• Temba Bavuma will captain South Africa in the International Cricket Council’s T20 World Cup.
• Cricket South Africa selection convener Victor Mpitsang selected the squad.

After recuperating from an elbow injury, Temba Bavuma will captain South Africa in the International Cricket Council’s T20 World Cup in Australia in October.

Bavuma sustained an injury during a T20 international in India in June, forcing him to miss South Africa’s multi-format tour of England, which concludes next week. He made his comeback at a low-key T20 event being played in Namibia.

Cricket South Africa selection convener Victor Mpitsang selected the squad on Tuesday, which includes explosive batter Tristan Stubbs, 22, who hammered eight sixes and scored 72 off 28 balls against England in his first international innings in Bristol in July.

“He’s young, he’s exciting and he’s fearless and he plays the brand of cricket that (coach) Mark Boucher wants the team to play,” said Mpitsang.

Dewald Brevis, 19, who set a run-scoring record at the Under-19 World Cup in the West Indies in January, was left out. Brevis, dubbed “Baby AB” because of his resemblance to retiring South African player AB de Villiers, has been signed by T20 franchises in India, the Caribbean, and South Africa but has yet to play a first-class or List A match.

Rassie van der Dussen, a middle order batsman, was a noticeable omission.

Van der Dussen needed six weeks to heal from a broken finger suffered in the second Test against England, according to Mpitsang.

Bavuma, 32, was named South Africa’s white-ball captain in March 2021, becoming the country’s first black African captain, but detractors have pointed out that his batting strike rate of 120.60 is lower than that of other specialist batsmen contending for a starting spot.

Mpitsang stated that Bavuma will open the batting in the World Cup and that it was “difficult” to imagine Bavuma not being in the playing eleven.

Mpitsang stated that the World Cup squad of 15 players, including three travelling reserves, will play a three-match T20 series in India beginning September 28.

South African T20 World Cup squad:

Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton De Kock (wkt), Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs. Travelling reserves: Bjorn Fortuin, Marco Jansen, Andile Phehlukwayo.

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