02|05|2026

A day before International Workers' Day, Cricket South Africa released the SA A squad set to tour England for two four-day and three one-day matches against the English Lions.

On the same day, CSA also announced the SA Emerging players for the 2026-27 season; notably, none of the selected players were from Goldrush Boland.

Goldrush Boland recently signed well-proven international bowler Lizaad Williams. However, after revoking Williams' national contract, the South African cricket body could not find space for him in the SA A squad scheduled to tour England at the end of May. Williams has played two Test matches and eight ODI matches for the Proteas; his last appearance for the national side was in November 2025.

Another Boland player deserving a spot in the SA A four-day squad was Gavin Kaplan, who scored 903 runs last season in the CSA 4-Day Series. Kaplan's statistics surpassed those of all batters selected for the tour. Notably, Connor Esterhuizen, who recorded the second-most runs in the same competition, was only picked for the white-ball leg of the tour. In the CSA One-Day Cup, Kaplan also averaged 40, scoring 200 runs, including two half-centuries, in six innings.

Glenton Stuurman, currently playing for Kent in county cricket, also had a strong domestic season, taking 22 wickets in the four-day series. In the One-Day Cup, he averaged 27 with a bowling economy of 5.22.

Surely, CSA could have found space for at least one of these players in their SA A team. Regarding the SA Emerging side, several listed players, namely Yves Kamanzi, Lehan Botha, Bradley Capell, Jhedli van Briesies, Akhona Mnyaka, and Ethan Cunningham, have already represented SA U19.