Key South Africa pacers show positive signs in their recovery as Marco Jansen and Coetzee edge closer to returning to action.
Jansen and Coetzee are inactive since June. Jansen has a shoulder niggle while Coetzee is battling hip concerns.
Both pacers have completed a third of their 12-week rehab program. The program is designed by CSA to ease pacer workloads.
Despite the injuries, both pacers were in line to be given substantial time off to manage workloads.
“Both of these young players were facing physical challenges due to fast bowling, which meant we had to step in.
“Obviously the workload on young cricketers has gone through the roof, especially guys who bowl fast.
To ensure that their injuries didn’t put a stop sign [on their careers], we put them on a conditioning block.”
Another one of the Key South Africa pacers, Kagiso Rabada has also been given extended time off.
The decision to rest Rabada comes at a time when South Africa faces a congested fixture calendar as far as Test cricket is concerned.
“If you look at what he has in store for him, starting from when the Bangladesh Test series starts, it’s non-stop cricket.
“When KG puts on a jersey for South Africa, we want him to be delivering his best . That’s when he’s most impactful and effective.
” This was a perfect time to give him that opportunity. We don’t have a lot of Test matches so to have our best bowlers available and firing for Test cricket is absolutely imperative.”
South Africa also have rested Tabraiz Shamsi, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, and Heinrich Klaassen.
“The reality is we can’t rely on one group of players to win games for South Africa.
We want to make sure that we have a bigger group of players that can win games for South Africa.
The only way to know is to keep exposing players to international cricket.”