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New Zealand head coach Gary Stead expressed that South Africa's second-string side for the two-Test tour to New Zealand cannot be taken lightly as they will have a point to prove and they are all "hardened guys" with plenty of first-class cricket experience under their belt.
The two-Test series between South Africa and New Zealand will take place from February 4 onwards till February 17, with two games set to be played in Mount Maunganui and Hamilton. This bilateral series became a huge talking point because South Africa is sending a second-string side, consisting of seven uncapped players, including the skipper Neil Brand. The main players will be participating in the ongoing season of SA20 season two, which started on January 10 and will end on February 10. SA's move to send this squad met with a lot of negative responses from fans and former cricketers, leaving a lot of them questioning the health of the longest and purest format of the sport in the age of T20 cricket. Ahead of the series, Stead acknowledged that the new-look squad definitely will have a lot of things to prove and the players have first-class cricket experience as well. "I can assure you one thing with South Africa - the team they bring here will still have experience and they will be hardened guys who have played quite a bit of first-class cricket," Stead said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo. "They will have a point to prove as well - 'Hey! we should be here' - and I think that makes them as dangerous as having a full side here. So, we certainly would not be taking them lightly. We have never beaten them in a Test series ever, so that is our challenge in front of us," he concluded. Ahead of the series, South African skipper Brand had expressed earlier that the fans are writing them off but the team still wears the Proteas badge and is desperate to return from the series with something positive. "Initially you are like - 'Wow, is this actually happening,' and then you realise it is going to become a thing. This tour has been spoken about a lot in the media. People have written us off but we are still wearing the Proteas badge. We are desperate to come back with something," said Brand as quoted by ESPNCricinfo. Kiwis have not lost a home Test series since March 2017. Brand had admitted that there is pressure on the team to perform, but they do not want to let the country down. "There is always pressure, but there is also a lot of pride that comes with wearing this shirt. We don't want to let our country down. We want to perform," said Brand. He also pointed out that there is a lot of domestic first-class cricket experience within the team. "This team has 96 games per player as an average. That is a lot of first-class cricket in the group. "There is a lot of experience in terms of domestic cricket and that has to count for something. There is not a lot of Test matches but you have still got to see it as a positive. I do not think anyone has any baggage," said Brand. Among the players in the squad, seamer Dane Paterson and spinner Dane Piedt have played 271 first-class games and taken 990 wickets between them and Keegan Petersen, who has played 12 Tests for Proteas, has an experience of 130 first-class games and is just 112 runs away from crossing 8,000 runs. Brand himself has experience of 51 first-class games, in which he has scored almost 3,000 runs while averaging almost 40. South Africa squad: Neil Brand (c), David Bedingham, Ruan de Swardt, Clyde Fortuin, Zubayr Hamza, Edward Moore, Tshepo Moreki, Mihlali Mpongwana, Duanne Olivier, Dane Paterson, Keegan Petersen, Dane Piedt, Raynard van Tonder, Shaun von Berg and Khaya Zondo. New Zealand has not named the squad for the series so far. (ANI)
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