South Africa Name Injured de Kock in World Cup Squad

Johannesburg: The African nation of South Africa have revealed their 15-man squad for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The World Cup, which will be held from February to March, gives a good chance for South Africa to win their maiden World Cup.

The South African team have been called 'chokers' as they have more often than not, failed at the crucial stages of the biggest cricket tournament of the world.

The 2015 edition brings a good chance for the team to win their first ever cricket World Cup as the bouncy pitches and the conditions will be favourable to the South African players.

AB de Villiers has been chosen as the man to represent the peninsular nation at the tournament. Lonwabo Tsotsobe was excluded from the squad despite indications that he would be set for a recall to the one-day side.

Quinton de Kock, who is nursing an ankle ligament injury, was the surprise inclusion as he is not expected to be fit till after South Africa's first two matches. Captain de Villiers is expected to don the wicket keeper’s role till then, at the very least.

De Kock, 22, a free-scoring left-handed opening batsman and capable wicketkeeper, tore ligaments in his right ankle while warming up during the first Test against the West Indies on December 19.

There are no major surprises in the squad, although there are two changes from the 15 that were beaten 4-1 in a series in Australia in November.

Left-handed batsman and off-spin bowler JP Duminy and left-arm spin bowler Aaron Phangiso return after missing the November tour because of injury.

All-rounder Ryan McLaren, the side's leading wicket-taker in both 2013 and 2014, was dropped after a dramatic fall-off in form since suffering a broken arm against Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson in a Test match last season.

South Africa squad: AB de Villiers (captain), Hashim Amla, Kyle Abbott, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wk), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Vernon Philander, Rilee Rossouw, Dale Steyn
Originally published on Sportskeeda.com here

Head coach: Russell Domingo

Assistant coach: Adrian Birrell

Bowling coach: Allan Donald

Spin bowling coach: Claude Henderson

Scores	Upcoming	Results
South Africa vs Pakistan - 3rd ODI 4th Test - Australia v India - December 26-30, 23:30 GMT 1st Test - Zimbabwe v Afghanistan - December 26-30, 07:30 GMT 3rd ODI - Zimbabwe v Afghanistan at Harare Afghanistan won by 8 wickets (with 139 balls remaining) 3rd T20I - West Indies v Bangladesh at St Vincent Bangladesh won by 80 runs

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