“We haven’t really discarded a player after one Test match or two or three innings”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

South Africa head coach Russell Domingo has confirmed that Theunis de Bruyn will be selected ahead of uncapped batsman Aiden Markram for the first Test against England.

De Bruyn and Markram were in contention for the void left behind by captain Faf du Plessis, who will miss the match as he is still in South Africa with his wife following the “difficult” birth of their first child.

De Bruyn made his Test debut against New Zealand in March and scored 0 and 12 in his two innings.

Despite a disappointing start to his Test career, Domingo insisted that it would be harsh to drop the 24-year-old after just one Test.

“Theunis played the one Test match in New Zealand, as you know there has been a sense of fairness to the players,” Domingo said. “We haven’t really discarded a player after one Test match or two or three innings.

“So at the moment, he will be in the line and should be ahead of a guy like Aiden (Markram) and obviously Heino (Kuhn) comes into the Test opening spot to replace Stephen Cook.”

Since Du Plessis is out, Dean Elgar will take over as captain in the first Test, which gets underway on Thursday at Lord’s.