De Zorzi out of first Test against Australia

Tony de Zorzi has been ruled out of the first Dafabet Test against Australia in Durban after sustaining a hamstring injury during the ODI series.

De Zorzi picked up the injury while fielding in the third ODI against Australia in Potchefstroom on Wednesday.

Scans conducted on Friday confirmed the extent of the problem, and he will now miss the opening Test, which gets underway at Kingsmead in Durban on 9 October.

No replacement has yet been named for the preliminary 18-player squad, which was confirmed earlier this month under the captaincy of Temba Bavuma.

Rabada was included in that squad as he continues his own recovery from a hamstring injury, while fellow seamers Ottneil Baartman, Kwena Maphaka and Lungi Ngidi were left out, all still working through hamstring issues of their own.

Gerald Coetzee, Anrich Nortje and Dane Paterson were all recalled to the Test set-up for the series, with Dolphins batter Marques Ackerman the squad’s only uncapped player.

De Zorzi’s injury adds to what has already been a taxing period for South Africa’s fitness staff, with hamstring concerns now extending from the pace attack into the batting unit.

South Africa head into the Test series on the back of a 2-1 ODI series win over Australia, a result that saw the Proteas extend their unbeaten run in bilateral ODI series against Australia to six in a row.

Photo: Prakash Singh/Getty Images

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