Shake South Africa chose to bat vs Pakistan
All eyes will be on the Newlands pitch after it received an unsatisfactory rating when last year’s Test ended in 107 overs as a result of extreme seam movement and variable bounce. The surface looks similar to the Newlands pitches (dappled green with less grass than SuperSport Park) and, despite last year, is usually good for hitting on the first two days.
There was no place for Corbin Bosch, who made his debut at SuperSport Park, nor for Dane Paterson in their stadium, while Tony de Zorzi is ruled out due to a strain in his left thigh. Ryan Rickelton will open with Aiden Markram and Mulder moved to number 3, ahead of Tristan Stubbs.
The first and second day at Newlands are full and large crowds are expected in support of South Africa following their qualification for the World Test Championship final.
South Africa: Ryan Rickleton, 2 Aiden Markram, 3 Wiaan Mulder, 4 Tristan Stubbs, 5 Temba Bavuma (captain) 6 David Bedingham, 7 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Keshav Maharaj 10 Kagiso Rabada 11 Kwena Maphaka
Pakistan: 1 Shan Masood (captain), 2 Saim Ayub, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Kamran Ghulam, 5 Saud Shakeel, 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Salman Agha, 8 Aamer Jamal, 9 Khurram Shahzad, 10 Mohammad Abbas, 11 Mir Hamza
