Fast bowler back in the nets, but not going to be ready for opening game at Wanderers, says Conrad

Anrich Nortje will miss the first Test against Bangladesh that starts on Sunday, despite coming through a full training session at the Wanderers on Thursday unscathed.

The 32-year-old fast bowler picked up a groin injury in the second Test of the Australia series, an injury that initially concerned the Proteas’s coaching staff.

“It wasn’t as bad as initially anticipated,” South Africa coach Shukri Conrad said. “He didn’t require anything out of the ordinary, just a little bit of rest and then some rehab.”

“He’s building up his loads as we speak and he should be good to go by the second Test,” the Proteas head coach added.

After starting the summer with a host of fast bowlers on the medical table, Conrad concerns are easing on a weekly basis. Besides Nortje bowling at full tilt, Lungi Ngidi was also at training and bowled a few military medium deliveries during a middle session, with bowling consultant, Charl Langeveldt.

Ngidi is not part of the Test squad for the two matches against Bangladesh but is likely to feature in the ODI and T20 series at the start of December to further aid his preparation for the Test series against England.

Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Wiaan Mulder all went through a strenuous session on Thursday, but with Nortje not likely to accompany them, SA will have to decide between Dane Paterson and Corbin Bosch for the fourth seamer spot.

What the Proteas won’t be doing is playing five seamers, said Conrad.

“Even if you go with five quicks, someone’s not going to bowl his overs. Wiaan [Mulder] gives you the luxury of playing a specialist spinner. Though you might say, well, how big a role is spin going to play [in Gauteng]? He gives you that luxury. But a fifth seamer, for me, is a bit of a waste. Because if the four aren’t going to bowl a side out, trust me, the fifth one’s not going to do that.”

The Wanderers last hosted a Test match in March 2023 — Conrad’s first series as Proteas coach — so there are understandably questions about the nature of the surface for Sunday. “It’s obviously excessively hot here, so we just hope that it’s not over-prepared and ready too early,” said Conrad.

He’s anticipating that Bangladesh will fight fire with fire, as the Tigers have built a pool of fast bowlers, who will relish bowling conditions that are the opposite of what they get at home. “They’ve got a fast bowling attack now. Whereas in years gone by, they’d come here, with all due respect, with a pop-gun attack. Now they’ve got guys that can mix it, especially up here on the Highveld, where we expect conditions to favour fast bowling.”

Hasan Mahmud, will garner close attention from the Proteas, following his heroics in the historic defeat of Australia in Darwin three months ago. Mahmud took 9/111 in that stunning nine wicket-win.

Ebadot Hossain, who didn’t feature in Bangladesh’s recent series loss to the West Indies, is also part of the attack that will face SA, and claimed his career-best figures of 6/46, in the Tigers’ other historic away triumph over New Zealand in Mt. Manganui in 2022.

The addition of Langeveldt to the South African coaching group will give the home team some insight into what to expect from the tourists.

“I think he’s going to be a massive influence for us,” said Conrad. “He’s obviously had experience coaching Bangladesh itself, so there’s a lot of intel there. He won’t just be sitting in the bowlers’ meeting, he’ll definitely be in the batters’ meeting as well, sharing a lot of his ideas.”

Conrad said there was no danger of the Proteas taking the Tigers lightly, after their own success against Australia and Bangladesh’s recent struggles which saw them lose a series on home soil to the West indies.

“I said to the squad yesterday when we got together, this now becomes our biggest tour of the summer. We’re certainly not going to be underestimating them in any way.”

“We will give them the exact amount of respect that we pay Australia and England. I think the big thing for us is remaining in the present. We did a lot of good things against Australia, but we did some very ordinary things as well and that’s something that we want to set right and hopefully we can set that right against Bangladesh,” said Conrad.