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Spinner Imran Tahir has been dropped from the Proteas' squad after failing to shine on the Proteas' recent Test tour of Australia, for the matches on January 2-6 (Cape Town) and January 11-15 (Port Elizabeth).
“I don’t think anybody will be surprised that we have kept faith with the 11 players who did duty in the winning Test match against Australia at Perth as well as Rory Kleinveldt and Jacques Rudolph, who played two Test matches each,” commented CSA selection convener Andrew Hudson.
“There is every indication at this stage that Jacques Kallis will be fully fit to fill his all-rounder’s role which will get us back to the balance that has served us so well this year with a combination of seven specialist batsmen and five specialist bowlers.
“Being able to field seven specialist batsmen was a key factor in both the Test series successes against England and Australia, most notably at Adelaide where we had to bat long and deep to get ourselves out of trouble.
“AB de Villiers has kept wicket exceptionally well since taking the gloves from Mark Boucher and having two quality all-rounders among our top five batsmen has added a great deal to the side.
“Thami Tsolekile remains our back-up wicketkeeper should the need arise.
“It was a tough call to leave out Imran Tahir but we have to acknowledge that Robin Peterson put up an outstanding performance at Perth where he made a significant contribution to our victory. Imran remains very much in our plans going forward.
Proteas' Test squad:Graeme Smith (captain), Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Jacques Kallis, Rory Kleinveldt, Morne Morkel, Alviro Petersen, Robin Petersen, Vernon Philander, Jacques Rudolph, Dale Steyn
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