Nortje Out of Test Decider Against Australia

South Africa fast bowler Anrich Nortje has been ruled out of the third and final Test against Australia with a mild right groin injury. The decider starts on Tuesday, October 27 at Newlands, Cape Town, and runs to October 31, with the three-match series level at 1-1.

Nortje picked up the injury while bowling in the first innings of the second Test in Gqeberha. Scans the following day confirmed it. Cricket South Africa has chosen not to name a replacement, and the 16-man squad for the decider is otherwise unchanged. The length of his lay-off has not been made clear.

The setback cuts short a comeback to the longest format. Nortje had not played a Test in more than three-and-a-half years before the series opener in Durban. He was expected to be rested for the second Test, but South Africa kept him in the XI after he came through the first match without any trouble.

His absence leaves the selectors with a choice of three. Gerald Coetzee has not played a Test in nearly two years, all-rounder Corbin Bosch is another option, and Cape Town local Dane Paterson knows the home ground. All three have been with the squad since the first Test.

The series has swung both ways. Australia won the opening Test in Durban by 214 runs, and South Africa answered by winning the second in Gqeberha by an innings and 31 runs. Newlands now decides the series, which is part of the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle. The fast-bowling group around Nortje includes Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Wiaan Mulder, all in the 16-man squad led by Temba Bavuma. South Africa will need one of the three options to fill the gap Nortje leaves in a Test where each session could matter, and the final team will be known when the toss takes place on Tuesday morning.