Veteran South African opener Hashim Amla is set to miss the limited-overs tour of Australia. Nation’s cricket board has been given him time to recover fully from his finger injury ahead of the crucial home season followed by ODI World Cup in 2019.
The Proteas haven’t announced the squad for three ODIs and a T20I against Australia in early November. However, head coach Ottis Gibson has confirmed Amla’s absence in the series.
“As a selection group we've discussed that with him already. We're going to give him as much time as possible to get himself ready for the next set of cricket he's got coming up,” said Gibson.
As Amla and Quinton de Kock missed out the ODIs against Zimbabwe, South Africa tried out Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram and Reeza Hendricks in the opening slot. While Elgar failed to impress, Markram and Hendricks together put 75 runs in the third ODI.
Amla's continued absence will ultimately serve as an opportunity for other batsmen to stake a claim in the top order in Australia. However, Gibson has clarified that for World Cup hopefuls, "the window is closing".
“For the last 12 months we've been looking at players, and for the next couple of months the window is closing," he said. "We're getting closer and closer to the guys who we want on the journey.”
South Africa last played bilateral ODIs in Australia four years ago, in the beginnings of a season that included the 2015 World Cup.