Johannesburg : Former South African cricketer Herschelle Gibbs revealed the changes he would make for the second home Test against Australia in Gqeberha, with Kagiso Rabada coming in and Ryan Rickelton shifting down the order and keeping wickets.
Proteas' World Test Championship (WTC) winning skipper Temba Bavuma suffered his first defeat after a run of 12 Tests unbeaten when South Africa failed to chase down a gigantic total of 421 runs at Durban. Not only did Matt Renshaw tire out the Proteas bowlers with his stubborn determination and ability at the crease, but Proteas batting stood exposed in front of the Aussie pace trio of skipper Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Also, SA felt the absence of Rabada, who continues to strive towards full fitness and recovery from the hamstring injury which ruled him out of competitive cricket after the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Posting on X, Gibbs called for Kagiso replacing spinner Simon Harmer, so as to form a pace trio with Marco Jansen and Anrich Nortje, with all-rounder Wiaan Mulder (a pace option) and spinner Keshav Maharaj being the other two bowlers. He also called for Rickelton, who posted single-digit scores at Durban, to be shifted down the order and to be made the wicketkeeper.
The explosive hitter also called for wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne to be dropped in favour of Marques Ackerman, the uncapped middle-order batter.
"Kg comes in harmer , so 3 quicks plus mulder and Maharaj. Ackerman in for Verreynner and ricks shifts down and keeps. No dramas," he posted on X.
Verreynne is facing a tough run in Test cricket, having not slammed a fifty-plus score in his eight Tests after a century against Pakistan in Cape Town way back in January last year. Since then, he has managed just 220 runs in 13 innings, averaging just 20.
In first-class cricket, Marques has made 5,986 runs in 85 matches at an average of 48.66, including 16 centuries and 31 fifties in 134 innings, with best score of 256.
Rickelton has also not managed a score of fifty-plus since his 71 against Pakistan in Lahore in October last year. His knocks of 259 against Pakistan at Cape Town and this 71-run knock at Lahore have done the heavy lifting for Rickelton being the only fifty-plus scores for him as an opener across 12 Tests.
During the chase of 421 runs, Aiden Markram (75) was the lone fighter as Proteas got skittled out for 206 runs with Josh Hazlewood running riot on the line-up with a six-wicket haul. Australia elected to bat first, reaching 390 courtesy of a marathon 397-ball 190 from Matt Renshaw. Proteas managed 284 in their second innings, with Simon Harmer (35*) and Keshav Maharaj (34) making sure that the deficit was just a little over 100 runs. In their second innings, Australia declared at 314/6, with Renshaw (82 in 99 balls, with seven fours), Nic Maddison (48 in 33 balls, with six fours and two sixes) and skipper Pat Cummins (32* in 12 balls, with four sixes) standing out in a show of aggression from Aussie batters, setting up 421 to win the World Test Champions.