Bavuma back as domestic Test season gets underway

South Africa Test captain Temba Bavuma is among a dozen national players set to feature when the country's first-class season opens on Thursday.

He will be joined by batters Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs and David Bedingham; allrounders Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen and Senuran Muthusamy; and bowlers Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer, Lungi Ngidi, Ottneil Baartman and Dane Paterson, Firdose Moonda writes for Cricinfo.

The 12 are expected to feature prominently across a demanding home summer that includes eight home Tests and two away fixtures over the next seven months, as South Africa defend their World Test Championship title.

Kyle Verreynne, Bedingham and Harmer have been recalled from county cricket in England to honour their national contracts – Harmer on a hybrid deal – at the start of the domestic season, while Ngidi returns from a stint with Glasgow Cosmic in Europe's T20 Premier League.

This season marks the first time since the domestic structure's overhaul six years ago – when South Africa moved from a six-team franchise system to a two-tier, 15-team competition – that Division 1 sides will play 10 red-ball matches, up from seven previously.

National players are typically unavailable for most of the domestic season given the fixture list, but Cricket South Africa has in recent years sought to include as many as possible ahead of Test assignments. Players not required by the ODI squad currently in Namibia – including Dewald Brevis – or the South Africa A side facing Bangladesh A – including Zubayr Hamza – will turn out for their provincial sides in next week's opening round.

Head coach Shukri Conrad, speaking from Namibia, said everyone outside the senior ODI or A squads would feature in the first round, with those not involved in the ODI series against Australia playing the second round.

That leaves Aiden Markram, Corbin Bosch, Kwena Maphaka and Gerald Coetzee as the only contracted players set to head into the home Tests without red-ball match practice. Markram, unavailable for personal reasons and yet to play since an early return from the Hundred, has nonetheless been named in the ODI squad against Australia.

With most of South Africa's frontline bowlers currently occupied by white-ball commitments, workload management heading into the Test series is a live concern – particularly given strike bowler Kagiso Rabada's absence. Rabada is out for September while recovering from a hamstring injury sustained during winter training, with a decision on his availability for the Tests to be made closer to the series opener on October 9.