Proteas head to Pakistan to start WTC title defence

South Africa will start its World Test Championship defence with a two-match series against Pakistan, playing a Test in Lahore for the first time in 18 years.

The first Test starts on October 12, followed the next week by Rawalpindi, the third time that South Africa have played a five-day match in the northern city. 

It is South Africa's first tour to Pakistan in four years. In 2021 they lost both Tests, the first in Karachi by seven wickets and second by 95 runs in Rawalpindi. 

The Tests will be followed by T20 and One-Day series, each of those comprising three matches. 

The Proteas surged to the WTC title with a memorable victory against Australia at Lord’s and face a tough defence of that crown, which after the tour in Pakistan, includes a two-Test series in India. 

After a Test-less home summer, next year South Africa face Bangladesh, Australia and then England on home soil. The Proteas have won two of the four series played in Pakistan. 

In 1997 after draws in Rawalpindi and Sheikhupura and South Africa won a dramatic third Test in Faisalabad by 53 runs, with Gary Kirsten carrying his bat to notch up a first innings century and Shaun Pollock taking 5/37 in the second innings 

Pakistan turned the tables in 2003 claiming the only win in a two-Test series in the first match in Lahore, and in 2007 two centuries from Jacques Kallis in the first Test were enough to claim the series win. 

There is a short turnaround between the Pakistan tour and South Africa's next assignment in India, making it likely the Proteas will head straight to Kolkata, where the first Test of that two-match series starts on November 14.

After the next Test in Guwahati, the teams will play three ODIs, followed by a five-match T20 series that wraps up on December 19. 

Meanwhile the Proteas will face England in Southampton on Sunday in the last match of the ODI series, which South Africa has already won, after victories at Headingley and Lord’s. A three-match T20 series will start in Cardiff on Wednesday. 

England announced on Saturday that opener Ben Duckett has been given time off and will be replaced by all-rounder Sam Curran.