Coach Shukri Conrad says spinners in South Africa’s white-ball teams will need to contribute with the bat as well as the ball.

Speaking from Darwin ahead of Sunday’s first T20I against Australia, Conrad outlined his preference for multi-skilled players as the team builds towards next year’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.

“It’s ideal if you can stack your side with as many all-rounders as possible,” he said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. “And when I say all-rounders, I mean fully-fledged all-rounders – guys that offer quite a lot with the bat, and obviously with the ball as well.”

That approach has seen regular T20 spinners Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi miss out on the squad for the tour, with Conrad instead selecting left-arm spin-bowling all-rounders George Linde and Senuran Muthusamy, along with off-spinning all-rounder Prenelan Subrayen.

Conrad hinted that the trio in Australia have the “inside lane” for T20 World Cup selection, with performances over the next few months likely to determine who gets the nod.

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For Linde, a call-up for the global showpiece would be a redemption story. Left out of the 2021 T20 World Cup squad despite featuring in almost every build-up match, he fell out of love with the game before being recalled by then-coach Rob Walter late last year.

“It obviously means a lot [to be considered],” Linde said during last month’s T20I Tri-Series in Zimbabwe.

“I’m just trying to focus on the process now. If I do well and I’m on that plane to the World Cup, happy days. It’s always been a dream of mine to represent South Africa at the World Cup.”

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