Still no Allan Donald and still no Nicky Boje, but South Africa will take a 12-man squad of proven quality to the Wanderers on Friday for the first Standard Bank Summer Spice Series one-day match against India.

The squad, named this week, will do duty for both Friday's match and Sunday's outing against Kenya in Benoni and it is in essence simply a trimming down of the 14-man squad chosen for the last two ODIs against Zimbabwe.

Omitted from that squad are Boeta Dippenaar and Justin Ontong with Justin Kemp retaining his place.

It is still not entirely clear how long the selectors will wait to establish the fitness of Donald and Boje. Both missed the Zimbabwe tour, Donald laid low by flu with Boje recovering from a shoulder operation. On Monday Boje said his shoulder felt "100 percent" but it is understood they will have to prove their recoveries at provincial level, probably this weekend when Free State play Northerns in the SuperSport Series.

In another change, this time affecting the South African A side which plays India in Benoni on Wednesday, Mfuneko Ngam has been withdrawn and replaced by Nantie Hayward. Ngam is on the way back from a leg injury and a shoulder operation and his convalescence has been carefully monitored for several months now.

That he should have been chosen for the A team and then yanked out of it suggests that the lines of communication between the United Cricket Board's medical people and the selectors isn't all that it should be.

A South African team to play in the Hong Kong Sixes in November was also announced this week. Jonty Rhodes will captain the side, but its chief interest lies in the inclusion of Henry Williams who will make his first appearance in a national side since his six-moth ban for match-fixing.

South African squad

Shaun Pollock (capt), Mark Boucher, Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie, Jonty Rhodes, Lance Klusener, Justin Kemp, Claude Henderson, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini.

South African Sixes side

Jonty Rhodes (capt), Steve Elworthy, Derek Crookes, Loots Bosman, Alfonso Thomas, Andrew Hall, Henry Williams.

© CricInfo