Cricket South Africa in their announcement of the central contract for the upcoming cricketing year, announced that Heinrich Klassen and Lara Goodall earned their maiden central contract. Meanwhile, former South African skipper Faf du Plessis misses out on the contract for the year 2021-22.
Heinrich Klassen, who led the T20I side against Pakistan earlier in the year has earned his maiden central contract from Cricket South Africa. The wicketkeeper-batsman has found his place in the pool of centrally contracted players after Faf du Plessis missed out on a place post his retirement from the longest format.
Although du Plessis has retired from the longest format, he still remains an integral part of the limited-overs setup and would be available for the T20 World Cup in India. Meanwhile, in South Africa’s women setup, Lara Goodall, on the back of great series in India, has earned herself a name on the central contract. Goodall was instrumental in South Africa’s 4-1 series win over India, scoring 125 runs for the country, at an average of 41.67.
“We are about to enter into a very important cricket season with ICC World Cup events for both the men’s and the women’s teams and we are confident that we have the correct personnel and necessary depth within the system to produce teams that will challenge the best in the world in the coming 12 months,” Pholetsi Moseki, CSA’s acting chief executive, said, reported ESPNCricinfo.
“On behalf of CSA, I would like to congratulate Lara Goodall and Heinrich Klaasen on their newly awarded contracts. Their performances on the field of play as well as the way they have carried themselves off the field has done the talking for them and we are pleased to reward the hard work that they have put in.”
Men’s contracts: Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Dean Elgar, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen
Women’s contracts: Dané van Niekerk, Trisha Chetty, Nadine de Klerk, Mignon du Preez, Lara Goodall, Shabnim Ismail, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Lizelle Lee, Suné Luus, Tumi Sekhukhune, Chloe Tryon, Laura Wolvaardt