'In your face' Rabada ready, but Green looking unlikely

Of all people, Ryan Rickelton, South Africa's incoming Test wicketkeeper, might have been the one to confirm Kagiso Rabada's readiness to be unleashed on Australia.

Rickelton will take the gloves in a Test for the first time this week but if the sometimes stumper was hoping for a leisurely catch at St George's Park on a sunny Thursday morning, he had another thing coming.

Rabada, bowling alongside South Africa's reserve fast bowlers on a tasty centre-wicket strip, fizzed several balls past the outside edges of captain Temba Bavuma and likely debutant Marques Ackerman.

The extra velocity of the rubber-limbed spearhead's deliveries became increasingly apparent as Rickelton took several backward steps each time Rabada began his languid approach to the crease. And even with the extra sighting distance, Rickelton caught many of Rabada's balls with his fingers pointing skyward.

After a hamstring injury sidelined him in Durban, Rabada looks ready for Gqeberha.

It stands in contrast to Cameron Green's own movements later in the afternoon as it became clear Australia would be unlikely to call on their own star reinforcement until the third Test in Cape Town.

The allrounder batted for the first time since suffering an abdominal injury a fortnight ago but was limited to punching and nudging gentle throwdowns in the nets.

"He'll be hitting over the next week. He started to get moving last Test, so he's around," assistant coach Matthew Wade told reporters. "I think maybe more looking for the third Test, but he's starting to get moving, which is a positive sign."

Josh Inglis is a better chance of coming into contention after he had a long bat against Scott Boland and Michael Neser on that same wicket-square pitch.

The right-hander appeared untroubled by the splint protecting the broken index finger on his bottom hand as he reverse-ramped Boland and then launched several enormous sixes into the empty stands off bowling coach James Franklin's spin throws.

Australia would need to move on Beau Webster or Nic Maddinson, or even Marnus Labuschagne, for Inglis to stand any chance of playing the second Test.

"Whether his finger is 100 per cent right for this Test, I'm not 100 per cent sure," said Wade. "But he's looking to put himself in the frame for this Test match."

The only other factor that could conceivably play in Inglis' favour is the forecast of rain for the first two days of the Test. A shortened match could prompt selectors to get funky with their XI, with Wade reiterating the team's openness to flipping their batting order mid-match.

"I couldn't put a timeline on how close we are," said Wade, who himself batted in every spot between 5-8 and also opened four times in his 36-Test career. "But I think if the conditions tell us that it's time to change the batting order, we'll make that change.

"Traditionally, openers have opened, but the conditions have changed so much over the last 10 years, especially at domestic level. We're finding guys are going up and attacking more.

"Obviously, the way England attack Test cricket was completely different to maybe what we've seen before. It's just the evolution of the game, and maybe conditions have dictated guys to go up into that role and attack a little bit more, which means guys shuffle around.

"Where it lands in the next four or five years, no-one knows, but our group's really adaptive to it now."

Rabada in all bowled for around 45 minutes at something approaching full pace. He followed that with a lengthy hit on the same wicket, practicing extensively against the short ball.

He later performed a series of sprints on the outfield nearer the grandstand, not dissimilar to the ones Green himself later completed on the opposite wing in the afternoon.

Rabada's inclusion is certain to add venom to the Proteas attack even if speedster Anrich Nortje, their most effective bowler at Kingsmead, is the one who makes way.

"The thing that stands out with him is his competitiveness," said Wade, who faced Rabada extensively in white-ball cricket before working with him at IPL outfit Gujarat Titans last year.

"He takes it to the opposition. He'll be in our face. He'll keep coming for the whole Test match – we really know that.

"With him coming back in, it gives them great versatility. They went the two spinners (Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer) last time, but they can bring quicks in. Him and Nortje can basically take one quick spot, (bowl) short spells and really attack us hard if they want to.

"It's going to be a challenge every single Test match to be able to get on top of their attack. Thankfully we found a way in the first Test but we're under no illusions here that it's going to be a tough game for us."

Few bowlers have troubled Australia like Rabada, whose 58 Test wickets against them have come at just 21.39. Outside of Australia, his record against them is even better with 32 Australian victims at 17.28 – the lowest average of any seamer who has played the Aussies more than twice this century.

Rabada also carries a swagger, earned from being the only bowler with at least 150 Test wickets to hold a sub-40 strike-rate, that is certain to make his teammates walk a little taller after their 214-run humbling in the series opener.

Even if the wild-eyed edge he possessed during the heated 2018 series has softened somewhat, Rabada is unlikely to need long to recapture the hot-bloodedness if he plays his first match in any format since May.  

"When you get competitive, it's just like a whole different energy," he said in conversation with Pat Cummins in a cricket.com.au feature interview before South Africa's 2022-23 tour of Australia. "Emotion can just come out of nowhere, and literally just spur you on.

"But having grown older, you just have more maturity, and you just carry yourself in a different manner, and you just channel that energy in a different manner. Whereas when I first started, I was just extremely raw.

"So I'd say that I have settled down, quite evidently, but the passion is most definitely still there."

Qantas tour of South Africa 2026

All matches to be broadcast exclusively in Australia on Kayo and Fox Cricket

First Test: Australia won by 214 runs

Second Test: October 18-22, St George's Park, Gqeberha, 7pm AEDT (10am local)

Third Test: October 27-31, Newlands, Cape Town, 7:30pm AEDT (10:30am local)

South Africa squad for second Test: Temba Bavuma (c), Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Matthew Breetzke, Corbin Bosch, Gerald Coetzee, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortje, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Kyle Verreynne.

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Sam Harper, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (second Test onwards), Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nic Maddinson, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster