Ebrahim axed as Zimbabwe bring in fresh blood

Dion Ebrahim has paid the price for his poor showing with the bat in Bangladesh, and has been left out of Zimbabwe's 14-man squad for their tour of South Africa which starts next week.

Ebrahim will now be drafted into the Zimbabwe A squad to take on Bangladesh A in a four-day match at Queens Sports Club, which gets under way on Sunday. If he impresses, he will then be sent to South Africa for the two-Test series. He struggled with the bat in the one-day series in Bangladesh, scoring only 28 runs in four innings with a top score of 26 in the second match.

Also out of favour are the top-order batsman Vusumuzi Sibanda, and the medium-pacer Mluleki Nkala, whose fitness in Bangladesh was a cause of concern.

The selectors have called up the offspinner Gavin Ewing who made his ODI debut against England in November last year, but was left out of the Bangladesh tour. Ewing was part of the Zimbabwe A side which recently toured Namibia.

A surprise inclusion is the 18-year-old left-handed batsman Sean Williams. He represented Zimbabwe at the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh last year, and was one of their most consistent batsmen. He is also an effective left-arm spinner. He was touted as being a likely inclusion at the time of the players' strike last April, but his father Colin, a former first-class player and national hockey coach, refused to release him and insisted that his son should concentrate more on his studies.

The team went into a camp on Monday and they leave for South Africa next Tuesday. Their captain Tatenda Taibu and the pace bowler Douglas Hondo are still recovering from injuries picked up in Bangladesh, but they are expected to be fit before the team's departure.

Squad Barney Rogers, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Brendan Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu (capt/wk), Sean Williams, Gavin Ewing, Elton Chigumbura, Prosper Utseya, Graeme Cremer, Douglas Hondo, Tawanda Mupariwa, Tinashe Panyangara, Christopher Mpofu