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With frontline pacers Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi hitting the nets ahead of the ‘Boxing Day’ Test, South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad is confident that India will not be able to breach the ‘Final Frontier’ in their Test history. Rabada is recovering from a heel injury, and Ngidi has an ankle injury, but Conrad says they are still on the team.
After missing the limited-overs series, Rabada and Nigidi were out there bowling full tilt at the Supersport Park’s centre training wicket, and facing them was Dean Elgar, who is playing his final series. The Centurion track is a pacer’s paradise, though India did beat South Africa last time out. However, the head coach would prefer that his lethal weapons fire on all cylinders.
“They are both here with us and that means they are available for selection as things stand,” Conrad told reporters on Saturday. “We have not called anybody in as a replacement and hopefully come the morning of the match we have 15 fit players to select from.”
Whether the duo plays or not, Gerald Coetzee, the 23-year-old fast bowler who impressed in the ODI World Cup in India last month, is likely to get a run on a Centurion Park wicket with pace and bounce, despite his lack of test experience. Coetzee has taken nine wickets in two tests so far, both against the West Indies earlier this year.
“He’s still a baby in Test cricket,” Conrad said. “He’s been phenomenal every time he’s stepped onto the field, whether it be with the white ball in his hand or the red one. This is just going to be another step. “He brings aggression, he brings something that we’ve always prided ourselves on as South Africans, which is pace.
“He brings all of those elements and hopefully through the experience he builds in the (T20) league’s and playing for South Africa with the white and red ball, in a couple of years’ time he can be leading our bowling attack.”
India are aiming for their first test series win in South Africa, and Conrad says his team is desperate to maintain their record of never losing to tourists on home soil.
“If it was possible to make this even bigger, then the fact that India have never won here does that,” he said. “We certainly want to hold on to that proud record and make sure that that doesn’t happen. There are so many matchups that this series hinges on. It’s two tests, so it’s a high pressured one. You go 1-0 down and you can’t win the series. You go 1-0 up, you can’t lose. It’s going to be like a heavyweight boxing bout.”
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