Injuries continue to haunt South Africa in their T20I series against England.
Before the first match even began, Cricket South Africa confirmed that Lungi Ngidi had been ruled out of the series with an injury. After the game, captain Aiden Markram revealed that Keshav Maharaj had also picked up a knock, leaving the team concerned about the availability of their left-arm spinner.
Maharaj is now the third South African player injured in this series. The absence of experienced batter David Miller had already been announced earlier, and just before Wednesday’s opener it was confirmed that Ngidi too would miss the entire series due to a hamstring strain.
Maharaj was expected to play in Cardiff but picked up a groin strain during the warm-up session. The 35-year-old was replaced at the last moment by pace-bowling allrounder Corbin Bosch.
The severity of Maharaj’s injury is still unknown, but Ngidi is set to be sidelined for several weeks. That raises doubts about his availability for next month’s Test series against Pakistan, which also marks the start of South Africa’s ICC World Test Championship title defense.
To cover for Ngidi, left-arm pacer Nandre Burger has been added to the T20 squad.
Despite these setbacks, South Africa had some good news as Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, and Lizaad Williams all returned from injury in the opening match. Rabada struck with his very first ball, while Jansen picked up two wickets in two overs.
South Africa went on to win the rain-affected game in Cardiff on Wednesday, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series. This came after they had already clinched the ODI series earlier.
