Cricket South Africa have named a 14-member squad filled with new faces, including captain and uncapped opener Neil Brand, for their upcoming two-Test tour of New Zealand in January.
With the SA20 League clashing with this tour, all top South African players have been omitted from the series. The T20 tournament begins January 20.
Brand, who captained South Africa’s A side during their recent series against West Indies A, is among the seven uncapped players in the side that has only three players from the ongoing home series against India — Keegan Petersen, David Bedingham and Zubayr Hamza.
None of the first-choice bowling attack were available for the series, which is part of the WTC cycle.
CSA’s move showed that Test cricket is no longer the priority for both the players and the Board and the franchise league will always get the preference when it comes to international cricket.
“The players picked for this tour have every chance of challenging New Zealand and we have full confidence they will do exactly that when we arrive for the first Test match at Mount Maunganui,” coach Shukri Conrad said.
“The experience will no doubt leave them in a better position for what we expect to be a testing series.”
