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First South Africa-Zimbabwe ODI in Benoni today

Ryan McLaren debuts in warm-up act

BENONI: After South Africa’s early-season flop in the ICC Champions Trophy, a short two-match series against Zimbabwe gives them a chance to warm-up before facing England in the main event of their summer. Although the home side are missing a few big names – Jacques Kallis, JP Duminy and Wayne Parnell are recovering from injuries – the opposition shouldn’t provide too many problems, but the contest will provide a useful experience before tougher challenges.

The Champions Trophy failure was another blot for the team at global events, but South Africa still have an impressive one-day pedigree. They will take the opportunity to look at a few of their fringe players against Zimbabwe and strong performances could lead to more rewards down the line. The experienced pair of Herschelle Gibbs and Makhaya Ntini have both been dropped as the selectors begin to plan for the future.

It was the bowling and middle-order hitting that caused concerns during the Champions Trophy. There is pressure on Albie Morkel to live up the hype over his striking power and provide more success with the ball. Zimbabwe enter this series after a 4-1 defeat in Bangladesh which included a dismal collapse to 44 all out. Their game is slowly starting to find its feet after a hugely troubled period, but for each step forward there are likely to be plenty backwards in the short term. Making South Africa work for victory would be counted as a success in this match

Someone to watch out for is Ryan McLaren who has waited a long time for his international chance with South Africa. It almost came last year, but he had to withdraw from the squad to face Kenya and Bangladesh because of his Kolpak status with Kent in England. Now he has left that behind and given it another crack. McLaren became eligible on October 1 and the selectors have wasted little time drafting him in. He gives the ball a strong thump and came to the fore during the recent Champions League when two late boundaries forced a tie for the Eagles against Sussex after which the Eagles won the one-over eliminator. His wicket-to-wicket bowling has also proved effective in Twenty20 and he claimed a hat-trick at the 2007 Finals Day at Edgbaston.

Teams:

South Africa (probable): Graeme Smith (captain), Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher (wk), Alvrio Petersen, Albie Morkel, Ryan McLaren, Johan Botha, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Charl Langeveldt

Zimbabwe: (probable): Mark Vermeulen, Hamilton Masakadza (captain), Brendan Taylor (wk), Elton Chigumbura, Malcolm Waller, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Chamu Chibhabha, Ray Price, Graeme Cremer, Kyle Jarvis, Chris Mpofu. agencies

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