JOHANNESBURG: Heino Kuhn’s two centuries on the South Africa ‘A’ tour of England earned him a call-up yesterday to the senior squad for their upcoming four Test series with England.
The 33-year-old batsman - who made centuries against Hampshire and then the England Lions - is one of three uncapped players along with Aiden Markram and Andile Phehlukwayo to be named at Test level.
“Heino Kuhn has shown outstanding form for South Africa ‘A’ on their recent tour of England which included a double century in the four-day match against Hampshire and a further century against the England Lions,” CSA selection convener Linda Zondi said.
“He certainly deserved his place on consistent form.”
Established stars like batsman AB de Villiers and paceman Dale Steyn are unavailable for selection.
De Villiers is taking a break from Test cricket and Steyn hasn’t fully recovered from a shoulder problem which has kept him off the pitch since the end of last year.
Experience
The team will be captained by Faf du Plessis and there is plenty of batting experience with Hashim Amla, JP Duminy and Quinton de Kock as well as on the bowling side with Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander.
Kuhn has some international experience having played Twenty20 cricket for his country.
Phehlukwayo, 21, has played not only T20 for ‘The Proteas’ - including the just concluded 2-1 series loss to England - but also appeared in the one-day series in England and the disappointing Champions Trophy campaign which saw the world ranked number one side fail to reach the semi-finals.
Squad: Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Dean Elgar, Heino Kuhn, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Duanne Olivier, Andile Phehlukwayo, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada.