By Ayanda Nyuswa
Proteas fast bowler Kagiso Rabada says he’s excited by the youngsters who are coming through in the national set-up and what they can offer in the white-ball tour of Australia. South Africa will kick off the three-match T20 series against the Aussies in Darwin on Sunday, which will be followed by two matches at the same venue and in Cairns on 12 and 16 August. This series will be followed by a 3-match One day International series against the same opponents between 19-24 August.
The two sides will meet for the first time since that historic World Test Championship final at Lords, where the Proteas end their 27-year wait for major ICC silverware, beating Australia by 5 wickets at the home of Cricket.
Proteas head coach Shukri Conrad included youngsters Dewald Brevis and Lhuan-dre Pretorius in both the T20 and ODI squads. Pretorius, who scored a record breaking century against Zimbabwe on his test debut, receives his maiden call up in the 50-over team. Brevis is yet to make his official ODI debut despite making the squad for South Africa’s 2023 home series against Australia. 19-year old Kwena Maphaka has been included in the T20 squad to boost the bowling attack that will see the return of pace-lead Kagiso Rabada.
“We’ve got some exciting talent coming through and for me it’s just exciting to see that they are just waiting and raring to go,” said Rabada.
“They’ll be wanting to thrive on this stage it’s just about trying to see where we are at as a team, moving into almost like another generation. It’s no secret players like myself, Aiden we’ve been on the circuit for quite some time, we are adopting the leadership positions the senior positions. It’s normal and been happening for quite some time, it feels natural and it feels comfortable to be in this position. We trying to get much experience for the younger guys and shape into a team that’s hopefully gonna be causing some problems.”
