Proteas strengthen fast bowling attack for first Test against Sri Lanka

By Nasri Alexander
26th November 2024

The Proteas have strengthened their pace bowling attack for the first Test against Sri Lanka with Gerald Coetzee and Marco Jansen returning to the starting line-up.

Coetzee and Jansen will join Kagiso Rabada and seam-bowling all-rounder Wiaan Mulder in a four-pronged pace attack while Keshav Maharaj is selected as the sole specialist spinner.

Captain Temba Bavuma, who missed the Test series victory in Bangladesh with an elbow injury, also makes his way back into the XI at the expense of Ryan Rickelton.

Dane Paterson and Senuran Muthusamy are the other two players that miss out from the last Test win against Bangladesh in Chattogram last month.

Bavuma said in his pre-match press conference: "Looking at the wicket, we feel that if it does spin it will probably be towards the end of the game.

"Considering the weather, we feel that the seamers will come into play but we are confident in our bowling pack."

The first Test of the two-match series starts in Durban on Wednesday with the second match to be played in Gqeberha from 5 Decemeber.

Th series is vitally important for both teams in terms of the World Test Championship (WTC) with the hosts and the visitors still in contention of reaching the final that will be played at Lord's in June next year.