Jacques Kallis pulls out of Champions Trophy, JP Duminy back in South Africa squad
AB De Villiers will be the captain of the squad that also has Test skipper Graeme Smith.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: May 02, 2013 04:12 PM IST
JP Duminy has returned to the South African ODI squad for the ICC Champions Trophy tournament to be held in England and Wales at the start of next month. Jacques Kallis has, however, made himself unavailable for personal reasons, according to a media release on Thursday. AB De Villiers will be the captain of the squad that also has Test skipper Graeme Smith.
It will be Duminy's first selection since he suffered a severe ankle injury during the first Test match against Australia six months ago.
"JP is well on the way to a full recovery," commented Cricket South Africa (CSA) selection convener Andrew Hudson. "The latest information is that he will be fully fit to play his part in all three disciplines by the end of the month. He is a very experienced limited overs cricketer and we don't anticipate his lack of match practice being any kind of problem.
"His return adds a lot of balance to the side and that, together with the presence of two batting all-rounders in Faf du Plessis and Farhaan Behardien, means that we now have the option to go into the tournament with seven specialist batsmen.
"Jacques' experience will obviously be missed but it does create an opportunity for David Miller whose recent form has been most impressive. It also gives a young player the chance to make his mark ahead of the ICC World Cup in 2015.
"We have stayed consistent with the squad that played in the ODI series against Pakistan, also bearing in mind that we wanted to choose players who are well equipped for England conditions.
"As always there are unlucky players. Unfortunately we can only take 15 players to England. However, the World Cup is 2 years away in Australasia and is a wonderful incentive for those who have missed out to concentrate their focus."
South Africa squad:
AB de Villiers (Nashua Titans, capt), Hashim Amla (Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras), Farhaan Behardien (Nashua Titans), JP Duminy (Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras), Faf du Plessis (Nashua Titans), Colin Ingram (Chevrolet Warriors), Rory Kleinveldt (Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras), Ryan McLaren (Chevrolet Knights), David Miller (Sunfoil Dolphins), Morne Morkel (Nashua Titans), Robbie Peterson (Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras), Aaron Phangiso (bizhub Highveld Lions), Graeme Smith (Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras), Dale Steyn (Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras), Lonwabo Tsotsobe (Sunfoil Dolphins).