Elgar upbeat on Rabada playing in Lord’s Test

Premier Proteas fast bowler Kagiso Rabada is in contention to play in the first of three Tests against England at Lord’s from Wednesday.

On the eve of the keenly awaited match, SA captain Dean Elgar said the front-line seamer is “close” to being fully fit and taking his place in the bowling attack.

Rabada was ruled out of the T20 series against Ireland with an ankle injury, but according to Elgar the fast bowler has had a few good days of training to remain in contention for the first Test.  

SA are already without fast bowler Duanne Olivier, who was ruled out of the series with a grade 2 tear to his right-hip flexor muscle, but other seamers in the squad such as Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortjé, Marco Jansen, Glenton Stuurman and Lutho Sipamla can step in.

“We are still waiting to name the final 12 — ‘KG’ [Rabada] has really done well over the last few days,” Elgar said at his prematch media briefing on Tuesday.

“I think he is very close to being fully fit for this Test match, but that is subject to an announcement of the 11 or 12 players. He’s had a really good few days and it’s looking pretty good for us.”

With rain in London on Tuesday, Rabada did not have the opportunity to train outdoors, but Elgar said he will work indoors.

“He’ll probably have a ball indoors if needs be, but I am not the fitness trainer, physio or the doctor. If I was, he was in very bad hands, but if he has to do something today [Tuesday] they will push him to do something.

“He has done his bit. He doesn’t have to do extra work. I am sure that you’ll probably see his name in the final 11. It is unfortunate about the weather, but it is what it is.”

In the past few days, a lot has been said about England’s new high-octane style of play called “Bazball” under new coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, but Elgar did not want to talk about it any more.

“With all due respect, I am really not going to entertain that [Bazball] any more. We have chatted about it long enough. I just want to crack on with the cricket because the game deserves that respect.

“Mudslinging is a thing of the past for me. We are not going to go back and forth about that.”

Asked about the balance of the batting line-up without Temba Bavuma, Elgar said he is in favour of going for experience.

“Purely because we have lost the experience factor in the middle order, we are more inclined on going with the experience that we have within our batters that we have.

“We have had the option of Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Ryan Rickelton and Khaya Zondo. It’s obviously up to the coach and selectors to finalise our top five, but coming from my side it’s more on the experience factor.”