Proteas will look to Paterson, Coetzee and Bosch as options

Anrich Nortje was omitted from the South African squad for the third Test against Australia because of a mild groin injury.

Nortje left the field in the middle of his fourth over, in Australia’s first innings at St George’s Park. Nortje played his first Test in three years at Kingsmead in the series opener and bowled 40 overs. Proteas captain Temba Bavuma admitted the team took a risk in playing Nortje in Gqeberha given his heavy workload in the first Test.

No other changes were made to the side that tied the series 1-1 with a stunning innings and 31-run victory in Gqeberha.

The Proteas have Dane Paterson, Corbin Bosch and Gerald Coetzee in the squad as options if they want to replace Nortje with another seamer. With Kagiso Rabada also coming off playing his first Test after a lengthy time on the sidelines because of injury, the Proteas will not want to leave themselves short of seam bowling options for the series decider in Cape Town.

Though no rain is forecast for the duration of the Test match, unless the pitch shows serious signs of drying out quickly, it’s unlikely they will use a twin-spin option as they did in Durban, where Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer took only four wickets between them.

The third Test starts at Newlands on Tuesday morning.

Proteas — Aiden Markram, Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Temba Bavuma (capt), Matthew Breetzke, Ryan Rickleton, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Kagiso Rabada, Corbin Bosch, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Senuran Muthusamy, Dane Paterson, Kyle Verreynne.