South Africa have gambled on the fitness of Keshav Maharaj and Wiaan Mulder, and included both in the Test squad to play Pakistan over the festive season.
Maharaj suffered an 11th-hour groin strain in the warm-ups for the first ODI in Paarl on Tuesday and had to be removed from the team sheet just before the toss. He underwent a scan later on Wednesday which revealed a left adductor strain that took him out of the ODI series. He will return home to Durban "for rehabilitation and will be reassessed ahead of the first Test.
Left-arm spin-bowling allrounder Senuran Muthusamy is the only other spinner in the squad, which means if Maharaj is unavailable, South Africa may have to cast the net wide for reinforcements.
Test coach Shukri Conrad said a decision on any additions to the squad would only be made after the results of the scan are known. "Based on the outcome of that, we'll do the necessary," he said. "We'll see how severe it is, whether it's only potentially the first Test (he misses) or both Test matches. Once I get the results of the scan, I'll be in a better position to either replace [or] chat to the other coaches and make up my mind on the back of that."
Given that the first Test takes place at the seamer-friendly SuperSport Park in Centurion, if Maharaj is unavailable for that game, it may not affect South Africa too much. The last time they played there, against India last year, South Africa went in all pace and won.
Where they will miss him, is in the brains trust, which suggests he will remain part of the squad. "Kesh is obviously one of the senior players in the side. He is a great sounding board. He's got a huge amount of experience and he's such a calming influence in the change room as well," Conrad said. "And he's an excellent spinner. Him, KG [Kagiso Rabada] and thankfully we've got Marco [Jansen] back - they're really the triumvirate that will ensure that we get the bulk of the 20 wickets we need to win a Test match."
Rabada and Jansen are both currently fit, and part of the ODI squad playing against Pakistan, but South Africa have a quartet of other injured quicks, who could not be considered. Lungi Ngidi (hip), Gerald Coetzee (groin), Nandre Burger (lower back stress fracture) and Lizaad Williams (knee) are all out until next year, which means much hinges on Mulder's fitness.
He broke his right middle finger while batting against Sri Lanka in Durban last month and is in the final phase of his recovery. If he is passed fit for the Boxing Day match, top-order batter Matthew Breetzke will be released from the squad.
Mulder will have another scan on Thursday morning to check on his progress, which has been described as being in the final phase of recovery in a Cricket South Africa press release. "He has started hitting balls and doing some work with Kruger [van Wyk, fielding coach] up in Pretoria," Conrad said. "I'm not going to get ahead of ourselves in terms of where he's at right now. We'll see what the scan throws out and then we'll obviously take it very conservatively. We're not going to do anything daft and rush him into action if he's not quite ready yet. But that decision will only be taken pretty much when we get together next week."
As bowling cover, there are two uncapped players in the mix: seam bowlers Corbin Bosch and Kwena Maphaka. Bosch, the son of former international Tertius, has earned his first call-up to an international side. He recently featured for a South African Invitation XI against the England Lions and took 1 for 21 in five overs and has a first-class batting average over 40. "Corbin Bosch adds so much to our attack. On the Highveld, we need a little bit of pace in and Corbin provides that. It [SuperSport Park] is his home ground if he gets to play. And he's in top form. He's doing well domestically," Conrad said. "He had a really good outing against the English Lions last week that I managed to catch a glimpse of. He's matured nicely from when I last saw him when he was with the [national] academy with me a couple of years ago and he's turned into a really good cricketer."
Maphaka was called up to the squad that played Sri Lanka as cover when Coetzee was injured but did not play. He is part of the ODI squad currently playing against Pakistan but has yet to debut in the format. Seven other Test players are also in the 50-over playing group: captain Temba Bavuma, Tony de Zorzi, Jansen, Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton, Rabada and Maharaj. Rabada and Jansen both played the opening game but are unlikely to feature in all three matches as South Africa manage their bowling resources.
South Africa will have a three-day turnaround between the end of the ODIs and the start of the Tests, which leaves no time for a warm-up match and only two practice sessions which Conrad is happy with. "Teams prepare differently nowadays. Gone are the days of warm-up matches. Guys that are not involved in the ODI squad, will be playing in Titans versus the Warriors (domestic first-class) game. Whatever our preparation looks like, it's going to be good enough. And we're really looking forward to playing at Centurion. It's a ground that we play particularly well at and the guys know the conditions rather well."
In the last ten years, South Africa have only lost one Test at SuperSport Park, to India in 2021. They need one more win to guarantee a place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final and two Tests to try and achieve that. They face Pakistan at SuperSport Park on Boxing Day and then at Newlands for the annual New Year's Test.
South Africa squad for Tests against Pakistan
Temba Bavuma (capt), David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne (wk)