DURBAN, South Africa (AP) — Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada was officially out, and world champion South Africa confirmed it was fielding two spinners against Australia in the first cricket test at Kingsmead on Friday.

Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer have been paired at a venue which has favored spin in recent years. They last played together in South Africa’s last test last November, a 408-run win in Guwahati that clinched a first series win in India in 25 years.

Rabada was given as long as possible to recover from a hamstring injury. He has not played an official match since May in the Indian Premier League.

Captain Temba Bavuma would not say on Thursday whether his best seamer would be available for the second or third tests.

“We did go the conservative route and give him a couple of extra days to get as close as he can be to 100% fitness,” Bavuma said. “As soon as he gets that green light, we expect him to be in that starting lineup.”

In Rabada’s absence, Anrich Nortje will play his first test since March 2023. Nortje, Marco Jansen and allrounder Wiaan Mulder were the pacers.

The injury-prone Nortje has limited his cricket diet to mainly Twenty20s in recent years, but he said he’s been training for a while with a red ball under the eye of national bowling coach Piet Botha to increase his workload.

“He doesn’t have the weight of overs under his belt of bowling with red-ball cricket,” Bavuma said. “He’s been very impressive in the nets, so I think it was a calculated call to give Anrich Nortje a go.”

South Africa squad for 1st Test vs AUS

Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, David Bedingham, Temba Bavuma (captain), Tristan Stubbs, Wiaan Mulder, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje.