South Africa recall Albie Morkel for T20 World Cup, maiden call-up for Hendricks

Albie Morkel last played a T20 in 2012 World Cup

South Africa’s all-rounder Albie Morkel has been recalled for the three-match Twenty20 series against Australia and for the upcoming ICC World Twenty20 as well.

Also, Ben Hendricks has been selected for the T20 series against Australia and also for the World T20. Ben Hendricks was considered by the selectors following his impressive performance in the recent Ram Slam Twenty20 challenge. He finished the season as the highest-wicket taker, picking up 28 wickets in 11 matches.

Albie Morkel returns to the Twenty20 squad after two years. His last Twenty20 match was against India in the World Twenty20 at Colombo. Since then, Morkel played in the domestic T20 league – IPL 2013 and also played for Derbyshire in Friends Life T20. He also featured in the Ram Slam Twenty20 challenge, accumulating 202 runs in 10 matches.

The T20 squad also includes David Miller, AB de Villers and JP Duminy, who brings in the experience of playing on sub-continental wickets. South Africa have also included Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock as the duo have the experience of playing in sub-continent. While Behardien has featured in last World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, Quinton de Kock has played a lot of IPL games for Sunrisers Hyderabad.

South Africa have also named only two specialist spinners – Imran Tahir and Aaron Phangiso which can be a worrying factor for the Proteas. The pace department, however, remains the same and it will be led by Dale Steyn. The other three pacers are Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

The CSA’s selection convener Andrew Hudson was pretty impressed with Albie Morkel and Hendricks performance in recent matches. “Both Beuran and Albie fully deserve their selection following outstanding campaings in the Ram Slam T20,” Andrew Hudson, CSA’s selection convener, said. “As always, there are unlucky players but we feel we have chosen the right combination for the conditions we are likely to encounter on the sub-continent.

“Beuran’s claims could not be ignored. and the experience that Albie will bring on board is important for a high-profile tournament of this nature. The bulk of these players (11 out of 15) were part of our squad that won their T20 series in Sri Lanka last year under similar conditions.”

South Africa squad for Australia T20s and World T20: Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Beuran Hendricks, Imran Tahir, David Miller Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe