{"id":929077,"date":"2026-10-15T13:16:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T13:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/929077\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T13:16:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T13:16:19","slug":"proteas-swing-the-axe-as-rolls-royce-rabada-firms-for-return-against-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/929077\/","title":{"rendered":"Proteas swing the axe as \u2018Rolls-Royce\u2019 Rabada firms for return against Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Daniel<\/p>\n

Updated October 15, 2026 \u2014 10:59pm,first published 7:05pm<\/p>\n

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Gqeberha: South Africa have swung the selection axe, dropping Tristan Stubbs and taking the wicket-keeping gloves away from Kyle Verreynne, as they consider recalling spearhead Kagiso Rabada for the second Test on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Stubbs and Verreynne were both exposed by Australia in the opening Test of the series, losing their wickets at key times in both innings as the hosts were guilty of poor shot selection under sustained pressure from Pat Cummins and company.<\/p>\n

\"KagisoKagiso Rabada at South Africa training in Durban last week.Getty Images<\/p>\n

In particular, Stubbs\u2019 drive at a tempter from Cummins and Verreynne\u2019s vague dab to edge Matt Renshaw to slip were critical moments in the fourth innings as the Proteas tried desperately to scramble for a draw.<\/p>\n

Ryan Rickelton, who also had a poor game opening the batting, will move into the wicket-keeping role, with the possibility of moving back down the batting order.<\/p>\n

South African coach Shukri Conrad has included Matthew Breetzke in the 17-man squad, after he clattered a hundred against Australia in the ODI series that presaged the Tests. Breetzke has a top score of 13 from two Tests, one each against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Dull<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThat his ODI form is as hot as it is gave him an inside lane, and more importantly the attitude and the character Matt has will go a long way,\u201d Conrad said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith \u2018Ricks\u2019 taking the gloves, there are decisions to be made whether he does move down the order or he can continue opening the batting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have a look at what the conditions are like \u2013 the weather forecast isn\u2019t great for day one. So [there\u2019s] a few things to consider before we look at that final 11. We\u2019ve had an opportunity to lick our wounds and make sure we turn the ship in the right direction now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rabada will train later on Thursday, and is firming to return to the home side\u2019s 11 following his recovery from a hamstring tear. With his high pace, skill and fire, Rabada is arguably South Africa\u2019s best chance of finding a way back into the series.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"Vice<\/a><\/p>\n

They will be heartened by the fact that they beat Australia in Test matches at St George\u2019s Park, in the town formerly known as Port Elizabeth, on each of the previous two tours in 2014 and 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to sound like an excuse,\u201d Conrad said of Rabada. \u201cBut when your Rolls-Royce of fast bowlers is not available, and you\u2019ve got to fashion an attack \u2026 Hopefully, our Rolls-Royce will be purring down the highway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conrad has also pointed out that the South African batsmen will need to show greater perseverance to stay in the middle, having been taught a lesson by Matt Renshaw at Kingsmead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe keep talking about the batting because that\u2019s where we felt we let ourselves down the most. Dismissals in batting sit in one of three places \u2013 they are technical, tactical or mental,\u201d Conrad said.<\/p>\n

\"AidenAiden Markram needs more support with the willow from his teammates.AP Photo<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re brutally honest, a lot of our dismissals sat in the mental corner. Is that an easier fix than technical and tactical? Probably not. So we need to see our guys pull up fresh enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cAiden [Markram] showed us in the second innings that there\u2019s nothing fancy about Test match cricket. That single-bloody-mindedness, where I\u2019ve got to bat for a day and a half now, irrespective of what it looks like \u2013 some of our batters can take a leaf from his book.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australian assistant coach Matthew Wade confirmed that Cameron Green was not under serious consideration for the second Test as he resumed batting for the first time since the abdominal injury he suffered in the ODI series.<\/p>\n

Josh Inglis, who did spend some time in the nets in Durban, is closer to putting his name up for selection as an option in the middle order.<\/p>\n

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Close\"DanielDaniel Brettig<\/a> is The Age’s chief cricket writer and the author of several books on cricket.Connect via X<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated October 15, 2026 \u2014 10:59pm,first published 7:05pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":929078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-929077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}