JOHANNESBURG: Zubayr Hamza will play in his first Test match in more than two years when he lines up for South Africa against Bangladesh in the first Test starting at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday.
Captain Temba Bavuma said Hamza would bat at number three in place of David Bedingham, who was dropped after the series against Australia last month.
In the only other change from the team that clinched the series against Australia with a 176-run win in the third Test in Cape Town, seam bowler Dane Paterson replaces Gerald Coetzee, who is also dropped.
Fast bowler Anrich Nortje, who played in the first two Tests against Australia, is in the squad but hasstill not fully recovered from a groin injury, Bavuma said.
Off-spinner Simon Harmer, who was man of the match in Cape Town, remains as the sole specialist spinner ahead of long-time incumbent Keshav Maharaj.
Hamza, 31, played for a belowstrength South African team in a series in New Zealand in 2023/24 but has not played in a home Test since appearing against England in January 2020.
Hamza served a nine-month ban after testing positive for a banned substance in 2022, which he said was the result of accidentally taking medication prescribed for his father.
‘He has gone back and done what he can in domestic cricket, said Bavuma. ‘He’s scored runs inall formats.
Hamza plays his domestic cricket for the Gauteng Lions, whose home ground is the Wanderers.
Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said his team would be finalised on the morning of the match but said it was likely they would pick three seam bowlers and one specialist spinner.
‘I think I can say that there will be three pacers,’ said Najmul.
‘There must also be a spinner.
Although South Africa will be strong favourites, Najmul said Bangladesh took confidence from recent performances as well as a one-day series win in South Africa in 2021/22.
Bavuma said that it was important for South Africa to maintainthe standards of world Test champions as they aim to reach the next final in 2027.
‘We are halfway on our journey and we are still looking at ways we can improve,’ he said.
TEST CAPTAINCY RECORD Bavuma is also set to extend one of Test cricket’s most remarkable records.
With 13 wins in his first 15 Tests as captain, Bavuma has had more success than anyone in the history of the game at an equivalent stage of their captaincy.
Only Lindsay Hassett of Australia can match Bavuma’s record. They both had 13 wins, one draw and one loss in their first 15 matches in charge.
Hassett’s fortunes took a down-turn in his 16th match at the helm, when they lost to South Africa in Melbourne in 1952/53 and he had only one more win in his last nine matches as captain.
For South Africa to lose at home to Bangladesh would be similar in shock value to Australia’s loss against an unheralded South African team 74 years ago.
South Africa have won 14 of their 16 previous Tests against Bangladesh, with the other two matches having been rain-affected draws in Bangladesh in 2015.
But Bangladesh pulled off a surprise win against Australia in Darwin in August and as Bavuma noted in a recent interview, ‘the target is on our back and everyone wants to have a go at us.
-AFP