3 Team Cricket South Africa: Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris to miss Solidarity Cup; Heinrich Klaasen to lead Kingfishers

Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris to miss Solidarity Cup: The two high-profile names will miss the upcoming carnival match.

Originally scheduled to be played on June 27, the inaugural Solidarity Cup is all set to be played after a three-week postponement on July 18 now. Despite Gauteng being the centre of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa, the venue of the match hasn’t shifted from SuperSport Park in Centurion.

3TC (3 Team Cricket) will witness a 36-over match divided into two innings of 18 overs each. Each team will bat for six overs in an innings and face both the teams across as many innings. As is the general rule in cricket, the team which scores more runs will be declared as the winners.

The exhibition match is aimed at raising money for THE HARDSHIP FUND, a Cricket South Africa initiative to help all those from the cricket community who are enduring hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Cricket South Africa says none of the participating players in this Saturday’s 3TC match at SuperSport Park has contracted covid-19 #SSCricket

— SuperSport Blitz (@SuperSportBlitz) July 15, 2020

Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris to miss Solidarity Cup

Earlier, South Africa white-ball captain Quinton de Kock, fast bowler Kagiso Rabada and former captain AB de Villiers were announced as the captains of the three teams namely Kites, Kingfishers and Eagles respectively.

Rabada, who has lost an immediate family member, has made himself available for the one-off match. Uncapped pacer Sisanda Magala will also miss the 3TC exhibition match due to the same reason.

Apart from Rabada and Magala, illustrious all-rounder and Rabada’s teammate at Kingfishers Chris Morris has also chosen to skip the tournament with an unknown reason.

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Wicket-keeper batsman Heinrich Klaasen, who scored his maiden ODI century against Australia in February this year, will replace Rabada as the captain of Kingfishers. As far as Rabada and Morris’ replacements in the match are concerned, Thando Ntini and Gerald Coetzee have been added to Kingfishers’ squad.

All-rounder Bjorn Fortuin, who has played five limited-over matches at the highest level, has been named as Magala’s replacement at Eagles.

3TC Full Team squads

Kingfishers – Heinrich Klaasen (c)*, Reeza Hendricks, Janneman Malan, Faf du Plessis, Thando Ntini, Gerald Coetzee, Glenton Stuurman, Tabraiz Shamsi.

Kites – Quinton de Kock (c), Temba Bavuma, JJ Smuts, David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Anrich Nortje.

Eagles  – AB de Villiers (c), Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Andile Phehlukwayo, Bjorn Fortuin, Junior Dala, Lungi Ngidi.

UPDATE: Not Heinrich Klaasen but Reeza Hendricks will be seen leading the Kingfishers in the Solidarity Cup.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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