Bavuma: Picking Ngidi over Paterson 'tactical'

At Lord's come Wednesday, Lungi Ngidi will play his first Test in ten months, and only his third under coach Shukri Conrad. Ngidi was confirmed in South Africa's XI for the WTC final ahead of Dane Paterson, preferred for the extra pace and bounce in an attack that will also feature Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder and Keshav Maharaj.

"It was probably one of the tougher decisions that have been made," South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said at his pre-match press conference. "We've seen what Patto [Paterson] did for us at the end of last season. But from a tactical point of view, there's a little bit more pace from Lungi. He is taller as well."

On the Lord's slope, a bowler's height is considered a major asset. All of Australia's quicks are at least 1.90m tall, while Jansen stands at 2.06m and Ngidi at 1.93m. Mulder, at 1.85m, is the shortest of the quicks across both sides, and his bowling style - medium pace with the ability to move the ball - was considered too similar to Paterson's to include both of them in an attack looking for variety.

"Lungi has the experience. He's played here before - not that Patto hasn't, but Lungi complements that bowling attack a little bit more," Bavuma said. "We have a guy like Mulder as well, who kind of gives you something similar to what Patto can do. But I think that was probably one of the difficult decisions that we had to make."

Ngidi's inclusion could still be considered a risk. While he has played at Lord's before, against England in 2022, he bowled 12 overs across two innings, with figures of 1 for 27. Ngidi has also only played two Tests in the last 18 months, and no red-ball cricket last summer. He trained with Rabada, Jansen and Mulder under the watch of Stuart Broad on Monday afternoon.

Ngidi's last first-class match was South Africa's Test against West Indies in August last year, where he bowled 16.5 overs with a haul of 1 for 51. Since November 2022, Ngidi has only bowled a combined ten-plus overs twice - both times in Tests - as he has battled a series of injuries. The latest was a groin concern that ruled him out from mid-November last year to January this year.

Ngidi played five games in the SA20 this year and all of South Africa's matches at the Champions Trophy and two games at the IPL. He bowled two overs against Zimbabwe in Arundel in a rain-affected warm-up match, but it remains to be seen how he will perform in long spells - or in third, fourth and fifth spells if required.

Paterson is proven in that regard, and delivered 68 overs in the two Tests he played over the home summer in 2024-25, when he took 13 wickets at 16.92, South Africa's best average. But Paterson has only once played in a Test with Mulder, in Bangladesh last October, where both had a light second-innings load as the spinners took control.

South Africa's desire to lengthen their batting line-up and balance their attack has ultimately cost Paterson the chance at a perfect farewell. He has not been named in their squad for the Tests against Zimbabwe later this month, and at 36, is in the twilight of his career. Ngidi and Mulder, meanwhile, at 29 and 27, respectively, will be part of the core for the next few years.

Mulder has also been given the responsibility of batting at No. 3 in the WTC final, something he has only done twice before in his career - and both times for South Africa.

The first was in Durban against Sri Lanka last year. When Tony de Zorzi was dismissed in the 12th over, Mulder offered to come in to try and take the shine off a new(ish) ball. But he suffered a broken right middle finger and was ruled out of cricket for the rest of 2024. Mulder returned for the New Year's Test against Pakistan, where he again batted at No. 3, and scored 5.

His most successful batting position in the top seven in all first-class cricket is No. 5, where he averages 39.20. But South Africa have chosen to use Tristan Stubbs, who was originally given the No. 3 spot, in that position. The other batter in the squad is opener de Zorzi, who has lost his spot to Ryan Rickelton and has not been considered at No. 3 - for now.

"Mulder is quite young obviously in that position. But having played with Mulder, [and] having seen the way he has grown in the last two years within red-ball cricket, it's about giving him a lot more confidence, backing him, and allowing him to do what he does best," Bavuma said. "He has an opportunity in a pressure situation. But I think he can take comfort from the fact that the guys are backing him. We just want him to go out and play his game."

If Mulder is looking for advice, he could find some from Hashim Amla, South Africa's most successful No. 3 among all those to have batted at least 20 times there.

Amla averaged 49.95 in that position, and scored 25 hundreds. He was inducted into the ICC's Hall of Fame on Tuesday evening, alongside former captain Graeme Smith, and his first tip to Mulder was to make sure he was ready to bat as early as possible.

"You have to be able to handle a new ball. That's because most of the time at No. 3, you end up coming in pretty early - so you're always prepping for that," Amla said. "You've got to have a good technique, and you've got to have the experience of batting in the top order for a long time. That makes the quality of a good No. 3 batsman for a long period of time."

Like Mulder, Amla was not a natural No. 3, but thinks it's a role players can grow into.

"When I first started at three, I was not a No. 3 batter. I actually preferred [batting at] four and five, and batting at three for South Africa was the only gap at that stage," Amla said. "They asked me to do it, and I did it. I had a season of doing it with the Dolphins, and then going to the national team. In this current team, you may not have guys who have batted [at] three domestically, but there's a time for them to start. And if Wiaan bats at three, it might be his time.

"You have to be real that you need time to learn the position, and although it's a big final, it's tough to be in the deep end like that. But he can make it work. He's technically sound, and the style of cricket that South Africa look to be playing is a little bit more attacking. So in many ways, your technique is not tested as much. You're playing a bit more shots than normal, so it might fit into the way that South Africa are playing."

Of the two contenders for No. 3, Stubbs could be considered the more aggressive. But after trying him at No. 3 for five Tests in which he averaged 44.71, albeit on fairly flat tracks, South Africa decided to move him down, where he can play with more flair. Bavuma will bat at No. 4, between Mulder and Stubbs.

With Bavuma as South Africa's leading Test run-scorer in the last five years, Mulder and Stubbs' fortunes are as, if not more, reliant on their captain's performance.