The first of three T20s between the Proteas and West Indies is in Paarl on Tuesday.
The Proteas management team have decided to rest SA20 final players Quinton de Kock, Marco Jansen and Tristan Stubbs from Sunrisers Eastern Cape for Tuesday’s first of three T20s against the West Indies in Paarl.
The trio were all involved in Sunday’s SA20 final win against the Pretoria Capitals.
The series against the West Indies is a tune-up for the T20 World Cup, which gets under way next week in India.
Two players, namely Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Eathan Bosch, have been called up to the Proteas squad to substitute for the absence of the Sunrisers trio for the first T20 only.
Happy for Stubbs
Proteas T20 captain Aiden Markram, who played for Durban’s Super Giants this SA20 season but led the Sunrisers to their first two titles and also guided the side to the final last year, said he was over the moon about Stubbs leading the Gqeberha-based team to the title on Sunday.
“Im’ so bloody happy for him,” said Markram on Monday afternoon.
“He’s one of the guys in the team everyone wants to see do well. He’s that sort of person, and he grafts hard, he’s the ultimate pro.
And when you put the hard work in and don’t get the results you can get quite down on yourself, even your peers feel sorry for you. Then to come out and play a knock like that last night [Sunday], you can only be happy for him. It’s great to do it in final.
“And when you do well in big games you take that confidence to the next one.”
Stubbs scored a match-defining 63 not out off 41 balls and along with Matthew Breetzke (68 off 49) say the Sunrisers chase down a target of 159 to win, with a few balls remaining.
On the other side of the result was Keshav Maharaj, the Capitals captain, and also a Proteas team-mate of Markram and Stubbs.
Markram said he understood the pain Maharaj would be feeling after the loss suffered at Newlands.
“As a person he’s an all-in type of guy, and it would have hurt him. He’s not an emotional kind of guy.
“It’s just that he cares and puts a lot of love into it, then you come up just short, and the way the game unfolded as well, I understand why he’s hurting.
“When I see him I’ll put an arm around him, get him riled up. I chatted to him a bit last night and said the trophy you want to win is the one in a few weeks time and that’s what we’ll go for now, and he’s all in for that.
“We’ll try get him over last night as quick as we can and get him looking forward to the world cup as quick as we can.”
South Africa squad for series against West Indies
Aiden Markram (capt) Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Lhun-dre Pretorius, Rubin Hermann, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Jason Smith, Eathan Bosch
West Indies fixtures
1st T20I – Tuesday, 27 January at 6pm
South Africa vs West Indies – Boland Park, Paarl
2nd T20I – Thursday, 29 January at 6pm
South Africa vs West Indies – SuperSport Park, Centurion
3rd T20I – Saturday, 31 January at 6pm
South Africa vs West Indies – DP World Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
