Teenage batting sensation Sinethemba Qeshile looks set to be fast-tracked into the Proteas T20 squad to play against Sri Lanka starting on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old former Hudson Park pupil has wowed South African cricket pundits since he burst onto the scene this season and it appears he has impressed the national selection panel as well.
The Proteas squad will be announced soon, but at least three sources close to the Warriors camp have confirmed that Qeshile will be among those listed to play in the three match series starting in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Qeshile met with national selector Lux Qhoboshiyane, Warriors CEO Mark Williams and Warriors team manager Shafiek Abrahams at St George’s Park this week to discuss his inclusion.
Qeshile is a natural talent with a very good technique.
In his first full season for the Warriors, he scored 735 runs in the 4-Day Franchise Challenge at an average of 52.50.
In the Momentum One-Day Cup competition, his average is 66.25 in five innings, including a maiden franchise hundred and two 50s.
He is also an accomplished wicket keeper.
If he is picked to start for the Proteas during the series, it will be a rare feat as he will do so before having represented the Warriors in a T20 match.
Meanwhile, Warriors teammate and speedster Anrich Nortje is prepared to take the knocks as he grows into his role as a strike bowler for the Proteas.
Nortje experienced mixed emotions in his third one-day international, a match South Africa won comfortably by six wickets at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.
He bowled beautifully up front to dismiss three of Sri Lanka’s top order batsmen to have the tourists reeling at 71 for six.
At that stage, his figures read a tidy and impressive three for 19 in six overs.
He came back for a second spell with the total on 141 for nine with Sri Lanka tailender Isuru Udana set on 32 off 40 balls. Udana then clubbed the Warriors fast man for 23 in his seventh over and 15 off his eighth. The former Brandwag schoolboy star finished with three for 57 as Sri Lanka were rolled for 189.
It was a story with two contrasting chapters but Nortje was happy to take whatever he could from the experience.
“It was a very nice game, to be honest. I really enjoyed it.
“Obviously disappointed at the end. The last two overs didn’t go according to plan but I think it’s a nice learning curve,” Nortje told the media at the post-match conference.
“I can only take some positives from this and learn from it,” he said.
“After the sixth over I was in a good space and really happy.
“It was such a great feeling to be able to contribute.
“I obviously took one wicket in the first game and two in the second game. To build it up was sort of nice and a great feeling to know that I can contribute a little more every game,” he said.
There appeared to be a plan to bowl short to Udana, who finished with 78 off 57 balls, and Nortje admitted they got it wrong.
“I spoke to Faf afterwards and a few guys to get the right plan for next time.
“I think maybe I might have been a little bit too straight.
“It didn’t work 100%. I was backing myself most of the time but it was maybe just the wrong plan in the end.”
Nortje is one of the players in line for possible inclusion in the World Cup squad for England and Wales starting at the end of May.