South Africa Pacer Nortje Ruled Out of First Test Against Bangladesh

South Africa's first Test against Bangladesh will be played in Johannesburg, and the hosts' fast bowler Anrich Nortje has been ruled out of that Test.

Nortje was in the squad for the South Africa-Bangladesh series, but he will not play in the first Test starting in Johannesburg on November 15.

In the most recent Australia series, he was injured at the start of the second Test and could not play the full match.

Proteas head coach Shukri Conrad confirmed the matter. At a press conference, Conrad said Nortje had a scan at St George's during the Test, nothing worrying was found, the injury was not as serious as first thought, no special treatment was needed, and he needed only some rest followed by rehabilitation.

Conrad said there is definitely a chance of having him in one of the Tests here, especially the second Test, that medically he had no problem and has recovered well, that he started training early enough, is gradually increasing his training load, and should be fully ready to play by the second Test.

Bangladesh and South Africa will play the second Test of the series in Centurion from November 23. The hosts hope to have the 32-year-old pacer Nortje for that match.

Beyond that, South Africa's 15-member squad has sufficient pace options. Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Dane Paterson, Wiaan Mulder and Corbin Bosch are in the squad.

However, no specialist spinner has been kept in South Africa's squad.