As Covid rises, South Africa adds three players to the test team

CSA announced two cases of Covid-19 in its test squad on Friday shortly after adding three players for the series against Sri Lanka. The CSA statement confirming the additional resources does not mention the pandemic, but there is no doubt that the move was forced by concerns about the increasing control the virus is taking in the country.

Another statement three hours later said the positives were returned from tests conducted on Wednesday and Thursday. “Players will no longer be part of the test team and will observe Covid-19 protocols, including isolation with immediate effect,” the second statement said.

“The CSA medical team will monitor them to ensure their health and well-being. CSA can confirm that no other players on the currently named team were considered close contacts after contact tracing procedures were performed.” The infected players were not named.

Ten team members were exposed to the disease during this week’s round of three first-class matches, in which at least five players tested positive. One of those games was canceled after the first day because a player fell to Covid, and three games that were due to start on Sunday have been postponed.

That followed England leaving its South African tour last Thursday without playing half of its six scheduled white ball games because seven coronavirus cases had been detected, two of which were later declared false positives, among players, staff. support and hotel workers during your visit.

Therefore, it is hard to believe that the addition of Raynard van Tonder, Lutho Sipamla and Dwaine Pretorius on Friday did not mean that the local team tried to protect itself against new calamities from Covid. With team members Aiden Markram, Dean Elgar, Rassie van der Dussen, Lungi Ngidi, Beuran Hendricks, Keshav Maharaj, Wiaan Mulder, Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen and Migael Pretorius, all close to someone who tested positive this week, increasing the volume raising the numbers was the sensible option.

Uncapped Van Tonder, 22, just made 200 for the Knights against the Lions in Bloemfontein on Sunday and Monday, which followed a 166 effort against the Dolphins last month. He is the best hitter in top class competition with 604 runs in 10 innings.

Sipamla, also 22, conceded 45 runs of the 16 deliveries he pitched in the third T20I against England at Newlands on December 1. He has only played one first-class game this season, winning 2/75 of 22 overs for the Lions this week. . Sipamla’s selection, then, is a real surprise.

Minus that of Dwaine Pretorius, who is coming back from the hamstring strain that kept him out of the T20I series against England. His absence, and that of fellow all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo, upset the balance of the South African team and was a factor in the visitors winning 3-0. Dwaine Pretorius has not been a regular at Test XI, in which he has played three times, compared to his 33 white ball internationals, but Kagiso Rabada’s continued unavailability due to a groin injury could create an opening. for him.

If that opportunity comes, it should be clear to him that he will seize it as he was in action for the last time in the first-class matches that began on November 9, avoiding the flood of positive tests for the virus that ruined this week’s games. Van Tonder and Sipamla weren’t so lucky.

The South African players will be evaluated again on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. The team will meet in Pretoria on Saturday and enter a biosecure environment that they will share with Sri Lankans, who were due to arrive on Friday evening. Barring further pandemic issues, the two-game series will begin in Centurion on December 26.