SA likely to announce two keepers for Oz tour

Johannesburg: South Africa is likely to announce two wicketkeepers in their squad for their crucial Test tour to Australia in November following AB de Villiers’ latest injury scares.

Andrew Hudson, convener of the national selectors also admitted that at some stage a longer-term decision would be required over De Villiers’s suitability to wear the gloves for the country across all three formats of the game. The top-ranked South Africa team would tackle the Baggy Greens, currently lying at No 3, in three Test match series starting in Brisbane (November 9-13), followed by Test matches in Adelaide (November 22-26) and Perth (November 30-December 4). Certain alarm bells are sure to be ringing over revelations a few days ago that De Villiers, who is also one the team’s key batsmen, is suffering once more with recurring lower back and ankle problems. De Villiers will not take part in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament, which is about to start in South African, and Proteas manager Dr Mohammed Moosajee has even been quoted as saying that “if we don’t manage him properly he could be out (of the tour)”. “AB needs to be managed, and we will call it as we go, constantly (re-assessing) him during the series,” Sports24 quoted Hudson, as saying. It can virtually be taken for granted that Thami Tsolekile, who linked up with the squad during their triumphant tour of England after Mark Boucher’s freak, career-ending eye injury, will thus again secure a passage to Australia, the paper said. ANI