South Africa vs West Indies: The Proteas are braced for their first Test assignment under the axis of Shukri Conrad and Temba Bavuma.
The West Indies arrive with a few problems of their own with a comprehensive review of the state of their game being released just before the trip.
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South Africa vs West Indies: preview
Proteas
South Africa are set to revert to Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram as an opening pair in pursuit of a better batting performance.
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Elgar and Markram will be expected to get South Africa a good start and they will be candidates to end as the Proteas top scorer.
Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje are set to lead the bowling attack and you’d expect that one of the two established quicks could lead the way in terms of wickets.
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Heinrich Klaasen will take over as the new wicketkeeper for this team, and given the nature of the SuperSport Park wicket he and the slips are set to be busy boys.
West Indies
The West Indies will also lean heavily on their opening batters, including skipper Kraigg Brathwaite.
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Second Generation Test batter Tagenarine Chanderpaul has drawn a lot of attention on his first tour of South Africa as well.
They have fast bowlers capable of testing the hosts led by experienced campaigners Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel.
The presence of a genuine allrounder in the Windies lineup in Jason Holder might just be a way for them to gain an advantage.
Squads: South Africa vs West Indies
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (captain). Gerald Coetzee. Tony de Zorzi. Dean Elgar. Simon Harmer. Marco Jansen. Heinrich Klaasen (wkt), Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortje, Keegan Petersen, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton.
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Jermaine Blackwood (vc), Alick Athanaze, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Roston Chase, Joshua Da Silva, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Akeem Jordan, Alzarri Joseph, Kyle Mayers, Gudakesh Motie, Raymon Reifer, Kemar Roach, Devon Thomas.
Pitch report
Pace and bounce are usually the order of the day at SuperSport Park although batters prepared to ride their luck can still get runs on the board.
The wicket does tend to get tougher to bat on in the latter days of Test making batting first the logical choice for a skipper winning the toss.
The West Indies have lost all three Tests they have played at SuperSport Park with their last visit ending in an innings defeat for the tourists.
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South Africa vs West Indies: Prediction
South Africa are big favourites despite the recent upheaval in their group.
The Proteas incredible pace attack is likely to give them a big edge, while knowledge of home conditions should help the batters stay on top.
For the West Indies they key will be resilience with the bat and precision and persistence with the ball.
South Africa are 0.25 for the win with Hollywoodbets. A draw is long for good reason, and you’d be bold to back the Windies at 5.5.
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Match details
Venue: SuperSport Park, Centurion
Series: West Indies tour of South Africa ICC World Test Championship
Season: 2022/23
Test no: 2495
Match days: 28 February, 1,2,3,4 March 2023 – day (5-day match)
Umpires: (Sri Lanka) Kumar Dharmasena (South Africa) Marais Erasmus
TV Umpire: (Australia) Paul Reiffel
Reserve Umpire: (South Africa) Allahudien Paleker
Match Referee: (Sri Lanka) Ranjan Madugalle
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