Senokwane, who will be joining the Titans next season, is set to open the batting in place of Matthew Breetzke.

The Proteas will also field another debutant in Dolphins all-rounder and captain Prenelan Subrayen, who replaces Keshav Maharaj. Maharaj has been ruled out after sustaining a groin injury while batting in the first Test.

All-rounder Wiaan Mulder, who is captaining the side for the Test, said that Senokwane has been knocking on the national door for some time, and now is the perfect opportunity to give him a chance at the highest level.

“I don’t think there were any major concerns. If you look across both teams, batting was difficult,” said Mulder.

“Scoring in the top four was tough overall – there weren’t many big scores from any of the batters, so I wouldn’t call it a concern.

Senuran Muthusamy. Photo: Morgan Piek

“The key thing is they want to see what Lesego brings to the table. He’s really forced his way in at domestic level, so it’s exciting for him to make his debut here in Zim. I know he’ll do well – I wish him all the best.”

Mulder added that he doesn’t expect the pitch to be much different from the first Test, and said including an extra spinner was more about having flexibility.

“I think the conditions will be very similar. The groundsman actually said there’s even less moisture in this wicket than there was last week,” Mulder explained.

“Playing two spinners is more for the long game. If you look at how the pitch behaved in the first Test, it flattened out nicely. Having both an off-spinner in Subrayen and a left-arm spinner in Senuran Muthusamy gives us good balance alongside the three seamers.

“So no, I don’t expect things to be too different from the first game.”

Play at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo is scheduled to get underway at 10:00 on Sunday morning.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg