Ken Borland

There was sad news for Temba Bavuma fans on Wednesday as the batsman was ruled out of the entire tour to England due to an elbow injury, but his misfortune has opened the door for Rilee Rossouw, whom many have said they want to see back in the Green and Gold of the Proteas, to return to the T20 squad.

Bavuma injured his elbow in the fourth T20 against India a fortnight ago, and although Cricket South Africa have not said whether it is a tendon, soft tissue or bone injury, the white-ball captain has been slapped with a lengthy eight-week recovery time.

Rossouw has not played for the Proteas since October 2016, when he suddenly went Kolpak, but he has been in a top-class vein of form for Somerset in the T20 Blast. The 32-year-old has scored the third-most runs (498) at a scintillating strike-rate of 191.53, making him by far the most explosive batsman in the competition. The left-hander has passed fifty six times in his 12 innings.

While Rossouw is an exciting replacement for Bavuma as Quinton de Kock’s opening partner in the T20 team, the captain’s place in the ODI team is likely to be taken by Aiden Markram. The top-order struggled in the shock ODI series loss to Bangladesh at home in March and Markram provides not only a vital sixth bowler but also the potential for dominant strokeplay.

The Proteas have leaned heavily on their spin bowlers in white-ball cricket in recent years, but in their previous Test series, against Bangladesh, they used left-arm orthodox Keshav Maharaj and off-spinner Simon Harmer in tandem with devastating effect. Harmer has learned plenty during his six years of county cricket and has destroyed numerous county batting line-ups, so him and Maharaj operating together, if the conditions warrant it, make sense.

Apart from Bavuma, all-rounder Wiaan Mulder and pacemen Daryn Dupavillon and Lizaad Williams have been ditched from the Test squad that beat Bangladesh, as the IPL stars return.

The T20 and ODI captaincies have been split in Bavuma’s absence, with Maharaj taking the reins in the ODIs and David Miller leading the T20 team, as he did for two matches against Pakistan in 2019.

Kagiso Rabada has been rested for the ODI series, while fellow fast bowler Anrich Nortje will play in all three formats after missing most of last summer due to injury.

Gerald Coetzee, the 21-year-old bowling all-rounder from the Free State Knights, has been chosen in the T20 squad, earning his first Proteas call-up.

Sean Everitt is a coach for whom consistency in selection is important and the Sharks will duly field an unchanged starting line-up in their Rainbow Cup match against the Lions at Kings Park on Saturday.

Although Everitt has put on record his disappointment with the quality of the performance against the Stormers in Cape Town last weekend, the 33-30 victory has nevertheless been rewarded with 21 of the 23-man squad retaining their places for the Lions match.

The only two changes to the group are rotational switches on the bench, with Le Roux Roets replacing JJ van der Mescht as substitute lock and Jaden Hendrikse, having recovered from concussion, now the back-up scrumhalf instead of Sanele Nohamba.

“We fought back well against the Stormers last weekend, the guys generally did well and showed a lot of character. I would like to build some consistency, so there are only two changes on the bench. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves in Cape Town, especially in the first 20 minutes when we slipped some tackles. But in patches, like when Reniel Hugo blitzed his hat-trick, we were absolutely sublime.

“But in terms of the performance not being good, we have set standards and conceding 29 turnovers is just something we cannot do. We want to enjoy our rugby and you can’t do that if you concede that number of turnovers,” Everitt said on Thursday.

Scrumhalf looks set to give Everitt plenty of selection posers through the season because the Sharks certainly have tremendous depth there with current starter Grant Williams, Hendrikse and Nohamba. They are all young, nippy and attack-minded halfbacks that suite the quick tempo with which the Sharks want to play.

“We have three great scrumhalves and we are able to rotate them. Grant is the oldest at 24 but he hasn’t played much because he’s been unfortunate with a few serious injuries. But he has come good now. Jaden (21) and Sanele (22) are both still relatively young, but they are learning and growing,” Everitt said.

Sharks team: Aphelele Fassi, Sbu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am (C), Jeremy Ward, Yaw Penxe, Curwin Bosch, Grant Williams, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Henco Venter, Siya Kolisi, Reniel Hugo, Ruben van Heerden, Thomas du Toit, Fez Mbatha, Ox Nche. Bench – Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Wiehahn Herbst, Le Roux Roets, Phepsi Buthelezi, Jaden Hendrikse, Manie Libbok, Werner Kok.