Cricket South Africa announced the list of centrally contracted senior men cricketers on March 11, Saturday. In the list, the number of cricketers has now increased to 20, which earlier was 16. While players including Tristan Stubbs Bjorn Fortuin, Sisanda Magala, Ryan Rickelton, and Marco Jansen were handed the contracts for the first time ever, Heinrich Klaasen has been retained in the list. On the other hand, Wayne Parnell made a return to the contracted players' list.
"We are really excited by the mix of experienced and younger players that have been contracted this season as we continue to build a world-class outfit under the leadership of red and white-ball head coaches Shukri Conrad and Rob Walter," said Pholetsi Moseki, CSA's Chief Executive Officer.
Director of Cricket Enoch Nkwe explained the reason behind increasing the number of contracted cricketers in the list from 16 to 20. According to him, it has been done to accommodate "a wider pool of white-ball specialists and Test players".
"We look forward to seeing them compete at the highest level in what is an important next 12 months for the limited-overs and Test sides, with the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup taking place later this year as well as the start of the new World Test Championship cycle," said Nkwe.
Following is the entire list of the men's cricketers who have been included in the centrally contracted players' list by South Africa:
Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Dean Elgar, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen, Sisanda Magala, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Keegan Petersen, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen.
