Africa T20 can put Lopsy back into Proteas contention
Gauteng provincial side for the Africa T20 Cup announced.
LONWABO Tsotsobe has put his hat back into the international selection ring for the Proteas following a highly successful tour to India with the South African A-squad.
“Lopsy had an excellent tour, both in the four-day and limited overs format,” said Enoch Nkwe, head coach of the Gauteng provincial side for the Africa T20 Cup and part of the coaching staff of the South African A-squad. “The weather was extremely hot and the climatic conditions were challenging, and he impressed both with his fitness and his skill levels in the different formats. It was good to see him come through a fairly long tour without any injury recurrences.”
“There are a lot of good left-handers emerging in South African cricket at the moment but Lopsy has a real chance to enhance his claims further for Proteas selection when the Africa Cup starts. He is certainly one of the senior players I will be relying on to guide the many youngsters we have in our squad.
“Unfortunately we will not have KG (Kagiso Rabada) for the tournament but he is a close friend of many of our players and I am sure the manner in which he has gone from youth to senior international status will serve as an inspiration to our squad. I certainly intend to make use of his experiences in the preparation phase. A lot of our younger players are on the brink of franchise selection and this is an opportunity for all of them.”
Nkwe feels that all the pools will be tough. “We have an international side – Kenya – in our pool along with hosts Free State and a powerful-looking SWD line-up but we want to win every competition we enter. The key will be to make sure that our T20 skills are sharp and that we handle the pressure moments better than our opponents.”
Gauteng squad: Sizwe Masondo (capt), Matthew Arnold, Temba Bavuma, Devon Conway, Yassar Cook, Bradley Dial, Keith Dudgeon, Zaid Saloojee, Carmi le Roux, Nono Pongolo, Dominic Hendricks, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Yaseen Valli.
Support Staff: Enoch Nkwe (head coach), Sandile Masengemi (assistant coach) and Obakeng Sepeng (manager).
