Cape Town - The squads are taking shape for the North versus South Challenge State of Origin T20 match as the fans begin to cast their votes for the players they would like to see in action in this prestigious match.
The match to be presented by SuperSport International at Sahara Park Newlands on Saturday, 4 January 2014, is part of the three-day Festival of Cricket that Cricket South Africa (CSA) will be holding from January 3 to 5.
Once the fans have completed their voting, the final squads of 13 players will be submitted to the respective coaches, Geoffrey Toyana for the North and Paul Adams for the South. They will select the playing XIs in consultation with their captains.
The national selectors will appoint the respective captains once the squads of 13 have been determined by the fans.
Fans are encouraged to continue submitting their votes (there is no limitation on the number of votes they can cast). To do this they must SMS South/North and the players name to 45732. SMSs are charged at R1.50 per SMS.
The following players (in alphabetical order) have received the most votes so far.
NORTH: Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Marchant de Lange, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Neil McKenzie, Ryan McLaren, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Roelof van der Merwe, Morne van Wyk, Dane Vilas, David Wiese.
SOUTH: Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Henry Davids, JP Duminy, Beuran Hendricks, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Rory Kleinveldt, Richard Levi, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Alviro Petersen, Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Daryn Smit, Prenelan Subrayen, Thami Tsolekile, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.