CENTURION: Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Tuesday revealed its national men’s team XI for the first Test of the two-match series against Pakistan, scheduled to begin on December 26 here at SuperSport Park.
The home team, who are just one win away from sealing their place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, have named a fast-paced bowling attack for the series opener, featuring all-rounder Corbin Bosch.
Bosch would form South Africa’s bowling attack with Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Dane Paterson, while left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj was not considered for selection due to injury.
The emerging all-rounder earned his place in the playing XI due to his commendable batting performance in first-class cricket where he averaged 40.46 in 34 matches.
He recently made his ODI debut in the series final against Pakistan in Johannesburg. The 30-year-old played a gutsy knock of 40 runs in the aforementioned game and recorded decent bowling figures of 1/69, which featured the key wicket of centurion Saim Ayub.
Meanwhile, batsman Ryan Rickelton managed to keep his place in the lineup thanks to his match-winning century against Sri Lanka in the recently held second Test at Gqeberha.
South Africa playing XI in the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan: Tony de Zorzi, Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma (C), David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Dane Paterson and Corbin Bosch.
Pakistan squad for Tests in South Africa: Shan Masood (capt), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Haseebullah (wk), Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha
