Kagiso Rabada named in South Africa's preliminary squad for Australia Tests

JOHANNESBURG: Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Monday announced an 18-member preliminary squad for its men's team's three-match home series against Australia, scheduled to run from October 9 to 31.

The recently announced squad also featured their frontline pacer Kagiso Rabada, who missed South Africa's ongoing three-match home ODI series against Australia as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury sustained during winter training.

South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad, while announcing the preliminary squad in a press conference, however, shared that the final decision on the pacer's selection for the series opener will be made after a three-day intra-squad match next week, as he insisted that the hosts would not take a call out of "desperation".

"We will give it [final decision on Rabada] as much time as humanly possible but we also don't want to take a call based on desperation," Conrad said.

"Based on how the three-day match plays out, a day or two after that, I reckon we will make a call," he added.

Contrary to Kagiso Rabada, fellow pacers Lungi Ngidi, Ottneil Baartman and Kwena Maphaka, who are also dealing with hamstring problems, were not considered for the blockbuster series, which forms part of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27.

Instead, the current WTC holders brought back tall pacer Anrich Nortje, who last played a Test in March 2023, while all-rounder Gerald Coetzee, whose last appearance in the longest format dates back to November 2024, alongside Corbin Bosch, Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder and Dane Paterson make up the rest of South Africa's pace pack.

The Proteas, however, retained the majority of their core players for the high-stakes series, with the only other major change being the inclusion of the uncapped middle-order batter Marques Ackerman, who has piled up more than a thousand runs for South Africa.

It is pertinent to mention that the upcoming series is crucial for both Australia and South Africa as both sides would vie to maintain a spirited start to the current WTC cycle.

Notably, Australia, who lifted the coveted mace in 2023, are at the summit of the current cycle's standings with 96 points in 10 matches with a winning percentage of 80, closely followed by the defending champions, who have played just four Tests thus far but won three of them.

The series between the two top-placed sides will get underway on October 9, with the first Test scheduled to be played in Durban until October 13.

Gqeberha will host the subsequent fixture from October 18 to 22, while the third will be played in Cape Town from October 27 to 31.

South Africa's preliminary squad for Australia Tests

Temba Bavuma (c), Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortje, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs and Kyle Verreynne.