Tremain guaranteed worldwide debut in South Africa

South Africa captain and world number one ODI batsman AB De Villiers has been ruled out of Sunday’s match against Ireland because of an elbow injury. While Amla and Steyn have been rested, Morris has been sidelined with a left knee injury and Morkel will miss out due to a shoulder injury. Temba Bavuma, who has already played 11 Tests for South Africa, will be expected to fill in the opener’s slot.

With a busy global season ahead, South Africa now have a chance to leapfrog India and New Zealand to claim the second spot in the ICC One-Day worldwide Rankings. Their last home showdown was a five-match series against England in February which they won 3-2.

“Australia is the number one team in the world so they will be a different battle”, he said as the Proteas concluded their preparations in Benoni on Saturday.

Defending the decision to rest Starc and Hazlewood, Lehmann said keeping in mind the busy schedule the pacer have had this year and the upcoming Test series against South Africa in November, an ODI series was the flawless time to rest them.

De Villiers picked up the injury while playing in the Caribbean Premier League T20 event in June and South Africa’s coach Russell Domingo said more needs to be done to resolve issues with cricket’s calender to ensure the best players are available at global level.

With summer set to take over, another slow surface might bring spinners into play in what could be an attritional day of cricket.

“Personally, captaining in the Test match was a great experience”, he said.

After a impressive showing in the quadrangular A-team series in Australia earlier this month, David Miller has earned a national recall in the 50-over format, having last played in India in October 2015. This statement gives ample signs of how serious South Africa are about starting their home season on a flawless note.

Match starts at 10 am local time (8 am GMT).

The team will be without star batsman and regular skipper AB de Villiers, who is suffering from an elbow injury which means that Faf du Plessis will take over the side for this fixture.

The 32-year-old faces a fitness test next week.

Ireland: William Porterfield (c), Sean Terry, Niall O’Brien, Gary Wilson, Kevin O’Brien, Paul Stirling, Stuart Poynter (wk), Andy McBrine, George Dockerell, Barry McCarthy, Tim Murtagh, Peter Chase, Craig Young, John Anderson.