Stiaan gets chance to stake his claim

Temba Bavuma and Kagiso Rabada were the new faces in the South African squad named yesterday for the Test series against the West Indies, while Stiaan van Zyl should at last get the chance to show why he deserves selection.

"We have been very pleased with the way the Test squad has performed in its last three outings in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe," selection convenor Andrew Hudson said.

"Part of this has been the result of consistency in the selection process and also establishing a pecking order.

"Stiaan was the reserve batsman against Zimbabwe [in August] so he is the logical choice to replace [JP] Duminy [who will miss at least the first Test with a knee injury].

"At the same time, we want to bring players we have identified as having international potential into the team environment.

"Both Temba and Kagiso have impressed at franchise and SA 'A' level and they are ready to be considered for senior international duty."

The West Indians are unlikely to make testing opponents, so the series presents a good opportunity to blood new talent without fear of too much mental bruising.

And while David Miller's supporters will be unhappy that he is not in the mix - justifiably so - and Aaron Phangiso might wonder what he has done wrong, not often do people as conservative as selectors venture this far out of the box.

But what makes Van Zyl, the Cobras' accomplished No3, more suited to batting at No7 than opening in place of the under-performing Alviro Petersen - who has gone 21 completed Test innings without scoring a century - could spark a long discussion around a braai.

Rabada has two T20s of international experience, gained on South Africa's recent tour to Australia, to his name. Although he is a long shot to play against the Windies, just having him around a Test dressing room will be no bad thing.

Bavuma is not having the best of seasons so far, having scored 90 runs - 84 of them in one trip to the crease - in four first-class innings for his franchise, but his 11 first-class innings for SA 'A' have yielded 380 runs at an average of 42.22. He is next in line for a South African top order batting spot. So, another good move.

Romantics, meanwhile, will be stirred by the recall of Robin Peterson, the only specialist spinner selected what with Dane Piedt injured, Imran Tahir dropped and Simon Harmer again ignored, despite having taken 11 wickets in two franchise first-class matches this season.