Cricket South Africa (CSA) has inducted two new faces to its Central Contracts 2022-23. Janneman Malan and Keegan Petersen, who have inspired the watchers with tremendous white-ball and red-ball start to their careers, have finally been named in the Central Contracts list.
Malan has been excellently handling the top-order in the 50-over format since his debut in February 2019. He has scored 759 runs in 13 innings at an average of 69.00, with three tons and a best of 177 not out versus Ireland. Those run-scoring feats also prevailed him the ICC’s award for Emerging Men’s Cricketer of the Year for 2021.
Meanwhile, Petersen was Player of the Series in South Africa’s 2-1 triumph versus India earlier this year. He had contributed 276 runs at 46.00 and scored three fifties in six innings in unfailingly difficult batting conditions. He was in the limelight of the show since many observers including AB de Villiers, took it to their social media to highlight the player’s performance. In five Test matches, he has encountered, has gathered 320 runs for him at an average of 35.55.
It must be noted that two Proteas from the last year’s Central Contracts list, Beuran Hendricks and Heinrich Klaasen have not been added this time. The rest of the players have retained their places.
It is pertinent to mention here that Keegan, newly added to this year’s contract, has also been named in South Africa’s Test squad versus Bangladesh for the two-match series to begin from 30th March. However, Janneman is representing the side in the ongoing three-match ODI series.
The newly appointed CSA CEO stated,
“We at CSA are big advocates of rewarding excellence and I am pleased to be the first to congratulate Janneman Malan and Keegan Petersen on their newly awarded contracts.”
Notably, the Central Contracts for the women’s team will be announced after the conclusion of ICC ODI Women’s World Cup 2022.
