Major Blow for South Africa: Anrich Nortje Ruled Out of Champions Trophy 2025

In a big way, South Africa is missing Anrich Nortje, their fast bowler, for the 2025 Champions Trophy due to a back injury. Cricket South Africa (CSA) has confirmed that scans done on Monday showed how bad it was. Nortje had already missed Paarl Royals' SA20 match on Wednesday against MI Cape Town and is likely to be out of action for a longer time.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has said Anrich Nortje is ‘not expected to recover in time’ for the Champions Trophy. Anrich Nortje is not expected to recover in time for the Champions Trophy, Cricket South Africa (CSA) has said. South Africa’s opening match is on February 21 in Karachi against Afghanistan. Although no replacement has been identified, CSA did confirm they will announce one soon.

South Africa only named their squad for the Champions Trophy on Monday and has brought Anrich Nortje back into the fold after a period out of the side. Unfortunately, the pace has often been left injured at crucial moments of his career.

Since June last year, Nortje has not played international cricket, and he had been out of Test cricket to focus on his fitness after suffering a back stress fracture in 2023. This injury also kept him out of the ICC ODI World Cup. Just like in 2019 he was absent from the World Cup because of a broken thumb.

Nortje was particularly sharp in the 2024 T20 World Cup in USA and Barbados, always being a quality bowler at vintage speeds. He also did well in franchise cricket and exhibited the usual pace and skill.

As per Cricbuzz, pace all-rounder Gerald Coetzee is the favourite to step in for Anrich Nortje in South Africa’s Champions Trophy squad. Both players were already rate equally by coach Rob Walter when announcing the squad.

“Gerald Coetzee played very well in the 2023 World Cup, but it was between him and Anrich Nortje. They offer high pace, both of them. Anrich has more experience and attributes that will stand us in good stead in Pakistan. Gerald has done nothing wrong to not be selected," he had said.

However, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who bought Nortje as their lead pacer for ₹6.50 crore in the IPL 2025 auction, have a big problem. KKR have always preferred overseas quicks and last season, Mitchell Starc was a good example of that.

So, if Nortje misses the IPL as well (which begins in March) due to his injury, KKR will be pinning their hopes on Australia’s left arm pacer, Spencer Johnson, and India’s Umran Malik to come good in 2025.