Injury forces Anrich Nortje out; no clarity on recovery timeline

As of June 26, Norje has only played a couple of games in 2025.

By Rathnam Nayak

Updated - 26 Jun 2025, 19:04 IST

2 Min Read

As per Cricket South Africa, Anrich Nortje has suffered a "stress reaction", due to which he was not considered to be a part of South Africa's 15-member squad for the Zimbabwe T20 Tri-Series 2025 to be played in Zimbabwe. It was the same injury that prevented him from representing the Los Angeles Knight Riders in the 2025 edition of Major League Cricket.

South African head coach, Shukri Conrad, voiced empathy towards Nortje's condition and hoped for him to have a speedy recovery from his latest injury blow.

"We will have to see the length of the time that he will be out and the extent of the injury. I really feel for him. He is a superstar fast bowler and having to deal with setback after setback can't be easy. We will wait to see how serious it is. Naturally, we are worried," stated Conrad, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
"In Anrich's case, this is the second or third stress reaction in his back. It is too early to make a diagnosis and we are definitely not drawing a line through this name. He is 31 years old and we are going to give him every chance to come back. We will have to see what the medical team think is the best way forward," he added.

Nortje, who is no longer centrally contracted with CSA, has had an unfortunate history of spending vast periods of time on the sidelines. He failed to play any form of cricket between November 2013 and November 2015, November 2018 and February 2019, and then between November 2021 and April 2022. This was mainly due to a range of back and hip injuries.

Rassie van der Dussen named captain South African T20I side
Also Read

Rassie van der Dussen named captain South African T20I side

As of June 26, South Africa have played a total of seven matches (two Tests and five ODIs). Nortje did not represent the nation even once. His only couple of games this year have been for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League.

Get every cricket updates! Follow Us:

Download Our App

For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS and Google Play Store