With a full-strength South Africa team, Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada have been chosen to compete in two key one-day internationals against the Netherlands on March 31 in Benoni and April 1 in Johannesburg.
With the recent ODI series against the West Indies, which ended with a 1-1 tie and one match being rained out, both fast bowlers received a break.
South Africa will play Netherlands for the first time since they lost to them and were disqualified from the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
If Ireland loses at least one ODI against Bangladesh in a three-match series in May, South Africa will automatically qualify for the World Cup in India this year if they win both one-day internationals (ODIs) without using over-rate penalties.
Temba Bavuma, the captain of South Africa, will be put through a fitness test on Tuesday to make sure he has healed from the hamstring strain he suffered when scoring 100 in the second ODI against the West Indies on March 18.
“We have named our strongest possible squad for these games given the importance of these matches in the context of qualifying for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup,” South Africa’s white-ball coach Rob Walter said. “We have a job to do and I am confident that with this group of players we can get the job done.”
With the second ODI on April 2, Quinton de Kock (Lucknow SuperGiants), Marco Jansen (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Heinrich Klaasen (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Sisanda Magala (Chennai Super Kings), Aiden Markram (Sunrisers Hyderabad), David Miller (Gujarat Titans), Lungi Ngidi (Delhi Capitals), Anrich Nortje (Delhi Capitals), and Kagiso Rabada (Punjab Kings) only on April 3 at the earliest will be eligible to join their IPL franchises.
Russell Domingo, a former head coach of Bangladesh and South Africa, will be a part of the coaching staff for the tour, according to a statement from Netherlands.
Heino Kuhn, a former South African international, will be featuring beside him. Ryan Cook, the head coach, won’t be participating in the tour; Ryan van Niekerk will take his place.
South Africa squad for Netherlands ODIs: Temba Bavuma (capt), Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Sisanda Magala, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen
Netherlands squad (probable): Scott Edwards (capt & wk), Colin Ackermann, Musa Ahmad, Shariz Ahmad, Wesley Barresi, Tom Cooper, Aryan Dutt, Brandon Glover, Vivian Kingma, Fred Klaassen, Ryan Klein, Bas de Leede, Roelof van der Merwe, Paul van Meekeren, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh.