South Africa coach Conrad wants settled batting order for Bangladesh, England Tests

South Africa are looking for a settled batting order for their summer Tests when they choose the line-up for their first Test against Bangladesh, which gets underway in Johannesburg on Sunday, coach Shukri Conrad said.

Fresh from a 2-1 Test series victory over Australia, which has put South Africa top of the Test rankings and on course to defend their World Test Championship title, Conrad said he wanted to ensure continuity through the two Tests against Bangladesh and then a three-Test home series against England, which begins in mid-December.

South Africa dropped David Bedingham, who played at No. 3 in the three Tests against Australia, and Conrad said on Thursday he would pick one of Tony de Zorzi, who is back from a hamstring injury, or Zubayr Hamza in his place.

“We’ve tried a few players in that No. 3 spot, David was the last one. The last thing I want to do is create … what would look like from the outside … as if it’s a bit of a revolving door in the No. 3 position. It definitely isn’t that,” Conrad said at a Thursday press conference.

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“I want to settle the batting order… I’ve heard the word ‘ruthless’ being bandied about because it looks like we’re giving guys two or three opportunities and — if they do not succeed — out, and that’s definitely not the case.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to get the best players in the side first. We’re going to give these guys a good run now, don’t want to be chopping and changing after every series, so I’ll be very surprised if the batting top seven changes between now and the end of the English tour.”

The fast bowlers, however, are likely to be key for the two Tests against Bangladesh, both of which will be played in the rarefied air of the Highveld in Johannesburg and Pretoria, plus the first two Tests against England, also at the Wanderers and Centurion.

“Bangladesh have got a fast-building attack now. Whereas in years gone by, they’d come here with like a pop-gun attack, now they’ve got guys that can mix it,” Conrad said.

“Especially up on the Highveld, where we expect conditions to favour fast bowling. We’re certainly not going to be underestimating them in any way,” he added.