Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers will be available for the Australia Test series, while Faf du Plessis is near a full recovery.
The Proteas suffered some major injury blows throughout the India tour. The first victim who fell to injury was Proteas captain Du Plessis.
Du Plessis was ruled out of the India tour after scoring 120 runs in the Proteas’ first defeat in the ODIs.
De Kock and De Villiers followed suit. De Kock suffered a wrist injury in the second ODI against India and, as a result, was ruled out of the rest of the India tour.
De Villiers, after being injured for the first three ODIs, made his return for the final three but picked up a left-knee injury in the final ODI and was removed from the T20 squad.
Temba Bavuma also joined the list with a fracture and is doubtful for the Test series.
Dr Mohammed Moosajee addressed the media to give a full injury update.
‘Quinton de Kock has fully recovered from his left wrist injury,’ he said. ‘He joined the T20 squad in Centurion for training. He was batting in the nets as well. He is good to go for the Australia Test series.
‘AB de Villiers was removed from the T20 squad, more as a precaution looking ahead at the Test series, and he will make a full recovery and we are comfortable with that.’
Moosajee said that Du Plessis and Bavuma, who suffered fractures, were initially given four to six weeks to heal.
‘We are in that period. They are being monitored weekly. They have a great team working with them in Cape Town.
‘The plan for Temba is to play a club game on Sunday, which will be his fitness test. If he comes through that, he will be available for selection.’
CSA confirmed that Bavuma will be playing for Soweto CC due to club cricket being suspended in Cape Town.
‘Faf starts batting tomorrow and we are hopeful that he will come through that and be available to captain the team against Australia in Durban,’ added Moosajee, who also touched on Dale Steyn’s recovery.
‘He damaged a ligament in his foot. He is making a great recovery, I’m sure a lot of you have seen on social media,’ said Moosajee.
‘The challenge is, he is doing his running training, he’s increasing his bowling intensity. In all likelihood, he will feature in the Test series against Australia.
‘But I’m sure the medical team will want him to play some sort of cricket before a Test match. We are going to target one of the four-day matches for the Titans.’
The first Test starts on 1 March in Durban.
Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
