World Cup 2019: Dale Steyn ruled out of tournament, South Africa name Beuran Hendricks as replacement
South Africa's most experienced bowler Dale Steyn has been ruled out of the World Cup. Dale Steyn suffered this injury while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks has been named as his replacement.
Steyn had been nursing a shoulder injury for quite a while. In 2016, he had an operation on the same shoulder. But, Steyn did make a comeback against Zimbabwe last year in the month of October. Later on, he was picked up as a replacement to by Royal Challengers Bangalore after Australian pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile. Steyn couldn't last long as he was ruled out of the IPL after playing just 2 games due to shoulder inflammation.
While it was announced that Dale Steyn wouldn't start the tournament, there were still expectations that he could come back for the game against India or West Indies. Steyn was even seen bowling in the middle after South Africa lost their second match against Bangladesh.
A statement from Cricket South Africa on Tuesday said that Steyn has "suffered a second shoulder injury which has not responded to treatment and has ruled him out of bowling for the foreseeable future".
Subsequently, left-arm pacer Beuran Hendricks was named as Steyn's replacement. Hendricks, an inexperienced bowler at the international level, has just played two ODIs in his career.
This injury to Dale Steyn has come as a major setback for South Africa. Already, prior to the tournament, Anrich Nortje was ruled out and Chris Morris was named as his replacement. Lungi Ngidi also suffered a hamstring injury during South Africa's second game against Bangladesh. Ngidi was ruled out for a period of one week to 10 days. These injury issues have come at a time when South Africa have had a bad start to the tournament with two consecutive losses against England and Bangladesh.