South Africa have called in left-arm spinning all-rounder George Linde as part of travelling reserves ahead of their Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final against New Zealand. Linde will be a cover for Aiden Markram, who hurt his hamstring in South Africa's final group stage match against England. Markram, who was the acting captain for the England game, mentioned in the post-match chat that it was a precautionary decision not to field or bat after he hurt himself.
Linde won't be part of the official squad unless Markram is ruled out. As per ESPNCricinfo, Markram is set to undergo a fitness test on the match day and final call on him will be taken before the toss. If Markram does miss the game, South Africa are likely to retain Tristan Stubbs in the playing XI with Temba Bavuma likely to come back in. Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi missed the England match due to illness with Stubbs opening the innings for the Proteas.
Linde is set to join the squad Tuesday evening, on the eve of the semi-final clash. Losing Markram, if he does miss the knockout match, could hurt South Africa's balance even though he hasn't been required to bowl in the couple of games the Proteas have played. Linde was exceptional in the SA20 2025 for the eventual champions MI Cape Town scoring 161 runs striking at 153.33 while taking 11 wickets at an economy of 6.29.
Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen and Wiaan Mulder will be the five bowlers and if not Markram, Stubbs might be required to bowl his part-time offies. South Africa have had to take a tumultuous journey to travel from Karachi to Dubai and back to Lahore in a span of 24 hours but now have had a couple of days to put their feet up, rest, train and get ready for the crunch game.
New Zealand are coming off a loss in the final Group A clash against India in Dubai but will start as favourites because of the all-round depth in their squad and experience of playing some games in Pakistan now.
