South Africa announce Playing XI for first Test against Sri Lanka, captain returns

South Africa will be facing Sri Lanka in a two-match series from November 27 onwards. The Proteas have announced their squad for the first Test match in Durban with their regular captain returning to the Playing XI.

South Africa have announced their Playing XI for the first Test of the two-match series against Sri Lanka, starting on November 27. The Proteas are set to face the Lankan Lions in a crucial series with the World Test Championship race picking up the pace. Proteas captain Temba Bavuma makes a return for the opening game in Durban.

Bavuma, who has been out of action for quite some time due to his elbow injury, will be back leading the side, which sees the return of Gerald Coetzee and Marco Jansen in the Test fold. Both the players have not played a Test since last summer when the Proteas hosted India for a two-match series. They recently made an International return in the T20I series against India.

Bavuma had picked up the injury during an ODI against Ireland in early October and has not played any competitive cricket since then. Test coach Shukri Conrad is confident that Bavuma will be ready for the challenges coming ahead. 

"He's probably going in cold in the back of not having played any matches but we're certainly going to be simulating match situations during our short camp we're going to have in Pretoria," Conrad said. 

"His fitness test was always going to be yesterday (Monday, November 18) and then it would just be too close to a four-day match and too close to the Test match (for him to play a game). If we had asked him to or forced him to play last week, I think it could have been detrimental. And I don't think there was anything to gain from that," he added.

South Africa hold the aces in their hands in the race for the World Test Championship points table. They are in fifth position in the WTC standings but with four home games - two each against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the Proteas have a strong chance to make it to the final. If they win all four, South Africa will be through.

South Africa's Playing XI for 1st Test:

Tony de Zorzi, Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada