South Africa are aiming to seal their place in the WTC final of the Test series against Pakistan

CENTURION, South Africa (AP) – South Africa will look for a place in the World Test Championship final with an all-seam attack against Pakistan in the first Test, starting Thursday.

The Proteas need to win one of the remaining two Test matches in this WTC cycle to guarantee a place at the Lord’s final next year and captain Temba Bavuma believes expectations have risen in his team to do well in the two-Test series.

“There will be pressure that comes with it,” Bavuma said. “But to be honest with you, we come into the series to win the series 2-0. We understand that in order for us to do that, there are certain things we have to do as a team: keep things simple , keep doing the little things right and let the results take care of themselves.”

South Africa have included four fast bowlers in the line-up with Corbin Bosch, who consistently bowls over 140km/h, set to play his first Test in his hometown.

Seasoned fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen will team up with Denmark’s Paterson and Bosch to challenge Pakistan’s batsmen on an expectedly fast-paced Centurion pitch where fast bowlers have a clear advantage over the last six years, picking up 227 wickets with spinners dismissing only 16 batters.

Heading into the Tests, South Africa’s best batsmen battled against Pakistan in the a rare 3-0 ODI whitewash with Tony de Zorzi, Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs all failing to read Salman Ali Agha’s offspin bowling in the series opener.

“Whether it’s easy, whether it’s hard, we have to find a way to do it,” Bavuma said. “Whatever, I don’t know, trauma that was there … guys are going to have to deal with it.”

Pakistan have long struggled in Test matches in South Africa, losing 12 and winning just two of the 15 Test matches since they first toured the country in 1995. Pakistan’s below-par show in South Africa includes its lowest Test score of 49 at the Wanderers in 2013.

Pakistan is ranked no. 7 in the WTC points table and Aaqib Javed is its fourth head coach in this WTC cycle with Mickey Arthur and Mohammad Hafeez stepping down after one series. Jason Gillespie resigned just two weeks before Thursday’s test.

Gillespie, who was hired by the Pakistan Cricket Board in April, made a shock start to his two-year contract as Bangladesh swept Pakistan 2-0 in the Test series before England won the first Test at Multan.

Gillespie was removed from the selection panel and Javed was behind Pakistan’s back-to-back wins against England on two engineered spinning pitches, with Noman Ali and Sajid Khan claiming 39 wickets.

But Pakistan have only brought in Noman Ali for the two-Test series in South Africa and are still considering whether to follow South Africa and go with an all-out attack.

Shaheen Shah Afridi, who played in the previous white-ball series in South Africa, has surprisingly been left out of the Test matches.

Naseem Shah and Babar Azam return to the Test fold after missing the last two home Tests against England, while the selectors have recalled seamer Mohammad Abbas after three years with the option of left-arm seamer Mir Hamza in the squad.

Abbas took 90 wickets in 25 Test matches from 2017 to 21 before running out of favor with the selectors despite his consistent performances for Hampshire in England and in domestic first-class cricket.

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