By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
All-rounder Corbin Bosch will make his Test debut for the Proteas at the opening Test against Pakistan at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday.
Bosch, 30, will be one half of the third father-son combination to play for South Africa, after Peter and Shaun Pollock and Jimmy and Stephen Cook. His father Tertius, who died in 2000, played in South Africa’s first post-isolation Test against the West Indies in 1992, counting Brian Lara’s as his maiden Test wicket.
Bosch bowled at more than 140kmh when he made his one-day international debut against Pakistan in Johannesburg on Sunday and hit 40* as a lower-order batsman.
The two-match series is crucial for South Africa, who will qualify for next year’s World Test Championship final if they win one of the matches.
Proteas captain Temba Bavuma said his players were aware of the significance of being on the verge of reaching the TWC final.
“We know what’s at stake. There’s confidence and belief because of the good cricket we have played over the last while. Nothing has happened by accident.”
South Africa’s progress in the WTC has come despite CSA’s deliberate downgrading of Test cricket to accommodate the SA20.
South Africa’s schedule of 12 Tests – all in two-match series – is the joint lowest with Bangladesh in the championship cycle. England have played 22 matches, while Australia and India will have played 19 each when they complete their fixtures.
The system of average points has propelled the Proteas to the top of the table despite virtually forfeiting a series in New Zealand when coach Shukri Conrad was prevented from selecting any players contracted to the SA20.
South Africa did not play against Australia or England and their only series against one of the “big three” Test nations was a drawn one against India.
Pakistan have only won two out of 15 Tests in South Africa but will go into the series on the back of a convincing 3-0 one-day series win. Seven of the Pakistan squad and eight of the Proteas Test team players were involved in the ODIs.
Proteas XI: Temba Bavuma (c), Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wkt), Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Dane Paterson.
Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel, Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Haseebullah Khan, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wkt), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha.