Marchant de Lange added to the South Africa ODI squad

Right arm fast bowler Marchant de Lange has been called up in the South African squad which will play against England in the upcoming ODI series.

“Marchant gives us more options with our fast bowlers because there is no Steyn, no Philander, no Kyle Abbott,” Coach Russell Domingo told reporters on Sunday.

“We need to manage the workloads of (Morne) Morkel and (Kagiso) Rabada who have played a lot. We need to broaden our fast bowling base for this series.”

Dale Steyn missed most of the Test series, which England won 2-1, with a shoulder injury while Vernon Philander has not played since the early stages of the tour to India in November when he tore ankle ligaments while Abbott is nursing a hamstring problem.

“We have had a lot of injuries of late. Not having Dale and Vernon was a big blow, but it’s an opportunity to test the depth of South African cricket and to provide opportunities for the fringe bowlers to step up and put in some good performances. The big concern is the fact that Rabada and Morkel have played a lot of cricket of late and have bowled so many overs – we need to manage them over the next few days.” Domingo added.

de Lange played for the South Africa A side against England in the warm-up game yesterday where he picked up a decent 2/69.

South Africa will look to win the ODI series and balance the 2-1 loss which they incurred in the Test series. South Africa will surely take inspiration from the recent away series win over India. Coach Domingo also said that they would like to in with the favorites tag.

“In South Africa, we will always want to be regarded as favourites in home conditions. We have a good and settled side, we have been playing really well and we have some of the best one-day batsmen in the world,” Domingo said.

The first ODI will be played at the Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein on February 3.

South Africa (Squad): AB de Villiers (c), Marchant de Lange, Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wk), Jean-Paul Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw