South Africa will make a call on Kagiso Rabada's availability for the first Test against Australia "as late as possible," according to batting coach Ashwell Prince. Rabada has not played any cricket since the IPL in May and injured his hamstring in winter training, which ruled him out of last month's ODIs.
He was named in an extended 18-player South African squad, from which Tony de Zorzi has now been withdrawn after a hamstring concern of his own. On the other hand, Rabada played in a two-day intra-squad match on Sunday and Monday. "He came through quite nicely and bowled really well," Prince said in Durban, where the series begins on Friday. "He'll continue to be involved in training over the next few days leading up to the match."
Initially, South Africa had planned to whittle down the squad to 15 players but have decided to keep all 17 players together for the series, specifically for the benefit of having seven quicks to pick from. "From the bowler's point of view, domestically there's T20 cricket going on at the moment so we feel that they'll be better served here, where they will bowl more red balls in training," Prince said. "And if they're not in the Test lineup, then they can continue bowling during the Test match in the nets, just to get the loads up."
Time in the legs is a particular concern for Rabada's fitness for the Test series. He has not played red-ball cricket in almost a year since South Africa's tour to Pakistan last October. He was ruled out of the India matches that followed with a rib injury and has also not played any first-class in the interim.
All indications are that South Africa want to make sure he is ready for long spells before including him in a Test XI. "Fair to say that he's obviously not going to be at 100% straight away, but he is looking good," Prince said. "He will train with the squad for the rest of the week and we will leave a call to be made as late as possible."
South Africa are also keeping their cards close to their chest about their batting line-up, with Prince confirming he has a "good idea" who will make up the top six but "can't divulge it". When Prince was asked whether any of Tristan Stubbs, Wiaan Mulder and David Bedingham are in line for the position at No. 3, Prince mentioned uncapped batter Marques Ackerman as another candidate, which bodes well for him making his debut on his home ground.
"He's obviously played really well in that position (No. 3) as well, and can bat in that position. We have a very good idea of who's going to slot in there," Prince said. "I've always been a fan of his. And to his credit, he's done what any player who wants to play Test cricket needs to do: bang the door down by weight of runs. He's an attacking player. He likes to move the game along. He's played very well, he's got a lot of experience and there's an appetite, not just for him but for a lot of players within our domestic structures to want to be involved in the Test squad."
The Australia Tests will be South Africa's first at home since winning the World Test Championship title last June, against Australia at Lord's. They are currently second on the 2025-2027 WTC points table with 10 more Tests to play in the ongoing cycle - eight at home between now and January, as well as two away in Sri Lanka.