David Miller of PR during match 16 of the Betway SA20 season 4 between Durban Super Giants (DSG) and Pretoria Capitals (PC) held at the Kingsmead Cricket Stadium in Durban , South Africa on the 7th January 2026 Photo by Carl Fourie for SA20
Proteas head coach Shukri Conrad will be a little worried about a number of members of his T20 World Cup squad who are struggling with injuries just weeks out from the start of the tournament.
Three key batters are currently out of action.
Tony de Zorzi, the classy 28-year-old top order batter, is nursing a hamstring problem. He was supposed to be one of the key figures in the batting lineup of Durban’s Super Giants in the SA20 this season but failed to recover and didn’t play a single match.
De Zorzi’s last match was for the Proteas against India in Raipur in the second of three ODIs on December 3.
Middle-order batters
Donovan Ferreira and David Miller, both middle order batters, have picked up injuries more recently.
Ferreira, who is regarded the Proteas’ back-up wicket-keeper behind Quinton de Kock and can also bowl some spin, hurt his shoulder while fielding last week and didn’t feature in the latter stages of the SA20 for the Joburg Super Kings.
Miller, captain of Paarl Royals, hurt his groin while fielding earlier this week and didn’t bat in his team’s innings against JSK.
Conrad will hope all three men recover in time for the World Cup, starting in India on February 7. And, he’ll hope no other squad members pick up injuries in the remaining games.
Squad members involved in the SA20 knocks last night and over the coming days include Quinton de Kock, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Dewald Brevis, and Marco Jansen.
The Proteas are in a group with New Zealand, Afghanistan, Canada and United Arab Emirates.
Options for the coach
Conrad has options available should any of the above-mentioned injured batters be ruled out of the World Cup.
Ryan Rickelton has played for the Proteas before and finished the group stage of the SA20 as the leading run-getter with 337 at 42 and strike-rate of 156, with two hundreds, while Reeza Hendricks (249 runs in the SA20) hit form towards the end of the competition and also has tons of experience.
Rassie van der Dussen also performed well in the SA20, while Tristan Stubbs, Matthew Breetzke and the Hermann brothers, Rubin and Jordan, could also be players Conrad might consider including in his squad.
The form of a few squad members will also not sit too well with Conrad. Jason Smith of MI Cape Town, scored only 99 runs in his nine innings in the SA20, while Kwena Maphaka, also of the Super Giants, picked up only four wickets in his eight matches at an average of 50 and economy rate of 10.7.
South Africa’s first match at the T20 World Cup is against Canada on February 9 in Ahmedabad.
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