Cricket South Africa (CSA) has released the list of its contracted players for the 2022-23 season. Janneman Malan and Keegan Petersen have made it into the list for the very first time, Beuran Hendricks and Heinrich Klaasen, who were the contracted players last season, have missed out to find places in the 16-member list this time.
Both Malan and Petersen have earned their call-ups by performing exceedingly well in recent times. Malan has been outstanding for South Africa in ODIs as he has amassed 763 runs from 14 innings at a splendid average of 63.58 and a healthy strike rate of almost 90 since debuting in 50-overs internationals in 2020. This kind of return rewarded him ‘ICC emerging Men’s cricketer of the year’ in 2021.
Similarly, Petersen has proved to be a key member of the Proteas red-ball squad in his brief career so far. The stylish right-handed batter performed admirably against a strong Indian bowling attack in the three-match home series held in 2021-22 as he hit three very important fifties and averaged 46, thereby playing a crucial role in South Africa’s memorable series victory.
On the other hand, the contracts of Beuran Hendricks and Heinrich Klaasen haven’t been renewed because of their consistently mediocre performances for South Africa in the last year or so.
Barring one ODI series against Australia, Klaasen hasn’t lived up to the expectations in the 50-overs format as the wicketkeeper-batsman averages less than 18 in his last 3 ODI series. His numbers are far worse in the shortest format, in which he averages a mere 9.75 in his last 4 T20I series including the World Cup.
Hendricks has also been ordinary in recent years and South Africa currently have much better fast bowling options to choose from.
CSA’s newly appointed CEO Pholetsi Moseki has congratulated Malan and Petersen on getting the contract for the first time.
“We at CSA are big advocates of rewarding excellence and I am pleased to be the first to congratulate Janneman Malan and Keegan Petersen on their newly awarded contracts”, Moseki said.
He has further appreciated the recent achievements of the South African side in both limited-overs cricket as well as tests and wished for the continuous success of the rainbow-nation across formats under the visionary leadership of Temba Bavuma and Dean Elgar respectively.
Here is the list of South Africa’s central contracted players:-
Temba Bavuma, Lungi Ngidi, Dean Elgar, Anrich Nortje, Quinton de Kock, Keegan Petersen, Reeza Hendricks, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Dwaine Pretorius, Janneman Malan (NEW), Kagiso Rabada, Aiden Markram, Tabraiz Shamsi, David Miller, Rassie Van der Dussen.