Amid the runs and the records at Kingsmead this week, one of the quieter but more remarkable storylines of the first Test between South Africa and Australia was simply that Anrich Nortje was on the field at all. The 32-year-old fast bowler took the new ball in Durban on his first Test appearance in three and a half years, finishing with 2 for 88 from 28 overs in Australia’s first innings — modest figures, but the culmination of a comeback built on patience after a career repeatedly interrupted by injury.
A career punctuated by setbacks
Nortje’s path back to the Test side has been anything but straightforward. He debuted for South Africa in ODIs in March 2019 and across all three formats within a year, quickly marking himself out as one of the fastest bowlers in the world — he bowled what was then the IPL’s fastest recorded delivery, clocked at 156.22 km/h, while playing for Delhi Capitals in October 2020. But fitness problems followed almost as regularly as the wickets: an ankle injury during the 2018 Mzansi Super League, a shoulder injury that cost him the 2019 IPL, and a hand injury in May 2019 that forced him out of that year’s 50-over World Cup. The cruellest blow came ahead of the 2023 ODI World Cup, when he was named in South Africa’s squad only to be ruled out through injury before a ball was bowled, and his last Test appearance before this week dated back to September 2023.
Why his return matters now
South Africa have, for the best part of three years, had to plan major series without one of their most naturally gifted fast bowlers. His reintroduction comes at a significant moment: South Africa are the reigning World Test Championship champions, sitting second in the current WTC table behind an Australia side they are now hosting in a three-match series that carries real weight for both teams’ paths back to the next WTC final. A fully fit, Test-match-sharp Nortje gives captain and selectors an attacking option that can trouble batters on bounce and pace alone, something South Africa’s attack has periodically lacked without him.
A tough reintroduction
His figures in Durban — 2 for 88 off 28 overs — came against an Australian lower order that rallied spectacularly, with Matt Renshaw’s career-best 190 and a record ninth-wicket stand turning what could have been a modest Australian total into 390. It was, in other words, far from an easy comeback assignment: bowling long spells into a pitch and a partnership that refused to break. Still, it was Nortje’s short-pitched bowling that produced the Test’s most dramatic moment, striking Steve Smith on the helmet during Australia’s second innings and forcing the tourists to monitor their star batter’s fitness heading into the decisive final day.
The selectors’ calculated risk
Recalling a bowler with Nortje’s fitness history is not without risk, and South African team management will have weighed workload carefully given the long tour that follows, with Tests also scheduled in Gqeberha from October 18 and Cape Town from October 27. Some within South African cricket circles have urged caution, suggesting Nortje be managed across the series rather than bowled into the ground in the opening Test; others argue that with the WTC table as tight as it is, South Africa cannot afford to hold back their most dangerous bowler in must-win territory.
The bigger picture for South African pace bowling
Nortje’s comeback also arrives alongside broader optimism about South African fast bowling depth, with Kagiso Rabada continuing to anchor the attack and speaking openly about defending home advantage ahead of the 2027 World Cup, which South Africa co-hosts with Zimbabwe and Namibia. A fit Nortje alongside Rabada and Marco Jansen — who took 3 for 68 in Durban — would give South Africa as potent a pace trio as any side in world cricket, assuming his body holds up.
What’s next
With South Africa facing the prospect of chasing the highest successful fourth-innings total in Test history simply to save the Durban Test, Nortje’s workload management will be an immediate talking point as the series shifts to Gqeberha. If his body holds up through the remaining two Tests, his return could prove to be one of the most significant subplots of South Africa’s home summer — a fast bowler finally fit enough to show what three lost years of Test cricket cost both him and his team.
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