Dexys Midnight Runners’ hit Come on Eileen has been blaring through the speakers of sports stadiums all over the world in recent years.
But come 7.30pm at Gloucester Cricket Stadium tonight, South Africa’s Proteas will be singing ‘Come on Rilee’ in the first of three T20Is against host England.
Top-order batsman Rilee Rossouw, 32, is in line to make his return to the national team after six years in the wilderness.
Having spent those years since his last T20I against the West Indies at 2016 World Cup as a Kolpak player in England and also travelling the world to play for various T20 teams, stand-in captain David Miller believes they got back an even gevaarlike version of Rossouw.
Rossouw proved his worth for the Knights this year, scoring a total of 295 runs in five T20 innings at an average of 98.33 since August last year.
And Miller says: “It’s great to have him back, I started my career with him. We welcome him back all the way, we are right behind him.
“He played in different leagues around the world and has immense experience which is a great asset leading into this T20 competition. I think it’s going to be a cracker for him.”
While Rossouw already has 15 T20I caps to his name, fellow newbies Tristan Stubbs (two caps) and Gerald Coetzee (uncapped) are looking to gain more experience.
They've arrived 👌#ENGvSA #BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/3rbM5VgoOQ
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) July 26, 2022
Of batsman Stubbs, 21, and right-arm quick Coetzee, also 21, Miller adds: “It’s nice to have the balance between young and old in the squad…
[Both] Coetzee and Stubbs are hugely talented...”
Having drawn the ODI series 1-1, the Proteas will look to get their noses in front in the first of three T20Is, with three Tests also awaiting red-ball skipper Dean Elgar and his teammates.
dudley.carstens@inl.co.za