Brevis, Lhuan-dre Pretorius in SA Test squad for Zimbabwe series

Nineteen-year-old breakout batting star Lhuan-dre Pretorius headlines a South Africa squad with five uncapped players for a two-Test series in Zimbabwe starting later this month. Dewald Brevis, Lesego Senokwane, Codi Yusuf and Prenelan Subrayen are the four others in line to make their Test debuts.

The Tests, to be played in Bulawayo, are not part of the World Test Championship (WTC) as Zimbabwe do not feature in that competition and offer coach Shukri Conrad an opportunity to build depth ahead of the 2025-2027 cycle. With that in mind, six players from South Africa's World Test Championship squad - Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada - have been rested, while Dane Paterson could retire after Lord's.

Lhuan-dre has only played six first-class games to date but burst onto the scene with three hundreds in his first five games, including a century in the domestic red-ball final. He averages 65.57 in the format.

Brevis, who was part of the Test squad to Bangladesh last year but did not play, has been rewarded for his consistency in domestic first-class competition. He was the second-leading run-scorer in the tournament with 573 runs in 12 innings, including two hundreds and two fifties and averaged 47.75 and is seen as fulfilling the potential he showed when he finished the 2022 Under-19 World Cup as its leading run-scorer.

"Dewald deserves a lot of credit for how he has progressed over the past 12 months," Conrad said in a statement. "He's shown real growth and maturity in the longer format, and it's encouraging to see him evolving into a more complete cricketer."

The other newcomers have also impressed domestically. Senokwane was the fourth-highest run-scorer in the first-class competition, Subrayen, a spin-bowling allrounder, was the second highest wicket-taker last season and seamer Yusuf was joint-fifth. "This tour provides the ideal platform to expose them to the demands of Test cricket and see how they respond. It's also our first tour to Zimbabwe since 2014, so we're really looking forward to heading over there later this month," Conrad said.

The series is a chance for batter Zubayr Hamza, who played eight Tests between 2019 and 2024, to make a comeback but three of South Africa's quicks - Gerald Coetzee (groin injury), Nandre Burger (lower back stress fracture) and Lizaad Williams (knee surgery) - will have to wait their turn. Kwena Maphaka, who debuted at the Newlands Test against Pakistan earlier this year, will combine with Lungi Ngidi in the pace department.

"Nandre has been given the all-clear by the medical team to play T20s. The plan is to ease him back into the game, starting with the shortest format, and then slowly work him up to the longer formats," Conrad said. "We'll be keeping a close eye on how he handles the workload as he builds toward playing Test cricket again.

"With Gerald, it's part of a bigger plan to help him better handle the physical demands of red-ball cricket. The idea is to give him the best chance to avoid a recurrence of the injuries that have kept him out of Test cricket since the tour against Sri Lanka. His recent performances in T20s have been really encouraging, but the focus is on his long-term growth and ensuring he stays fit across all formats.

"Lizaad is progressing well and is currently in the final phase of his rehabilitation from his knee surgery."

Anrich Nortje, who was in line to play Tests last summer albeit that he turned down a central contract, and has not played international cricket since the 2024 T20 World Cup final was not in the Test squad. After battling with hip and back problems, he broke his toe last December and has only played two games, at the IPL, since. But Conrad confirmed at a press engagement that Nortje is likely to be named in the T20I squad that will play a tri-series in Zimbabwe after the Tests. New Zealand are the third side.

South Africa squad: Temba Bavuma, David Bedingham, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Corbin Bosch, Tony de Zorzi, Zubayr Hamza, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Lesego Senokwane, Prenelan Subrayen, Kyle Verreynne, Codi Yusuf.