Kagiso Rabada has been officially ruled out of South Africa’s starting lineup for the first Test against Australia, which gets underway in Durban on Friday. The star fast bowler sustained a hamstring injury during winter training and has not played a competitive match since the IPL concluded at the end of May. Furthermore, Rabada has not featured in a Test match since South Africa’s tour of Pakistan last October.
Although Rabada returned to bowling in an intra-squad training match over the weekend and participated in a second session at Kingsmead on Thursday, the South African management has decided to take a cautious approach. They have opted to give him extra time to reach full match readiness ahead of a demanding eight-Test home summer.
“We did go the conservative route and give him a couple of extra days to get as close as he can be to 100% fitness,” South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said. However, Bavuma refused to commit to whether Rabada is a certain starter for the second Test, which begins on October 18. “We’re confident in our medical team to get him to the place where we need him to be, but they haven’t officially handed over Kagiso, if I could put it that way,” Bavuma explained. “He’s under their control. Obviously, for us, as soon as he gets the green light, we expect him to be within that starting line-up.”
In Rabada’s absence, South Africa has named their starting XI, which includes the return of Anrich Nortje. This will mark Nortje’s first Test appearance since March 2023. Although no longer centrally contracted to Cricket South Africa (CSA), Nortje has been working hard and put in an impressive, high-speed display during the net sessions in Durban, earning him a spot in the team.
At the optional training session on Thursday, most of the South African squad turned up to train, with only Bavuma, Maharaj, Bosch, and Ryan Rickelton absent.
Bavuma highlighted Nortje’s importance to the side, stating: “A guy like Anrich is hard to ignore. He’s X-Factor. There’s not many guys around who are bowling 150-plus, and as a batter, that’s not something I would look forward to. He fits in very well into our approach from a bowling point of view with regards to the fast bowlers.”
He added: “He doesn’t have the weight of overs under his belt of bowling with red-ball cricket, but he has been doing work with the bowling coaches. The time that we’ve had here [in pre-series training] as well, he’s been very impressive in the nets, so I think it was a calculated call to give Anrich Nortje a go.”
Given Nortje’s history of injuries, particularly back stress fractures, his workload will be closely managed by the medical staff. “Like all the [South Africa] bowlers across this jam-packed season, the guys will be managed as well as they can. For me, to be honest with you, [my focus is on] what’s happening tomorrow,” Bavuma noted.
Nortje will spearhead an attack alongside fellow quicks Marco Jansen and Wiaan Mulder. Mulder was preferred over Corbin Bosch as the second all-rounder. “Wiaan gives you a little bit more with the bat,” Bavuma said. “In that position, No. 6 or 7, you need someone that can score big runs. Wiaan has shown he can do that. With the new ball as well, in terms of the role that we see him playing, we believe that he can be effective. He’s a good slip catcher as well, so I think that also counts in his favour, but the overriding factor was his ability with the bat.”
The team management expects the slower coastal wickets to suit the spin duo of Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer. “Those two spin twins have added another dimension to our bowling attack. As much as we’ve always been about fast bowling, but when conditions have allowed for spinners to come into the game, they’ve been able to play an effective role,” Bavuma said. “There’s a healthy competition between them, so that always helps.”
South Africa’s top seven will see Aiden Markram opening the batting alongside Ryan Rickelton. David Bedingham, who recently scored two centuries for Western Province against the Dolphins in the second round of first-class fixtures, will bat at No. 4. He will be followed by Temba Bavuma, Tristan Stubbs, and Kyle Verreynne.
Uncapped batter Marques Ackermann will have to wait for his debut, along with Gerald Coetzee, Dane Paterson, Senuran Muthumsamy, Corbin Bosch, and Kagiso Rabada on the bench.
South Africa’s XI for the first Test against Australia
1 Aiden Markram, 2 Ryan Rickelton, 3 David Bedingham, 4 Temba Bavuma (c), 5 Tristan Stubbs, 6 Wiaan Mulder, 7 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Simon Harmer, 11 Anrich Nortje
