Cricket South Africa (CSA) has confirmed that their men's cricket team has officially returned to training on Monday (June 29) after the board received a green signal from the country's Sports Ministry to resume training for the international stars amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
It’s been more than three and a half months since the cricketing activity has been played in South Africa due to the Coronavirus outbreak with the last domestic one-day tournament was played on 15th March.
Read Also: Jack Leach reveals he had symptoms similar to COVID-19 during South Africa tour
As the cricketing actions around the world are slowly getting back to normal following the COVID-19 forced hiatus, South African Sports Ministry has also approved CSA’s return-to-train-and-play plans.
The CSA is likely to sit down on July 2 to decide further course of action for resumption with the major focus being on getting the men and women’s national teams back to training with a hope for an India series in August, but it is still doubtful since Virat Kohli and his team are yet to return to training.
Meanwhile, the CSA has also announced a 44-member men’s high-performance training squad who will train in small monitored groups with identified coaches from their nearest franchise teams.
The board said in a statement: “The Cricket South Africa (CSA) men’s High-Performance training squad officially returned to training on Monday following approval from the Minister of Sport, Arts & Culture, the Honourable Nathi Mthethwa on Friday.”
The statement further reads: “These sessions will be in accordance with the guidelines set out by the CSA COVID-19 Steering Committee and approved by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), an arm of the National Department of Health.”
While the CSA Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shuaib Manjra said: “We engaged with the NICD who were comfortable with our protocols and responses to their queries for further details in some respects. Our prevention program, besides the regular testing of players and support staff, is predicated on personal hygiene measures and creating a sanitized ecosystem. COVID-19 compliance managers at each venue have assumed responsibility to ensure all the elements of the protocol are implemented.”
He further noted, “Plans for the commencement of training for the women’s High-Performance Training Squad are underway and will be relayed as soon as possible.”
Here’s South Africa's training squad:
Quinton de Kock, Dean Elgar, Lungi Ngidi, Aiden Markram, Junior Dala, Theunis de Bruyn, Rassie van der Dussen, Shaun von Berg, Dwaine Pretorius, Heinrich Klaasen, Temba Bavuma, Reeza Hendricks, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Wiaan Mulder, Bjorn Fortuin, Andile Phehlukwayo, David Miller, Sarel Erwee, Khaya Zondo, Daryn Dupavillon, Keshav Maharaj, Senuran Muthusamy, Keagan Petersen, Imran Tahir, Lutho Sipamla, Edward Moore, Anrich Nortje, Sisanda Magala, Glenton Stuurman, Jon-Jon Smuts, Rudi Second, Pite van Biljon, Raynaard van Tonder, Gerald Coetzee, Pieter Malan, Zubayr Hamza, Janneman Malan, Faf du Plessis, Tony de Zorzi, Beuran Hendricks, Nandre Burger, George Linde, Kyle Verreynne.
(With IANS Inputs)
