The Proteas will wait until the last moment to decide whether Kagiso Rabada will line up in Friday’s first Test against Australia at Kingsmead.
The pace spearhead, who has not played since May and is recovering from a hamstring injury, came through the two-day warm-up match in Chatsworth unscathed and will continue his processes at training this week.
“He came through quite nicely, bowled really well and will continue to be involved in training over the next few days leading up to the match,” Proteas batting coach Ashwell Prince told reporters on Tuesday morning.
“Fair to say that he’s obviously not going to be at 100% straight away, but he’s looking good. And he will train with the squad for the rest of the week. And I think we will leave a call to be made as late as possible.”
Rabada’s inclusion would be a huge boost to the home team. The 31-year-old was instrumental in the World Test Championship final victory over Australia last year, where he claimed nine wickets at Lord’s.
Equally, he boasts an incredible record against the Aussies, having snared 58 wickets at an average of 21.39 in 11 Tests.
Rabada’s availability could also affect the balance of the final XI, with suggestions that the Proteas may include two spinners in Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer. The Proteas also have further pace options, including the recalled Anrich Nortje, Gerald Coetzee, Marco Jansen and Dane Paterson.
Prince claims that nothing has yet been finalised, but that coach Shukri Conrad does have options available to him.
“We’re blessed: whatever combination of bowlers we’re going to go with, we can take 20 wickets. So whether it is seam-heavy or whether it is two spinners, you know, they are wicket-takers and they can take 20 wickets,” he said.
“Obviously, Keshav did really well in the one-day series—Man of the Series. Harmi wasn’t part of that, but Harmi has had great success in the last period of time in Test match cricket. And we have our seam bowlers.
“So whatever combination we go with, if we feel the surface is going to be X, we might be able to go with one plan. If we feel the surface is going to be Y, we might be able to go with another plan. And I think that’s a blessing that we have, that we have options.”
