South Africa’s tour of England suffered another setback with a third injury blow, as left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj was ruled out just prior to the first T20I in Cardiff with a groin strain picked up in the warm-up.
Following South Africa’s 14-run DLS win, captain Aiden Markram confirmed that Maharaj was going to play but was withdrawn at the eleventh hour on account of the injury, and Corbin Bosch was the late replacement. Maharaj had recently been recalled to the T20I team after missing out on the Australia and Zimbabwe tours.
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Earlier today, pacer Lungi Ngidi was sidelined for the whole T20I series after suffering from a right hamstring strain. He will be flying back home on Thursday and will be racing against the clock in order to be available for South Africa’s upcoming World Test Championship series, which kicks off in Pakistan on October 12.
To strengthen the team, left-arm seamer Nandre Burger has been called up and will be available to be selected from the second T20I at Old Trafford on Friday.
This comes following another setback earlier in the week when veteran batter David Miller was pulled out of the squad after picking up a hamstring strain in the last week of the Hundred. No replacement has yet been announced for him.
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On a brighter note, pace trio Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, and Lizaad Williams all made their comeback in the rain-affected match. Rabada, who had sat out the Australian and English ODI legs with ankle inflammation, bowled the first over at Cardiff. Jansen, who was recovering from thumb surgery after the WTC final in June, survived two overs, while Williams, who returned from knee surgery that kept him out for most of the year, was in the squad but did not bowl.
