South Africa name AB de Villiers as wicketkeeper against England
Thursday 10 December 2015 11:18, UK
AB de Villiers will be South Africa's wicketkeeper in the first two Tests against England.
The selectors have reworked their line-up to include seven specialist batsmen, which means De Villiers will be the keeper.
That follows the world No 1 team's disappointing tour of India where they were beaten 3-0 and failed to score more than 214 in a single innings.
Keepers Quinton de Kock and Dane Vilas have been dropped to the South Africa A side that will face England in their second and final warm-up match.
De Villiers did keep wicket during last year's home series against the West Indies when De Kock was injured but before that he had not donned the gloves in a Test since the 2013-14 home series against Australia.
His return to an all-rounder role will enable Temba Bavuma to move back to his normal batting position in the middle-order while Dean Elgar and Stiaan van Zyl will resume their opening batting partnership at the top of the order.
Rilee Rossouw has been included in the squad as an extra batsman while Dane Piedt is the only spinner selected with both Simon Harmer and Imran Tahir dropping out from the squad that went to India.
With Vernon Philander on the injury list, Kyle Abbott retains his place in the four-man fast bowling attack along with Morne Morkel, Kagiso Rabada and Dale Steyn, who faces a fitness test next week on his troublesome groin injury.
"One of the issues that concerned us during the tour to India was the lack of depth to our batting, particularly in the lower order and the change in AB's role means that we can now have a specialist batsman at number seven," CSA selection chief Linda Zondi said.
"We now feel that the side has a much better balance about it without in any way reducing the tactical options available to our captain, Hashim Amla."
The first Test against England starts on December 26 in Durban. The second will be played in Cape Town from January 2, with further matches in Johannesburg (January 14-18) and Pretoria (January 22-26).
Squad: Hashim Amla (captain), Kyle Abbott, Temba Bavuma, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Morne Morkel, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Dale Steyn, Stiaan van Zyl
Watch the whole of the South Africa v England series live on Sky Sports.
