Cape Town - Proteas fast bowlers Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje are expected to make their returns from injury in the CSA T20 Challenge this week.

Both players have been out of action since the end of Sri Lanka's tour to South Africa. 

Ngidi picked up a side strain in the 5th ODI against Sri Lanka at Newlands last month while Nortje suffered a shoulder injury at roughly the same time. 

As a result, both players were completely ruled out of the IPL to focus on their recoveries with the 2019 World Cup the obvious priority. 

While both Ngidi and Nortje were selected in that 150man squad on Thursday, they have not played any competitive cricket since the Sri Lanka series. 

With less than a month to go before the Proteas jet off to England, there is limited opportunity remaining for the two seamers to get any game time under their belts. 

Sport24 understands that both Ngidi and Nortje have been completing their rehabilitation at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria and they will feature for their franchises this week if they pass their respective fitness tests.

There are fixtures this week on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday in the T20 Challenge. 

Ngidi's Titans take on the Cape Cobras in Paarl and then the Knights and Lions both at Centurion while Nortje's Warriors play the Lions in Johannesburg, the Dolphins in Port Elizabeth and the Knights in east London.  

South Africa's other premier quicks, Kagiso Rabada and Dale Steyn, are currently playing in the IPL. 

Rabada has been in superb form and is comfortably the leading wicket taker in the tournament with 23 scalps at 14.65 while Steyn, who joined the Royal Challengers Bangalore midway through the competition, has taken four wickets in his two matches. 

The other good news from a Proteas perspective is that JP Duminy, who has been working to get his shoulder back to 100% before the World Cup, will be available for Cape Cobras for their last two group stage fixtures.