Masabata Klaas, Tazmin Brits part of South Africa Emerging squad for Zimbabwe tour

series against Zimbabwe, Cricket South Africa announced on Wednesday (May 12). Batter Andrie Steyn will lead the side in the five-match series. Nondumiso Shangase, Anneke Bosch as well as Sinalo Jafta, all of whom had been part of the series against Bangladesh Emerging last month, have retained their spots.

“We are really pleased with the talent we’ve been able to assemble for this tour and the players have benefitted from the insights of our management team – including some players who were in their position only a short time ago,” said Dinesha Devnarain, the Head Coach of the unit.

“Our goal is to continue to work with this group of ladies with more face-to-face sessions scheduled and also raise the performance level against a competent Zimbabwe Women side. We’ve had enough time to reflect on our tour of Bangladesh and many in the squad will be looking to improve massively on that performance.”

Klaas, who had opted out of the tour to India, and Brits, who had to return midway due to personal reasons, will add experience to the side, which received a 0-4 drubbing in the hands of Bangladesh Emerging team. Faye Tunnicliffe, Khayakazi Mathe and Kirstie Thomson, who featured against Bangladesh Emerging, missed the cut.

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“The players that have been recruited in this squad were all standouts across the summer, with some really impressive performances for their provincial sides,” said Vincent Barnes, CSA’s high-performance manager.

“It’s been really impressive to see players like Anneke Bosch perform strongly for the last few matches for the emerging side while those tied to the Proteas all played pivotal roles for the national team in recent tours. This tour will allow a lot of players who harbour dreams of representing their country at the highest level to experience cricket in different conditions and this will play an important role in their ongoing development as future Proteas.”

The teams will play five one day matches starting May 18. All matches will be played in Bulawayo.

Squad: Andrie Steyn (c), Tazmin Brits, Robyn Searle, Nondumiso Shangase, Anneke Bosch, Sinalo Jafta, Leah Jones, Micaela Andrews, Masabata Klaas, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Jane Winster, Nobulumko Baneti, Annerie Dercksen, Tebogo Macheke, Delmari Tucker, Jade de Figueredo