De Zorzi set to lead SA ‘A’

The South Africa A squad left the country on Wednesday night for their tour to Sri Lanka, where they will face the hosts in three one-day and two four-day matches starting from Sunday.

The 15-man squad will be captained by Proteas batter, Tony de Zorzi, under the guidance of Test head coach Shukri Conrad.

Most of the team have spent the last week in Pretoria, where they have been preparing for the tour at the CSA Centre of Excellence.

De Zorzi says the preparation camp was extremely beneficial for everyone.

“It’s always nice to be in the middle, spend time on the legs for the batters and for the bowlers to get a proper feel of some game time with some match-like intensity and then obviously preparing for certain conditions as well. So, I think preparations have gone really well and everyone is ready to go and hit the ground running come the weekend.”

De Zorzi, who is coming off a promising debut season of international cricket himself, is looking forward to the trip, which begins with a one-day clash in Kandy on Sunday.

“I’m quite excited about the challenge of leading the ‘A’ side for this tour. It’s a massive honour and I’m really pleased to be given the job,” he said.

“We have a very talented squad of players that have been put together by coach Shukri. I’m pleased to be working with them and look forward to learning from them as well.”

The squad includes capped Proteas in Keegan Petersen, Sinethemba Qeshile, Kyle Verreyne, Gerald Coetzee, Tristan Stubbs, Senuran Muthusamy, Lizaad Williams, Lutho Siphamla and Zubayr Hamza.

Some of the country’s most exciting young players have also made the cut. Amongst them being batters Dewald Brevis and Jordan Hermann.

De Zorzi added: “We want to obviously go there and win both series, that’s the main target. We also want to see players develop in different conditions at the same time, so that is the aim.”

Full tour schedule:

One-Day Matches:

 

Sunday, 4 June

Sri Lanka A vs South Africa A in Kandy

 

Tuesday, 6 June

Sri Lanka A vs South Africa A in Kandy

 

Thursday, 8 June

Sri Lanka A vs South Africa A in Kandy

 

Four-Day Matches:

 

12 – 15 June

Sri Lanka A vs South Africa A in Dambulla

 

19 – 22 June

Sri Lanka A vs South Africa A in Dambulla