Du Plessis to lead South Africa `A` squad

Mumbai: Faf du Plessis, Chennai Super Kings` find of the IPL 5 season, has been rewarded by South Africa as he has been elevated to lead the country`s `A` team in the upcoming two four-day Tests against Sri Lanka A and the triangular one-day series in Zimbabwe.

Du Plessis, who plays for Nashua Titans in South Africa`s domestic set-up, has been named to captain the national `A` team in both the formats after his splendid display for two-time IPL winners Chennai Super Kings at the top of the order. He has scored 398 runs in 13 games at a strike rate in excess of 130 till the end of the round-robin phase. Also in the 24-man probables list picked by the SA selectors are four other IPL players -- Richard Levi of Mumbai Indians, David Miller of Kings XI Punjab, Wayne Parnell of Pune Warriors and Marchant de Lange of Kolkata Knight Riders -- as per the list of names displayed by Cricket South Africa in a media release. "Du Plessis has been a leader for most of his cricketing life and the fact that he has not had much opportunity to do this at the franchise level is more a reflection on the fact that national players are not available for their franchises on a regular basis," commented CSA selection convener Andrew Hudson. "Faf has been enormously impressive both in the Proteas` Castle Lager ODI squad and more recently in the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he has shown how much he has matured as an international cricketer," he added. The four-day games against the visiting Lanka `A` squad is to be held at the Sahara Stadium in Kingsmead, Durban from June 30 to July 10 and will be followed by the tri-series ODIs in Zimbabwe. PTI