Who is Neil Brand? South Africa's makeshift Test captain
Cricket South Africa has named a rookie 14-member squad for their two-Test tour of New Zealand in February. The uncapped Neil Brand will lead a bunch of fresh faces as the Test series is clashing with the SA20, South Africa's premier T20 competition. Hence, the prominent stars will not be available. Brand's first international assignment is certainly daunting. Here we decode his profile.
Who is Neil Brand?
Brand is an all-rounder who represents the Titans in the domestic circuit. The southpaw is an opening batter besides being a handy left-arm spinner. He made his First-Class debut way back in April 2015 and owns over 2,900 runs in the format. Brand captained South Africa's A side during their recent red-ball series against West Indies A.
A century against West Indies A
Brand returned with 183 runs at 30.50 across three red-ball games against the Caribbean team. The tally includes a century and a fifty. The 27-year-old could only manage a couple of wickets with the ball. He scored 72 and took a four-wicket haul against North West in his preceding FC assignment.
Here are his FC numbers
Having played 51 FC games, the left-handed batter has raced to 2,906 runs at a decent average of 39.27. The tally includes six tons and 20 fifties with 159 being his best score. With his left-arm spin, he has scalped 72 wickets at 30.81 (4W: 2). He also owns 640 List A runs at 29.09 and 232 T20 runs at 14.50.
A look at the squad
Notably, Brand is among the seven uncapped players in the squad. Pacer Duanne Olivier is the most experienced in the group, having played 15 Tests. South Africa Test squad: Neil Brand (C), David Bedingham, Ruan de Swardt, Clyde Fortuin (WK), Zubayr Hamza, Tshepo Moreki, Mihlali Mpongwana, Duanne Olivier, Dane Paterson, Keegan Petersen, Dane Piedt, Raynard van Tonder, Shaun von Berg, Khaya Zondo.
Shukri Conrad backs Brand's team
Meanwhile, SA's red-ball coach Shukri Conrad has backed the young squad to embrace the challenge in New Zealand. "The players picked for this tour have every chance of challenging New Zealand and we have full confidence they will do exactly that when we arrive for the first Test match at Mount Maunganui," he said in a statement put out by CSA.
