Where they will miss him, is in the brains trust, which suggests he will remain part of the squad. “Kesh is obviously one of the senior players in the side. He is a great sounding board. He’s got a huge amount of experience and he’s such a calming influence in the change room as well,” Conrad said. “And he’s an excellent spinner. Him, KG [Kagiso Rabada] and thankfully we’ve got Marco [Jansen] back – they’re really the triumvirate that will ensure that we get the bulk of the 20 wickets we need to win a Test match.”
Rabada and Jansen are both currently fit, and part of the ODI squad playing against Pakistan, but South Africa have a quartet of other injured quicks, who could not be considered. Lungi Ngidi (hip), Gerald Coetzee (groin), Nandre Burger (lower back stress fracture) and Lizaad Williams (knee) are all out until next year, which means much hinges on Mulder’s fitness.
Mulder will have another scan on Thursday morning to check on his progress, which has been described as being in the final phase of recovery in a Cricket South Africa press release. “He has started hitting balls and doing some work with Kruger [van Wyk, fielding coach] up in Pretoria,” Conrad said. “I’m not going to get ahead of ourselves in terms of where he’s at right now. We’ll see what the scan throws out and then we’ll obviously take it very conservatively. We’re not going to do anything daft and rush him into action if he’s not quite ready yet. But that decision will only be taken pretty much when we get together next week.”
Maphaka was called up to the squad that played Sri Lanka as cover when Coetzee was injured but did not play. He is part of the ODI squad currently playing against Pakistan but has yet to debut in the format. Seven other Test players are also in the 50-over playing group: captain Temba Bavuma, Tony de Zorzi, Jansen, Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton, Rabada and Maharaj. Rabada and Jansen both played the opening game but are unlikely to feature in all three matches as South Africa manage their bowling resources.
South Africa will have a three-day turnaround between the end of the ODIs and the start of the Tests, which leaves no time for a warm-up match and only two practice sessions which Conrad is happy with. “Teams prepare differently nowadays. Gone are the days of warm-up matches. Guys that are not involved in the ODI squad, will be playing in Titans versus the Warriors (domestic first-class) game. Whatever our preparation looks like, it’s going to be good enough. And we’re really looking forward to playing at Centurion. It’s a ground that we play particularly well at and the guys know the conditions rather well.”
In the last ten years, South Africa have only lost one Test at SuperSport Park, to India in 2021. They need one more win to guarantee a place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final and two Tests to try and achieve that. They face Pakistan at SuperSport Park on Boxing Day and then at Newlands for the annual New Year’s Test.
South Africa squad for Tests against Pakistan
Temba Bavuma (capt), David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne (wk)
