Four seam bowlers have now been sidelined with hamstring injuries.
Fast bowler Kwena Maphaka during a Proteas training session. Picture: Matt Roberts/ICC/Getty Images
South Africa’s bowling concerns were deepened on Wednesday, with speedster Kwena Maphaka being ruled out on the eve of the three-match one-day international (ODI) series against Australia.
Maphaka was the fourth fast bowler to be withdrawn from the national squad for the fifty-over campaign against the tourists starting in Durban on Thursday.
The 20-year-old left-arm quick would be replaced in the squad by right-arm seamer Lizaad Williams, team management confirmed.
“The seamer (Maphaka) sustained the injury during training in preparation for the series and will undergo assessments to determine the extent of the injury,” Cricket SA said in a statement.
Inexperienced attack
The Proteas selectors were having to dig deep into the country’s bowling stocks, with Kagiso Rabada having been made unavailable for the series, while Lungi Ngidi and Ottneil Baartman had both been withdrawn. Like Maphaka, Rabada, Ngidi and Baartman were also struggling with hamstring niggles.
Ngidi and Baartman had been replaced in the squad by Duan Jansen and 20-year-old seamer Nqobani Mokoena.
With a growing list of first-choice bowlers on the sidelines, Jansen’s twin brother Marco was set to lead a relatively inexperienced group of speedsters.
The six seamers in the attack – Williams, Mokoena, Gerald Coetzee, Corbin Bosch and the Jansen brothers – had played just 72 ODI matches between them.
