma in the frame of things since he has not got much share of chances yet.

“Temba only got limited batting time during the Test series against Bangladesh because of the dominance of our top order and we feel he will benefit from spending more time in the middle,” Linda Zondi, South Africa’s convener of selectors said.

South African Invitation squad:

Dominic Hendricks (capt), Temba Bavuma, Tladi Bokako, Michael Cohen, AB de Villiers, Isaac Dikgale, Leus du Plooy, Zubayr Hamza, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rapulana, Kelly Smuts, Dale Steyn, Ricardo Vasconcelos, Shaun von Berg, Lizaad Williams