Cricket South Africa’s contracted players are available for selection by their franchises on a phased-in basis for the SuperSport Series which starts on Thursday next week.

This was announced on Thursday by Gerald Majola, CSA’s CEO, who issued the following statement:

“We know that the Proteas have a heavy workload over the nine next months, including the next ICC T20 World Championship in England.

“But in consultation with the Proteas management and the franchise coaches, it has been decided that all Test and ODI specialist CSA contracted players will be available for their franchises from the start of the SuperSport Series on a phased-in basis.

“This means that Neil McKenzie, Hashim Amla, Ashwell Prince, Paul Harris, JP Duminy, Monde Zondeki, Robin Peterson, Herschelle Gibbs, Johan Botha and Albie Morkel will all be available from the outset.

“Although Hashim has played both formats, he has been included in this group because he has played very little ODI cricket in the past 12 months.

“Albie will probably play as a batsman only in the first match to complete his rehabilitation and as an all-rounder in the remaining two.

“The multi-format players will come back for the third round. Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher and Dale Steyn have been placed in this category.

“Taking the venues for the various franchise matches into account, a different approach has been adopted for the other fast bowlers.

“For instance, Morne Morkel and Andre Nel will play the first two franchise matches but not the third at Durban and Bloemfontein respectively. Makhaya Ntini will play the second and third matches only at East London and Durban respectively.

“Captain and opening batsman Graeme Smith’s return is clearly dependant on progress to his tennis elbow injury. It is unlikely that he will play representative cricket until the Castle Test series against Bangladesh next month.”