Aiden Markram of South Africa looks on during the ICC Men's T20 Cricket World Cup West Indies & USA 2024 match between South Africa and Bangladesh at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium Proteas skipper Aiden Markram is eager to see what the youngsters in his squad can produce against the West Indies in their T20 series starting Friday. Picture: Cianflone/Getty Images/AFP
The Proteas have opted to bring a young and mostly inexperienced to do duty against hosts West Indies in their T20I series starting on Friday, and SA skipper Aiden Markram said it was a deliberate move as they have already begun preparing for the 2026 World Cup.
South Africa lost to India in the final of the T20 World Cup in June, but have clearly started looking ahead to the next edition in just under two year’s time.
Ahead of the first T20 in Tarouba starting at 9pm SA time, with two matches more to follow, the Proteas have not called on the services of many of their experienced players for this series. Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi have all been rested.
It means players like 18-year-old fast bowler Kwena Maphaka and top order batsman Jason Smit could get a run.
The name is Smith, Jason Smith😤🔥💪
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) August 22, 2024
Putting in the work in the nets ahead of our first T20i clash with West Indies tomorrow in Trinidad. 🏏🇿🇦#WozaNawe #BePartOfIt#SAvWI pic.twitter.com/aqHxmgYl8e
“It seems like 18 months is a long time, but in the cricket world for some reason 18 months goes by really quickly,” said Markram.
“It's nice to be able to start that journey now, and not potentially three or four months before that World Cup. It's about getting guys invested into really wanting to play for this T20 team. Hopefully there was a bit of inspiration from outside in the previous World Cup, that got guys going.”
Markram said he was excited to see how the new players in the squad performed at international level.
“It’s nice to see Kwena and Jason here. It’s been a hell of a year for himself and he’s done really well. Just watching him operate yesterday in training you can see he's bringing a lot of young energy into the camp.
“Jason on the other hand has had a bit of a different journey and he's really hung his cap at every level to get this opportunity to be here in the squad.
“Their two stories were very different, but we’re excited to see the two of them go about their business. But it’s not just the two of them as there’s quite a few new faces.”