Toss 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 finished in 107 overs as a result of extreme seam movement and variable bounce. The surface appears similar to pitches at Newlands – mottled green with less grass than SuperSport Park – and despite last year, is usually good for batting on the first two days.
There was no room for Corbin Bosch, who debuted at SuperSport Park, or Dane Paterson at his home ground, while Tony de Zorzi has been ruled out with a left thigh strain. Ryan Rickelton will open with Aiden Markram and Mulder has moved to No. 3, ahead of Tristan Stubbs.
The first and second day at Newlands are sellouts, with big crowds expected in support of South Africa after their qualification for the World Test Championship final.
South Africa: Ryan Rickleton, 2 Aiden Markram, 3 Wiaan Mulder, 4 Tristan Stubbs, 5 Temba Bavuma (capt) 6 David Bedingham, 7 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Keshav Maharaj 10 Kagiso Rabada 11 Kwena Maphaka
Pakistan: 1 Shan Masood (capt), 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
Content Source: www.espncricinfo.com