By Andy Wilson
England Lions were forced inside for the first full training session of their tour by a spectacular and lengthy thunder storm at the Wanderers.
They had been due to practise on the outfield of the iconic Johannesburg venue on Saturday afternoon, but ominous grey skies cracked open at lunchtime to leave the conditions fit only for Egyptian geese.
The Lions were still able to go through a lengthy session in the indoor nets deep below the changing rooms, but the storm was badly timed with only two practice days available before the start of three-day match against a Gauteng Invitation XI in Soweto on Monday.
That is the only preparation match before the first of two four-day games against South Africa A, which the Lions are treating as unofficial Tests, leaving little time for experimentation or even observation for coach Mark Robinson and the rest of his staff as they ponder the options from a 15-man squad.
Cricket South Africa are expected to announce a strong A-team line-up for those four-day matches next Wednesday, when they will also name their senior squad for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Shopping trip for foot bath for @boydrankin size 14s #englions pic.twitter.com/hcfpyE4lvS
— England Cricket (@ECB_cricket) January 3, 2015
Jean Symes is the most recognisable name in the 13-man squad from which the Invitation XI will be drawn.
Symes, a 28-year-old left-hander, was a regular for the Wanderers-based Highveld Lions during the Ram Slam Twenty20 competition before Christmas, and has extensive experience in all forms of the game.
His greatest T20 moments probably came in the 2012 Champions League competition when he played a key role in beating a Yorkshire team including current Lions tourists Adam Lyth and Adil Rashid , and scored a half century in the Lions' defeat by the Sydney Sixers in the final.
Symes also spent two summers with Norden in the Central Lancashire League in 2008-9, and guested for Scotland in their CB40 campaign in 2012.
The rest of the squad comes from the Gauteng team who currently top Pool B of the Sunfoil Cup, a three-day competition which runs beneath the four-day Sunfoil Series for the six regional franchises such as the Lions.
Spectacular thunder and lightning around the Wanderers as Lions keep fingers crossed for practice #englions
— England Cricket (@ECB_cricket) January 3, 2015
Three of them will be playing on home territory in Soweto, with the three-day match to be staged on the University of Johannesburg's campus in the south-western area of the city which will always be closely associated with the struggle of former residents such as Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu against apartheid.
Sizure Masondo, a 27-year-old wicketkeeper who has been Gauteng's captain in the Sunfoil Series, is from Soweto, as are the 19-year-old opener Karabin Mogotsi and Lazarus Mokoena, a 24-year-old seamer.
The squad also includes Dale Deeb, a left-arm spinner with a host of first-class experience; Wesley Landsdale, a 25-year-old batsman who made a single appearance for Somerset's second team in 2008 when he was playing for Glastonbury, and has been the professional at Rochdale for the last two seasons; and Thami Rapelogo, a young seamer with a single first-class appearance who turned 22 on Christmas Day.
Gauteng Invitational XI squad: Yasser Cook, Karabin Magotsi, Jean Symes, Yaseen Valli, Wesley Landsdale, Bradley Dial, Sizure Masondo, Nono Pongolo, Matthew Arnold, Dale Deeb, Sean Jamison, Lazarus Mokoena, Thami Rapelego.