Chance for players to cement spots – Domingo

South Africa’s coach Russell Domingo wanted his newer Test players to cement their places during the upcoming series against Sri Lanka. With only two additions to the squad that toured Australia – in reserve batsman Theunis de Bruyn and left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell – changes to South Africa’s XI from the Adelaide Test were unlikely.

“We’ve only decided to pick 13 for this series. It gives us a few less selection problems and gives the incumbents a sense of security and they can focus really hard on their preparation and not worry too much about selection. It just makes it a lot clearer and a lot more simplistic,” Domingo said. “The young players have really come in and stepped up. They are all new players that, a year and a half ago, were playing debut Test matches and now they’ve become established in the side. That’s very pleasing to see.”

The current squad included four men who made their debuts in the last two years and Domingo made special mentions of all of them. “Keshav Maharaj has really stepped up, Stephen [Cook] has got two hundreds in six Tests and Kagiso Rabada and Temba Bavuma have won Test matches for us,” he said.

Given the uncertainty surrounding South Africa’s depth earlier this year, to have the younger crop coming through was a sign the …

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