Green Point Cricket Club seamer Wesley Bedja returned to Western Province’s XI for this week’s 4-Day Domestic Series fixture against Boland at Newlands in Cape Town.
Bedja replaced Durbanville Cricket Club’s Onke Nyaku in the Western Province XI. This is Bedja’s first first-class fixture since October 2024.
South Africa Under-19 and South Africa Emerging fast bowler Raeeq Daniels was named in Western Province’s squad, but was not selected for the XI. Durbanville Cricket Club seamer Jody Lawrence was retained in the XI.
Western Province are without the injured Kyle Simmonds, Juan James and Nandre Burger.
“What lies in front of us is going to be a challenging task, and we’ve had some hard and good chats about the potential implications of getting relegated,” said Western Province head coach Salieg Nackeriden.
“That’s not where we want WP to be because we have a good and fantastic history, but we need to up our game.
“We don’t want to put promotion and relegation at the top of the list, but we want to play how we want to play and get the results at the top of the list.
“We did discuss implications of not having proper first-class cricket in Cape Town. There was a reaction and it’s not a case of hammering on the matter all the time, but it’s about addressing the reality of the situation. The budget for division two isn’t the same as division one and the guys understand that.”