Medium-pacer Lonwabo Tsotsobe and left-arm spinner Robin Peterson have been named in South Africa’s Champions Trophy squad, marking their return to international cricket. They take the place of Morne Morkel and Vaughn van Jaarsveld. Charl Langeveldt missed out on a place after failing to fully recover from a shoulder injury.

Tsotsobe, who made his debut against Australia earlier this year at Perth, made an immediate impact picking up 4 for 50 in his first match. He missed the home series against the Aussies because of a knee injury. But his recent showing in the Emerging players’ tournament, where he took 9 wickets in four games at 28.44, saw him being awarded with a central contract and now a recall to the national side.

Left-arm spinner Peterson, on the other hand, played his last ODI in 2007 though he was part of the Twenty20 team that beat Australia 2-0 at home earlier this year. He has been another consistent performer in the domestic circuit picking up 17 wickets from 8 games including a best of 7 for 24.

Morne Morkel, who has been dropped from the side, has had a very ordinary last season taking just 7 wickets in 5 matches at 36.57. Mike Procter, the selection convenor, said he had to miss out given South Africa’s abundance of fast bowlers and the emergence of Tsotsobe and Wayne Parnell. “Langeveldt is not fit enough yet to be considered after his shoulder surgery and Morne Morkel is the unlucky one to miss out,” Procter said. “He [Morkel] is very much part of our long-term planning and has a major role to play but we would like to see more consistency from him at this stage.”

“The selection panel attaches great value to experience, which is well illustrated by the mentoring role Makhaya Ntini has fulfilled with Tsotsobe,” Procter said. “Bringing players like Tsotsobe, Parnell and Roelof van der Merwe into a winning culture has also enabled them to mature as international cricketers quickly. We have four quality spin bowlers and two allrounders in [Jacques] Kallis and Albie Morkel to back up the seam attack. There is also batting potential most of the way down the order.”

South Africa squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Johan Botha, Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher (wk), AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Albie Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Roelof van der Merwe

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