Parnell likely to be fit for NZ ODIs

Despite sustaining a shoulder injury in the first four-day game of the South African domestic season for Warriors against Knights, Wayne Parnell should be fit to play the upcoming ODIs against New Zealand and Australia.

Parnell pulled a muscle while bowling in Bloemfontein and was unable to bat, but the Warriors coach Piet Botha was hopeful Parnell will recover "in about 10 days."

While that would rule Parnell out of the Warriors' second match, it should mean Parnell is fit for South Africa's next assignment, which begins on October 21 against New Zealand. South Africa's selectors will name their squads for the trip on Tuesday, and Parnell, who played in three of the seven matches in the recent triangular series in Zimbabwe, is expected to be part of the traveling group.

Botha told ESPNcricinfo Parnell will have a further assessment of his injury on Monday, but that he does not anticipate a lengthy layoff for the player. Although Parnell was the Warriors' most expensive bowler in the second innings and picked up just three wickets in the match, Botha said he was still happy with the left-arm seamer's form.

"He is bowling really well. He showed good aggression and was bowling fast," Botha said. "Because of his pace, if he just a little off line, the ball can go to the boundary but he bowled really well on a pitch that was doing a bit."

Unusually, it was a bowler's match in Bloemfontein, a venue usually known for being a batsmen's playground. Nineteen wickets fell on the first day, the second most in the franchise era, and Botha believed that was due to conditions being rushed because of the early start to the season. "We all misread the wicket, both sides would have batted first but there was a lot of moisture around," he said. "With everything being quite dead from the winter, the groundsmen seemed to need to add quite a bit of moisture to get it ready."

The Warriors had the Knights 32 for 8 in the first innings and bowled them out for 140, but still lost the match by 128 runs. Botha's disappointment was that "we couldn't finish off the tail." Quinton Friend and Corne Dry put on 98 runs for the ninth wicket in the first innings while Friend and Rudi Second added 75 for the ninth wicket in the second knock.

"Their tailenders scored all the runs for them which was frustrating. We want to improve on that in the next match," Botha said. They will have to do so without Parnell, when they take on Titans in Benoni from next Thursday.