Keshav Maharaj has completed a remarkable recovery from an Achilles' rupture sustained in March and has been included in South Africa's 15-man squad for the ODI World Cup starting next month.
Maharaj was injured in a Test against West Indies in the second week of March and was expected to be out for the rest of the year. But he returned to action at the weekend, for South Africa's final T20I against Australia, and has been declared fit for the World Cup. He will be one of two frontline spinners, alongside Tabraiz Shamsi, with Aiden Markram's offspin also likely to be called on in India.
His selection left no room for Bjorn Fortuin, who has been involved in South Africa's recent white-ball squads. Instead, South Africa opted for their usual strategy of stacking the squad with quicks and have included six in this group. Kagiso Rabada will lead a pack that includes Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Marco Jansen, Sisanda Magala (who is recovering from a knee niggle) and Gerald Coetzee, who was preferred over Wayne Parnell or an extra batter, despite having only two ODI caps to his name.
"We really want to have four high-quality fast bowlers on the park at most times. That's a strategy South African cricket has done well with," Rob Walter, South Africa's white-ball coach, said in Bloemfontein, where the squad was announced. "Parny was definitely one of the tough decisions to make. He would have formed part of that six-strong fast-bowling group, but we went for Gerald as someone who has got a little bit of extra pace.
"It was a tough call; tough for him [Parnell] to miss out. And I don't believe you need an extra batter. We've got a back-up batter in the group. I back all of them. They are very versatile."
The batting line-up includes captain Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (who will retire from ODIs after the tournament), Rassie van der Dussen, and players with ample IPL experience in Markram, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller. Reeza Hendricks is the reserve, in a rich vein of form albeit in a different format, with seven fifties from his last ten T20I innings, which meant younger players such as Tristan Stubbs and Dewald Brevis missed out.
Walter urged patience for players with obvious potential who have not shot the lights out at international level just yet. "Selection doesn't sometimes happen as quickly as people want," he said. "We have one back-up batter in our group and all our batters have been playing for South Africa. For them to be superseded will just be unfair. That's the important thing to understand about the ODI side, they have been playing very good cricket for a while, so that's why the tried-and-tested names that are out there."
The same reason was given for sticking with a player like Ngidi, who went wicketless in the T20Is against Australia and has not taken the field in leagues despite being picked in the IPL and Major League Cricket. Ngidi has struggled for consistency in the last few games but Walter is convinced his 50-over form will be better.
"I am not concerned at all. I've seen the work Lungi has put in over the entire winter period. T20 can be brutal and I do feel there is a slightly different dynamic when it comes to 50-over cricket. I know he will find his feet soon enough," Walter said. "We must be careful to look at things in isolation. From a broader point of view, given what I have seen over the last three months, there is no real concern on my side."
It was in India, while with Chennai Super Kings, that Ngidi worked on his slower ball variations and honed skills to go with his speed, which should help in the subcontinent. That experience and knowledge is what Walter hopes will stand South Africa in good stead at a tournament where he expects conditions to be less spinner-friendly than reputation suggests, except against India.
"Having been to India, you realise, there is no one condition you are going to be faced with. There's a real spectrum. I have no doubt there will be some directive around creating the best cricket wickets that they can to make sure it's a spectacle," he said. "Maybe when South Africa plays India in Kolkata [it will be different], but for the most part we are going to get really good cricket wickets."
South Africa will expect the same over the next 12 days, when they play Australia in five ODIs with the same squad that will travel to the World Cup plus Fortuin. Brevis, Parnell and Stubbs, who were part of the original squad, have been released from the playing group and will prepare for the domestic one-day cup, which starts on September 16.
South Africa World Cup squad: Temba Bavuma (capt), Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Sisanda Magala, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen