To South Africa for cricket and the national team will be without star batsman Hashim Amla for their trip to Australia. The tour will see the Proteas play three One Day Internationals and a single T20 as part of their World Cup preparations. It will be yet another opportunity for a younger player to put up their hand for selection, after a convincing series win over neighbours Zimbabwe. CGTN's Sias du Plessis reports.

South Africa have outplayed Zimbabwe in almost all of the 6 encounters between the two nations, winning both the ODI and T20 series despite the final clash in Benoni being rained out, but for the national coach, the results haven't been as important as the International game time it has afforded some of the fringe and younger players.

OTTIS GIBSON SOUTH AFRICA COACH "We feel like we have seen a lot of guys like in this series, some guys have had opportunities obviously there was an opportunity lost for somebody else today to put their hand up and so on, but we still feel even though we've won most of the games quite comfortably it has been a good exercise for us."  

The West Indian has had his finger on the pulse since he took up the position in 2017 and has kept a close eye on several players with the objective of narrowing down a larger group to one he felt consisted of the right mix for the World Cup.

OTTIS GIBSON SOUTH AFRICA COACH "I think in the last 12 months we have seen about 34-35 players, in that Pakistan series and certainly in the Sri Lanka series you are talking about 17 or 18 people that we will be looking at."

The Proteas coach is aware of the potential he has at his disposal and maintains that South Africa possesses the talent to win the World Cup next year, but admits the challenge is to select the players he believes will perform while playing the brand of cricket he has introduced since his appointment.

OTTIS GIBSON SOUTH AFRICA COACH "In our minds, we know what we want I think when you thinking about a World Cup, you are thinking about England in May we understand what sort of combinations we want and what we have been trying to do is just to find the personal that fit, that has a profile that fit the sort rules that we have and the sort of format that we have that we believe will be successful in England."  

SIAS DU PLESSIS JOHANNESBURG "The 2019 World Cup is less than 6 months away and remains the crown jewel in cricket for the world's top nations, it is one though that has eluded South Africa and has brought heartache and has caused psychological damage and the national coach knows the only way to heal that battle scar for good is picking the right players who can deal with the pressure and bring back the title, Sias du Plessis, CGTN, Johannesburg."