Ken Borland

The Proteas will be looking to put Sri Lanka under constant pace pressure on fast and bouncy Highveld pitches as they try to ensure it is not a season of good cheer for the touring batsmen in their two-Test series starting at Centurion on December 26.

Sri Lanka’s batsmen enjoyed playing at coastal venues Durban, where the tourists also drew in 2000 and won by 208 runs in 2011, and Port Elizabeth on their last visit in February 2019, on their way to a famous, shock 2-0 win over South Africa. This time they will be hosted at SuperSport Park and the Wanderers and subjected to a pace barrage on quick wickets. And the addition of another fast bowler to the Proteas squad on Wednesday in Migael Pretorius of the Knights is a clear indication that the home side might even be thinking of going down the route of fielding an all-pace attack.

The original squad, with Kagiso Rabada out injured, only contained four specialist fast bowlers in Anrich Nortje, Beuran Hendricks, Lungi Ngidi and Glenton Stuurman. So if South Africa decide to play all four of them in an XI, then they will obviously need a back-up quick in the squad should one of them have to withdraw shortly before the Test. In these days of Covid, that has become even more of a possibility.

Convenor of selectors Victor Mpitsang confirmed to The Citizen on Wednesday that none of the original quartet have any niggles, so the addition of Pretorius is purely tactical.

“Because we are dealing with a pandemic and we will be in a bubble, we decided we needed extra back-up in case one of the seamers goes down. So it’s just a case of having extra cover. The fact that we only have one specialist spinner in the squad in Keshav Maharaj tells you where we are playing – on the Highveld where, if conditions are viable, you might go for an all-pace attack.

“But conditions will determine that and so far in domestic cricket the guys have been playing on proper good pitches at those venues so it would be difficult to leave out the spinner,” Mpitsang said.

The 25-year-old Pretorius is one of the leading wicket-takers in this season’s four-day competition and is also averaging 28.50 with the bat with a couple of half-centuries, so he can also strengthen the tail, potentially in the No.8 position, if the Proteas play an all-rounder like Wiaan Mulder at No.7.

“We’re big on rewarding consistently good work and the player has done a lot to make a case for himself. We hope that the experience will be a great learning one for him and that this can serve as encouragement for players across the country, showing them that their chances may not be as far off as they think,” Mpitsang said.