South Africa seem to be confident that they can succeed at
the Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka without their experienced Test skipper,
Graeme Smith.
The Proteas are in the midst of a Test series with England,
and look set to go top of the world rankings, if they can avoid defeat in the
third and final encounter at Lords’.
Smith has been at the helm of the Test outfit and has really
led from the front with some impressive batting performances from the experienced
opener.
There is no questioning the skipper’s quality, and, if he
wants, he can really push the run rate with some trademark big hits against the
best strike bowlers in the world.
However, the South African selectors have decided not to
select the 31-year-old, who has not featured for the side in the shortest form
of the game since October, last year.
Selection convener, Andrew Hudson, said: "We are
confident that our squad will be very competitive and make South Africa proud.
"We have had basically the same squad together for the
past year, and many of them also produced stand-out performances at the Indian
Premier League.
"The Proteas will also have excellent preparation for
the World Twenty20, by finishing the England tour with three matches.”
South Africa have decided that they will take experienced
batsman, Jacques Kallis, on the trip to Sri Lanka for the tournament, which all
gets underway on September 18 in the subcontinent.
The Proteas clearly believe that they have the personnel in
their squad to challenge for the trophy next month, and they will be hoping
that it wasn’t a mistake to leave a player of Smith’s quality back home.
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