Cape Town — Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad will get a golden opportunity over the next fortnight to have a closer look at the next generation of South Africa’s red-ball cricketers when the SA ‘A’ side begin their two-match “Test” series against their Sri Lankan counterparts in Dambulla on Monday.
Conrad, masquerading as the South Africa ‘A’ coach on this tour of Sri Lanka, has selected a youthful squad along with a few players on the fringes of his Test squad.
The two-match series focus is very much on the future with Conrad showing his hand last week when he called up 17-year-old St Stithians learner Kwena Maphaka.
The teenager has yet to play a single first-class match for the Lions yet but Conrad was sufficiently impressed with the left-arm seamer when in charge of the SA Under-19 team a short while ago.
Maphaka forms part of a group that also includes 19-year-old Titans prodigy Dewald Brevis, who has only played three first-class matches, and Warriors duo Tristan Stubbs and Matthew Breetzke.
Conrad will also be keeping a close eye on North West all-rounder Senuran Muthusamy who has been a consistent performer on the domestic circuit for some time now and had only had a limited taste of international cricket as a reward.
However, Conrad plucked the 29-year-old from relatively obscurity last season and thrust the left-arm spinner back into the Proteas Test side ahead of seasoned campaigners Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer against the West Indies at Centurion.
Although the duo were recalled for the second Test against the Windies at the Wanderers, with Muthusamy dropping out, Conrad has shown faith in him again by selecting him as the sole specialist spinner on this ‘A' tour of Sri Lanka.
He will also have a crucial role to play with the bat, shepherding the middle to lower order.
Muthusamy will hopefully get support in the slow bowling stocks from either Brevis or Stubbs, as Conrad looks to develop that component of the duo’s game.
Furthermore, the seam attack will most likely also consist of Gerald Coetzee and Lizaad Williams, with Coetzee having already excelled with both bat and ball in the preceding ODI Series.
Equally, it is an opportunity for the top-order batters such as captain Tony de Zorzi, Kyle Verreynne, Zubayr Hamza and Keegan Petersen to get some much-needed time at the crease.
IOL Sport