Proteas pick De Kock, snub Rickelton

THE Proteas opted to go with the experienced Quinton de Kock and David Miller instead of young guns Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs for the T20 World Cup in India next month.

Many would have seen this coming, even Rickelton himself.

When De Kock announced his return to international cricket, it was only a matter of time for Rickelton to find himself behind in the pecking order.

De Kock coming back and showing form meant that Rickelton’s days in the national set up were numbered.

On Friday, Proteas Convenor Selector Patrick Moroney announced the Proteas squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup and revealed what many knew was coming, that De Kock had leapfrogged Rickelton.

Moroney explained: “We’ve looked at the top order and we've looked at how we want to open our innings up and it was a big decision between Quinny de Kock and Ryan Rickelton and ultimately we’ve opted to go with Quinny de Kock in that opening berth along with Aiden Markram.

“Then on the Stubbs one, in theory what we’ve really looked for there is to make sure that we have that attacking middle order where the left-handed David Miller slots in for us ideally into the middle order and then with Dewald Brevis and Donovan Ferreira complementing him on either side is our general plan and that's what we've opted for with Stubbs not included in this World Cup.”

Rickelton’s exclusion comes despite smashing a century in the opening match of the SA20 at Newlands last week.

PROTEAS SQUAD: Aiden Markram (captain), Corbin Bosch,Dewald Brevis, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, KagisoRabada and Jason Smith.