Morne Morkel has been included in South Africa’s Test squad to tour New Zealand in March after recovering from a career-threatening back injury, which kept him out of the national team since June. Morkel forms part of a six-member-strong pace pack, which also includes Vernon Philander, who has recovered from an ankle impingement sustained after the Sri Lanka Tests, Kagiso Rabada, Duanne Olivier, and allrounders Wayne Parnell and Chris Morris.
In the absence of AB de Villiers, who opted out of Test cricket for most of 2017, South Africa are taking reserve batsman Theunis de Bruyn and uncapped Titans wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen, who finished seventh on the batting charts in the Sunfoil Series first-class competition.
