Nortjé’s body lets him down again ahead of Champions Trophy

Fast bowler out of SA20 and for the Proteas in Pakistan next month

Anrich Nortje has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy with a back injury.
Anrich Nortje has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy with a back injury.
Image: Richard Huggard/Gallo Images

Anrich Nortjé’s run of bad luck with ICC 50-over tournaments continued when he was ruled out of next month’s ICC Champions Trophy with a back injury. 

Nortjé, who is contracted to the Pretoria Capitals, will also miss the remainder of the Betway SA20 series as a result of the ailment.

It is the third 50-over event that Nortje, 31, will miss as a result of injury. In 2019 a fractured thumb kept him out of the World Cup. It was also a back injury that led to his absence from the 2023 tournament in India. 

Though no longer nationally contracted by Cricket SA, Nortje had told director of national teams Enoch Nkwe and the two Proteas coaches, Shukri Conrad and Rob Walter, that once he'd gone through a strengthening programme he would avail himself for the series.

Walter picked him for the T20 Internationals against Pakistan at the start of December, but he missed that series after his toe was broken while batting at practice before the first match. Conrad last week confirmed that Nortje would have played the first Test against Pakistan in Centurion had he not fractured his toe. Nortje, who has played 19 Tests, was also in Conrad's plans for the World Test Championship final in June, where South Africa will face Australia. 

This latest setback will give Conrad food for thought about whether Nortje’s body can be trusted for what will be a six-day contest at Lords. 

Cricket SA said it would announce a replacement for Nortje in due course, but it is likely, given how he spoke about him earlier this week, that Walter will be looking at Gerald Coetzee. 

The 24-year-old has also battled a series of injuries during his short career and made his return from a groin ailment, which sidelined him for five weeks, on Tuesday night in Durban, where his SA20 team, the Joburg Super Kings, beat the Durban Super Giants. Coetzee picked up two wickets and looked free of discomfort but given his history it is understandable if Walter took his time before confirming him as Nortje’s replacement. 

It was Coetzee who took Nortje’s spot at the 2023 World Cup, where he finished as South Africa's leading wicket-taker, with 20 scalps.

South Africa will start their Champions Trophy campaign against Afghanistan in Karachi on February 21.


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