Coetzee to play enforcer role in place of Nortje for Proteas in series decider

Gerald Coetzee will get a fifth Test start in the series decider against Australia, starting at Newlands on Tuesday with the Proteas opting for as close to a ‘like-for-like’ replacement for Anrich Nortje as the could muster.

Coetzee, who last played a Test against Sri Lanka in 2024, is the only change to the team which won the second Test in Gqeberha. Nortje picked up a mild groin strain, midway his fourth over.

“You want the guy who can play the enforcer role, especially when the wicket gets flat,” Proteas captain Temba Bavuma said on Monday. “He’s probably the closest guy in terms of like-for-like for [Nortje].”

While Coetzee is capable of hitting the 145km/h mark, the 26 year old’s career has been blighted by injury. In his last Test, in Durban, he picked up a groin injury that kept him out of action for the remainder of 2024/25 season.

Upon his return to the national team, he then suffered a rib injury while bowling in a T20 International in Windhoek. “We did consider the fact that he hasn’t played for a while. But he’s been with the team, getting his workloads in. We believe he’s a guy who has the ability to make a big play for the team,” Bavuma explained.

Coetzee faced competition from Corbin Bosch, who can hit 140km/h too and is a better batter, and Dane Paterson, who knows Newlands well, but isn’t as quick as Coetzee, although he probably offers more control.

Simon Harmer also retained his place ahead of Keshav Maharaj, which Bavuma said was a very tough decision. “Kesh, he’s been a stalwart for us, and he’s won many games for us. I think he understands the cricketing reason behind it. Australia have a plural of left-handers in their top seven. So a guy like Simon turning it away from them, he becomes a real threat,” Bavuma explained.

Harmer took two wickets in Gqeberha, bowling an extended spell in the second innings because of Nortje’s absence.

“Kesh, he’s a team man. He’s one of my confidants within the team, so he will and has been valuable to the team, pouring into the guys, offering a helping hand tactically as well. But yeah, that’s one of the tougher decisions I’ve had to be a part of.”

Although spirits in the Proteas team are high after the innings and 31-run win in Gqeberha, there is also a realisation that the batting has fired only sporadically - albeit spectacularly in Bavuma’s case in the previous Test - and the South Africa captain admitted he’d like more consistency from the rest of the batting order.

“You want to be consistent, right? We haven’t had the luxury of a solid top three or four. But while we’re still trying to find that consistency, that stability there, we’ve still been able to get the right type of results.”

Bavuma’s career-best 179, gave the selectors some wiggle room for Newlands. They have stuck with the top seven that played there, with Marques Ackerman, staying at the top of the order alongside Aiden Markram. Ackerman is Markram’s fourth opening partner in the last three years.

“Aiden’s an easy-going guy. I don’t really think it negatively affects his processes. He’s been welcoming to anyone who’s been given the responsibility of partnering with him. Ackerman, he’s the guy there at the top. And hopefully for him, everything goes well and he’s able to make it his own.”

Markram and Bavuma have been the Proteas’ most consistent batters, and the captain explained that they were happy to shoulder the burden of scoring the bulk of the team’s runs.

“Sometimes certain batters are going to have to do the heavy lifting for the team. We’re very much comfortable with that as a batting group.

Australia’s captain Pat Cummins said his side would wait until Tuesday morning before naming their starting team.

SA team: Aiden Markram, Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Temba Bavuma (capt), Matthew Breetzke, Ryan Rickleton, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Kagiso Rabada, Gerald Coetzee

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