South Africa A captain Tony de Zorzi says they want to win both series while developing players on their tour of Sri Lanka.

The team, under the guidance of Test head coach Shukri Conrad, left for Sri Lanka yesterday after spending the past week at the CSA Centre of Excellence.

They will face the hosts in three one-day and two four-day matches starting Sunday.

The SA A squad includes several Proteas in Keegan Petersen, Kyle Verreynne, Gerald Coetzee, Senuran Muthusamy, Tristan Stubbs, Lizaad Williams, Sinethemba Qeshile, and Lutho Sipamla.

Zubayr Hamza is also returning to the national setup, while some of the country’s most exciting young players, like Dewald Brevis and Jordan Hermann, have been selected.

“I’m quite excited about the challenge of leading the A side for this tour,” says De Zorzi.

“It’s a massive honour, and I’m really pleased to be given the job.

“We have a very talented squad of players that have been put together by coach Shukri. I’m pleased to be working with them and look forward to learning from them as well.

“We want to obviously go there and win both series; that’s the main target. We also want to see players develop in different conditions at the same time, so that is the aim.”

De Zorzi says the team prepared well for the tour.

“We caught a lot of nets; we had double sessions most of the mornings, followed by afternoon sessions. We also had a couple of warm-up games and then middle-session scenarios.

“It’s always nice to be in the middle, spend time on the legs for the batters and for the bowlers to get a proper feel of some game time with some match-like intensity, and then obviously prepare for certain conditions as well.

“So, I think preparations have gone really well, and everyone is ready to go and hit the ground running come the weekend.”

South Africa A squad: Tony de Zorzi (c, Western Province), Corbin Bosch (Titans), Matthew Breetzke (Warriors), Dewald Brevis (Titans), Gerald Coetzee (Knights), Zubayr Hamza (Western Province), Jordan Hermann (Warriors), Tshepo Moreki (Western Province), Senuran Muthusamy (Dragons), Keegan Petersen (Dolphins), Sinethemba Qeshile (Warriors), Lutho Sipamla (Lions), Tristan Stubbs (Warriors), Kyle Verreynne (Western Province), Lizaad Williams (Titans).

Sri Lanka A vs South Africa A fixtures:

June 4 – 1st one-day match, Kandy
June 6 – 2nd one-day match, Kandy
June 8 – 3rd one-day match, Kandy
June 12-15 – 1st four-day match, Dambulla
June 19-22 – 2nd four-day match, Dambulla