Thank You Series: South Africa in Zimbabwe

Background

South Africa, the current World Test Championship (WTC) holders, are set to play a four-day Test match against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, starting on June 28, 2025. This series is often referred to as the "Thank You Series" as Zimbabwe provided South Africa with a crucial four-day match at Arundel earlier this month, which helped them prepare for the WTC final against Australia at Lord's.

Pitch Conditions

The Queens Sports Club pitch in Bulawayo is known for being one of the most docile in world cricket, offering neither bounce, seam movement, swing, nor turn. This makes it a perfect place for batsmen to score runs, but a challenging one for bowlers.

Team Lineups

Zimbabwe

• Possible XI: Brian Bennett, Prince Masvaure, Nick Welch, Craig Ervine (capt), Sean Williams, Wesley Madhevere, Tafadzwa Tsiga, Blessing Muzarabani, Tanaka Chivanga, Kundai Matigimu, Newman Nyamhuri.
• Notable absentees: Ben Curran and Richard Ngarava are out with injuries, while Sikandar Raza is occupied at the MLC.

South Africa

• Confirmed XI: Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi, Wiaan Mulder, David Bedingham, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Dewald Brevis, Kyle Verreynne, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj (capt), Codi Yusuf, Kwena Maphaka.
• Notable absentees: Temba Bavuma (hamstring injury), Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, and Tristan Stubbs.

Quotes

• "Teams always want to play against the world champions. So there's more emphasis on making sure we execute well and focus, whatever is thrown at us." – Keshav Maharaj