GARDEN ROUTE DISTRICT CRICKET NEWS - Former SWD cricketer Ottneil Baartman has been included in the Proteas Test squad for the two-match series in Pakistan.
It is a maiden national team inclusion for Baartman and follows a month after his former SWD teammate, Glenton Stuurman, also received a call-up to the Proteas squad.
Stuurman was tipped to make his test debut against Sri-Lanka in the Boxing Day Test match, but was forced to withdraw due to injury which opened the door for Lutho Sipamla.
South Africa's historical tour to Pakistan will see them play in the country for the first time in 14 years, from 26 January to 14 February. The Test series in Karachi and Rawalpindi will be followed by three T20 internationals in Lahore.
The 21-strong squad includes most of the players who were originally named in the home Test series against Sri Lanka. The attack is strengthened by the returns of Kagiso Rabada and Dwaine Pretorius – both of whom are fully fit to play – with a spin-bowling boost in the inclusions of Tabraiz Shamsi and George Linde.
The Oudtshoorn-born Baartman boasts 82 first class wickets from 28 matches, with best bowling figures of 14/95 at an average of 26.84.
Baartman represented SWD in eight first class, eight list A and six T20 matches from 2014 to 2017. He bagged 28 first class wickets for SWD, with the highlight his match analysis of 14/95 against KwaZulu-Natal in 2016/17.
He took his first steps in the high performance pipeline when he represented the SWD U19 team in 2011/12 and in 2014 he was a member of the SWD Cricket Academy. In the 2017/18 season he joined the Knights franchise in Bloemfontein. At the beginning of the current season he moved to Durban, where he started playing for the Dolphins.
Ottneil Baartman in action. Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
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