Ken Borland

Quick-scoring Tristan Stubbs will be in line to make his Proteas debut following his first call-up on Tuesday to the South African squad for their T20 series in India, while fast bowler Anrich Nortje will be making a welcome return to international action.

The 21-year-old Stubbs has played sensational T20 cricket for the Warriors, scoring 506 runs in 17 innings over the last two seasons, at an average of 38 and a strike-rate of 156, outstanding figures in the shortest format. Many of his innings have been memorable efforts under great pressure at the death.

The talent of Stubbs was noticed by the Mumbai Indians, who called him into their IPL squad as an injury replacement two weeks ago. That cut short his involvement with the SA A team on their recent tour of Zimbabwe, but he did play twice, scoring 37 and 19, being not out in both innings and scoring at a strike-rate of 121.

His inclusion means the Proteas could field an explosive middle-order with David Miller and Aiden Markram both in outstanding form in the IPL.

Paceman Nortje has also been playing in the IPL, proving his recovery from back and hip injuries, and will be playing for South Africa for the first time since the T20 World Cup last November.

From that squad that performed admirably in the UAE, sadly falling just short of the semi-finals, spinner Bjorn Fortuin and all-rounder Wiaan Mulder have unfortunately lost their places, being replaced by pacemen Marco Jansen and Wayne Parnell, both of whom are useful lower-order batsmen too.

South Africa were only allowed to take 15 players to the T20 World Cup, but have selected 16 for the India tour as they finalise preparations for the next edition of the global showpiece, in Australia at the end of October.

Fortuin performed highly creditably for the SA A team in Zimbabwe, but Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj are always going to be ahead of him in the spinners’ queue. If one of them gets injured then Markram could fill in and, with their being at least two days between all five matches in India, Fortuin could always be flown in if necessary.

Parnell is arguably a more explosive batsman than Mulder and his left-arm swing bowling offers variety to the attack, with fellow left-armer Jansen generally using his height to hit the deck hard.

South Africa’s first match in India is on June 9 in Delhi.

Squad: Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi.

Former Dolphins captain and Proteas ODI player Dale Benkenstein is returning to South Africa following his exit from the Hampshire coaching position, leading to speculation that he could be in line to take over from Rob Walter at the Titans, but the franchise confirmed on Wednesday that negotiations with the 42-year-old did not lead to anything concrete.

“We did negotiate with Dale Benkenstein but unfortunately we weren’t able to secure a contract with him,” Titans CEO Jacques Faul told The Citizen on Wednesday.

“Applications close today [Wednesday] for the position, but we reserve the right to head-hunt someone if the applicants are not of a suitable quality,” Faul added.

It would be premature, though, to dismiss Benkenstein as a candidate because the Titans’ initial talks with him happened before his departure from Hampshire was announced last weekend.

Faul said he was not sure whether Benkenstein had applied for the job as the CEO is currently on leave.

Benkenstein could not be reached for comment.