Skipper Dane Van Niekerk returns as South Africa name squad for West Indies series

Johannesburg [South Africa], August 17 (ANI): Skipper Dane Van Niekerk returned to the side as Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Tuesday announced an 18-player squad for the Proteas women's tour of the West Indies starting later this month.

Van Niekerk returns after recovering from the injury that kept her out of the series wins against Pakistan and India earlier this year.

Van Niekerk, who has also honed her captaincy skills at the helm of the Oval Invincibles, has scored 200 runs at an average of 66.66 with a strike rate of almost 113. She and fellow senior Protea Lizelle Lee are two of the five players to have scored 200 or more runs in the tournament to date.

Following the squad announcement head coach Hilton Moreeng in a statement said: "Following the conclusion of our recent camps in Pretoria the players have continued with their training programme, followed by a period of rest and recovery before reconvening for our week-long camp ahead of our departure on Monday.

"A few of our players have been making solid progress in their return from injuries and we are glad to see them giving a good account of themselves in International tournaments. We look forward to them taking part in this series after some time away from the national set up," she added.

South Africa is scheduled to travel to Antigua next Monday, via Heathrow, for three women T20I and five women ODIs. The tour starts on August 31, with the first T20I taking place at the Sir Viv Richards Cricket Ground.

South Africa squad for West Indies: Dane Van Niekerk (c), Sune Luus, Ayabonga Khaka, Shabnim Ismail, Laura Wolvaardt, Trisha Chetty, Sinalo Jafta, Tasmin Britz, Marizanne Kapp, Nondu Shangase, Lizelle Lee, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Mignon du Preez, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Lara Goodall, Tumi Sekhukhune, Masabata Klaas. (ANI)