Johannesburg - Cricket South Africa (CSA) Thursday announced the names of twenty players to attend this year's Standard Bank National Academy programme at the High Performance Centre at the University of Pretoria from May until the end of August.

The 2008 squad included five members of the SA U19 World Cup squad that played against India in the ICC U19 World Cup final in March last year.

A further six members of that World Cup squad have been selected for this year's intake, namely Roy Adams, Pieter Malan, Mangaliso Mosehle, Obus Pienaar, Rilee Rossouw and Yaseen Vallie while the squad contains five of the players who were selected to play against the touring England U19 team during January this year. They are: Andrea Agathagelou, Mangaliso Mosehle, Obus Pienaar, Rilee Rossouw and Khaya Zondo.

Furthermore, eight of the young cricketers have already experienced one or other format of the game at Franchise level.

CSA has once again entered into a reciprocal tour agreement with Bangladesh to visit the Asian country during April and early May prior to the start of the Academy. The tour consists of two four-day matches and a triangular limited-overs series involving Sri Lanka. The Academy will then host Bangladesh at the HPC in a return series during August this year.

CSA Manager for Coaching Anton Ferreira said: "We are extremely excited about the squad that has been selected for this year's intake and given the fantastic performances and results by the Proteas on the recent Australian tour as well as the significant contributions by 'graduates' of this particular Elite Player Development programme, we are anticipating another fine crop of potential Proteas.

"No doubt players such as Morne Morkel, JP Duminy, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Wayne Parnell, who all completed their Academy training in recent years at CSA's base at the HPC, will be a source of added motivation and inspiration for these aspiring cricketers."

Standard Bank Academy 2009 intake:
Sean Adair, (Eastern Province), Roy Adams , (Griqualand West), Andrea Agathagelou (North West), Andrew Birch (Eastern Province/Warriors) Tumelo Bodibe (Easterns/Titans), Johan Bothma (Boland), Richard Cameron (Gauteng/Lions), Keshav Maharaj (KwaZulu-Natal), Pieter Malan (Northerns/Titans), David Miller (KwaZulu-Natal/Dolphins), Mangaliso Mosehle (Easterns), Obus Pienaar ( Free State), Phumelele Matshikwe (Gauteng), Omphile Ramela (Boland), Rilee Rossouw (Free State/Eagles), Aubrey Swanepoel (Griqualand West/Eagles), Yaseen Vallie (Western Province), Wian van Zyl (Free State), Gino Vries (Free State), Khayelihle Zondo (KwaZulu-Natal/Dolphins)