Uncapped De Bruyn gets Proteas call

Theunis de Bruyn is in contention to make his international debut in the opening Test at St George's Oval on Boxing Day after franchise team-mate Rilee Rossouw was ruled out due to injury.

Theunis de Bruyn is the captain of South Africa's domestic side, VKB Knights.

South Africa has called up uncapped batsman Theunis de Bruyn for the first two Tests in its three-match home series against Sri Lanka.

The 24-year-old VKB Knights captain is in contention to make his international debut in the opening Test at St George's Oval on Boxing Day after franchise team-mate Rilee Rossouw was ruled out due to injury.

Left-arm paceman Wayne Parnell returns to a 13-man squad, having missed the tour of Australia due a rib injury.

AB de Villiers, who stepped down as Proteas captain on Monday and was replaced by Faf du Plessis on a full-time basis, misses out due to injury once again along with Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.

Cricket South Africa selection convener Linda Zondi said: "De Bruyn is the latest player to be rewarded for consistently good form at franchise and South Africa A level.

"He has an outstanding first-class career average of 48.73 and has made 423 runs at 60.42 in this season's Sunfoil Series four-day competition.

"As far as the overall squad is concerned they deserve the fullest vote of confidence for their performances in the two recent Test series against New Zealand and Australia and we are looking forward to more of the same against Sri Lanka.

"Credit to AB de Villiers for the smooth way the leadership transition has taken place. We certainly look forward to having him back for the limited overs portion of the tour.

"Faf has done an outstanding job in the last two Test series and our leadership is in very good hands." 

South Africa squad: Faf du Plessis (capt.), Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Stephen Cook, Theunis de Bruyn, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Dean Elgar, Keshav Maharaj, Wayne Parnell, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada.