Proteas will field full squad in warm-up

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Cricket365
July 2, 2014

South Africa will play the full squad of 15 players in their 50-over warm-up match against a President's XI in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, on Thursday.

This is the Proteas' only warm-up fixture ahead of the series opener on Sunday, an opportunity head coach Russell Domingo feels will be important after a few quiet weeks on the cricket calendar.

"We are going to use all 15 players in the squad," Domingo said after training at the R Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday. "It's important that we give everyone a bit of an outing so that all of the bowlers can put in some overs and hopefully to get as many batters as possible in to have a hit.

"It's been hot and humid. These are some of the factors that we have to get used to in tomorrow's game," he added. "Tomorrow's game will be a good start in terms of acclimatizing to these hot conditions."

The squad was forced to train indoors on Tuesday morning due to torrential rain, but enjoyed a long and productive session in hot and humid conditions on Wednesday afternoon.

Domingo added: "We had a very good practice today," Domingo said. "The guys practised with good purpose and intensity so we are good to go in terms of getting the tour started after a bit of rain yesterday.

"The rain yesterday wasn't ideal but we can't control that, we are looking forward to getting some game time tomorrow."

Domingo also said that the coaching staff would continue with the consistency in the batting line-up, and welcomed the return of Jacques Kallis who will take guard at first-drop.

"I think we are very settled," he said of the batting combinations. "Jacques (Kallis) is back and he has held the No.3 position for a long time but hasn't played a lot of ODI cricket, so he will probably slot back into that position.

"We have a good understanding of what our batting order is going to be and we are going to try and be as consistent as possible with it."