South Africa rested veteran allrounder JacquesKallis and called up four uncapped players on Sunday for the one-day seriesagainst New Zealand at the end of the month.
The Proteas also brought allrounder Ryan McLaren into theirtest squad as cover for fast bowler Vernon Philander, who again tweaked atroublesome hamstring in the series-opener and is doubtful for the second testagainst the Black Caps in Port Elizabeth.
The 37-year-old Kallis spoke during the first test of hisdesire to manage his ODI appearances in order to make the 2015 World Cup.Selectors responded by giving him the three-game ODI series off. Kallis alsomissed the two Twenty20 games at the beginning of New Zealand's tour and CricketSouth Africa selectors decided to rest him again to help manage his workload.
Without Kallis, wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, spinner AaronPhangiso, batsman Farhaan Behardien and seam bowler Rory Kleinveldt wereincluded in a 14-man squad for the three-game limited overs series, whichbegins in Paarl on Jan. 19. All four have played Twenty20 cricket for SouthAfrica, while Kleinveldt made his test debut in Australia late last year.
South Africa has three ODIs against New Zealand and fiveagainst Pakistan before the Champions Trophy — the main ODI tournament thisyear — in England in June.
"The Champions Trophy also marks the halfway point tothe next ICC World Cup, so this is a critical part of our preparation to winthese two major ICC events," head selector Andrew Hudson said. "Thefour newcomers have all been doing well, either in domestic cricket or byrepresenting the Proteas in other formats."
JP Duminy is unavailable after rupturing his left Achillestendon in the test series in Australia, but Hudson said the middle orderbatsman "should" be fit for the Champions Trophy. Left-arm seamerLonwabo Tsotsobe returned to the squad after missing the T20s due to injury.
Before turning to the 50-over games, South Africa and NewZealand meet first at St. George's Park in Port Elizabeth in the second of twotests starting Friday.
Philander was the man of the match in South Africa'sdominant first-test win after taking 5-7 in New Zealand's first innings. But hehad a recurrence of his hamstring problems during the last day of the Cape Townmatch after having had to pass a fitness test to play. McLaren would onlyprovide cover in the test squad, CSA said, and Kleinveldt would play ifPhilander wasn't fit.
New Zealand, meanwhile, chose to return to practice almostimmediately in an effort to shrug off its dispiriting innings and 27-run defeatinside three days at Newlands.
Coach Mike Hesson said his team had paid for its"horror session" when it was bowled out for 45 on the first morningbut had shown some fight against the South Africans — the top-ranked test teamand series winners in England and Australia last year.
"If we didn't know before we were in for an extremelytough battle, we certainly did so quickly," Hesson said. "I think weall knew that coming into it, but the reality hit home after the first day. Weknow that we've got to be extremely strong mentally and I thought we showedthat for the latter part of the game."
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South Africa ODI squad vs. New Zealand: AB deVilliers (captain), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Faf duPlessis, Colin Ingram, Rory Kleinveldt, Ryan McLaren, Morne Morkel, RobinPeterson, Aaron Phangiso, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.