Altus Momberg

Cape Town – Proteas coach Corrie van Zyl is anxiously waiting to hear whether Graeme Smith will be fit for the World Twenty20 tournament to be played in the West Indies in May.

Smith on Monday night broke the middle finger on his right hand when he took a difficult catch to dismiss Virender Sehwag in an Indian Premier League (IPL) game. He will fly home on Wednesday and will miss the rest of the IPL tournament.

Van Zyl told Sport 24 on Tuesday that he had only communicated with Smith by SMS and he is still awaiting medical reports from the Rajasthan Royals to determine the seriousness of the injury.

“It’s difficult to speculate without all the facts. Doctor (Mohammed) Moosajee said that an injury like that usually takes three to six weeks to heal. We are hoping that he will be able to start training again after four weeks to be ready for the first game,” said Van Zyl.

The Proteas’ first game in the tournament is against India in St Lucia on May 2.

Meanwhile, there were a few shocks on Tuesday when the Proteas selectors announced the squads for the one-day and Test series’ against the Windies in May and June.

The Test squad is unchanged from the one that drew the recent series with India, but there were two surprise omissions from the one-day squad.

It appears as if Herschelle Gibbs’s one-day career may be nearing the end after he was replaced by Hashim Amla, while Ryan McLaren was picked in Albie Morkel’s place.

Morkel’s omission, in particular, is a surprise. It is scarcely a year since he was the Proteas’ trump card in the two series wins over Australia.

However, there is apparently a feeling that his bowling has regressed.

The selectors also picked a provisional squad for the World Twenty20 tournament. Justin Kemp, Vernon Philander and Rusty Theron were the interesting choices.

Kemp’s international career appeared to be over when he played in the Indian Cricket League (the so-called rebel series) last year.

Philander was axed after a poor performance in England in 2008.