Kallis misses out on Twenty20

Graeme Smith waves to the cameras at the squad announcement © Getty Images Enlarge

Jacques Kallis has been given the boot by South Africa for the Twenty20 World Championship in September, the arena where the pressure to score quickly is at its greatest.

Kallis has been one of South Africa's greatest ambassadors in terms of runs and wickets for the best part of a decade, but his services were deemed unnecessary for the Twenty20 format.

"It is just that there is a lot of cricket to be played in the next 18 months," South African selector Joubert Strydom told Independent Online. "We've got England next year; we've got Australia at the end of next year, Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand [this season]. Therefore, we just felt that we want to rest him [Kallis] a bit or don't overload him. Jacques is more important for us in the ODIs and Test matches. So we would like to keep him as fresh as possible."

While Kallis was the most notable exclusion, some other players who were regular members of the one-day squad will also not be on view. Allrounder Andrew Hall and fast bowlers Andre Nel and Charl Langeveldt were also omitted, while the selectors chose just one player with no international experience, left-hand batsman Gulam Bodi.

Seven members of the squad - Loots Bosman, Jean-Paul Duminy, Albie and Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander, Thandi Tshabalala and Johannes van der Wath - have only a handful of international appearances between them.

Philander, the 22-year-old allrounder, is perhaps the most exciting prospect. He made his ODI debut in Ireland in June and did enough there and in the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia to claim the title as Shaun Pollock's heir apparent, at least temporarily.

In the absence of Hall, Nel and Langeveldt, South Africa will field an inexperienced bowling attack that will rely heavily on Pollock and Makhaya Ntini, but van der Wath and Morne Morkel both hit the deck hard and can be quite fearsome. The older Morkel, Albie, was in particularly inspired form as he led the SA Emerging Players to victory in the tournament in Australia.

South Africa lack nothing in terms of big hitters, with Graeme Smith, Bosman, Mark Boucher, Herschelle Gibbs, Justin Kemp, Albie Morkel, Philander, Pollock and van der Wath all being powerful strikers of the ball.

Squad Graeme Smith (capt), Gulam Bodi, Loots Bosman, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Justin Kemp, Albie Morkel, Mornè Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Vernon Philander, Shaun Pollock, Thandi Tshabalala, Johan van der Wath.