Why is 'one of South Africa's best white-ball bowlers' not in Proteas' T20 World Cup squad?

South Africa named a pace-heavy squad for T20 World Cup

South Africa announced a pace-heavy squad for the World Cup, with six quicks in Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kwena Maphaka and Anrich Nortje making the cut. Keshav Maharaj and George Linde are the two frontline spinners.

Baartman, who was part of the 2024 World Cup, where the Proteas reached the final, wasn’t selected despite a great start to the ongoing SA20 campaign.

South Africa squad for T20 World Cup: Aiden Markram (c), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Quinton de Kock (wk), Tony de Zorzi, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Jason Smith.

The decision didn’t go down well with Dale Steyn, who felt Baartman was “one of SA’s best white ball bowlers,” a perspective backed by his performance in the SA20. He recently overtook Marco Jansen as the competition's all-time leading wicket-taker (52 wickets in 29 games), and has also taken the most wickets in the ongoing edition so far (11 in four). Steyn also worked with Baartman at Sunrisers Eastern Cape, in his capacity as the franchise's bowling coach for the first three seasons.

Conrad: Maphaka is a bit of an X-factor in T20

Anrich Nortje and Kwena Maphaka were both preferred, with the latter’s selection likely pushing Baartman out of the 15-man squad. With Marco Jansen in the squad, there have been questions over whether another left-armer in Maphaka was required. The youngster does have recent IPL experience, having played two matches each in the 2024 and 2025 editions.

Though he took only a wicket each in his two IPL seasons, South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad feels the experience could come in handy. He also pointed out his recent outings against Australia and England, where he picked up nine wickets in four bowling innings as reasons behind his selection.

“Kwena is a bit of an X-factor in T20,” Conrad told SportsBoom.co.za. “He's got pace and yes, he can go for a bit every now and again. But he does give us the option, depending on the type of wickets we might play on.”

“He's definitely not going along just for the ride. We've seen him do some really good things in T20. He was part of our T20 squad in England and Australia, if I'm not mistaken, and then obviously suffered the injury. So he was always part of the plans. He picks up wickets.

“So no, he's not just going on a sightseeing trip. He's got experience of playing there in the IPL. And yes, all of the things that I mentioned to you, given the right conditions, he can do a really good job for us.”

Nortje recently returned to international cricket after last playing for South Africa in the 2024 T20 World Cup. He played two of the five T20Is of the series against India but returned wicketless.