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South Africa won the toss and decided to bat against Pakistan
It has been designated Biff Day at the Wanderers and Graeme Smith, captaining a Test for the 100th time, will remain the focus of attention when the action begins after he decided to bat first.
Smith acknowledged that he expected a tough first session - as it should be in a Test match - but said that he thought the cracks in the surface would play an important part as the game developed. Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, said he, too, would have batted first but was also eager to unleash his pace bowlers on South Africa.
One of those fast bowlers will not be Mohammad Irfan, though, after Pakistan opted not to utilise their giant paceman and instead gave a debut to left-armer Rahat Ali who will form a three-man seam attack alongside Junaid Khan and Umar Gul. The second debutant is Nasir Jamshed, the opening batsman, who has made a mark in one-day cricket.
South Africa's team is as expected with Robin Peterson retaining his place as the specialist spinner and Vernon Philander returning after he missed the second Test against New Zealand with a hamstring strain.
South Africa 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 Faf fu Plessis, 7 Dean Elgar, 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Robin Peterson, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne Morkel
Pakistan 1 Nasir Jamshed, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Umar Gul, 9 Saeed Ajmal, 10 Junaid Khan, 11 Rahat Ali
It has been designated Biff Day at the Wanderers and Graeme Smith, captaining a Test for the 100th time, will remain the focus of attention when the action begins after he decided to bat first.
Smith acknowledged that he expected a tough first session - as it should be in a Test match - but said that he thought the cracks in the surface would play an important part as the game developed. Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, said he, too, would have batted first but was also eager to unleash his pace bowlers on South Africa.
One of those fast bowlers will not be Mohammad Irfan, though, after Pakistan opted not to utilise their giant paceman and instead gave a debut to left-armer Rahat Ali who will form a three-man seam attack alongside Junaid Khan and Umar Gul. The second debutant is Nasir Jamshed, the opening batsman, who has made a mark in one-day cricket.
South Africa's team is as expected with Robin Peterson retaining his place as the specialist spinner and Vernon Philander returning after he missed the second Test against New Zealand with a hamstring strain.
South Africa 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 Faf fu Plessis, 7 Dean Elgar, 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Robin Peterson, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne Morkel
Pakistan 1 Nasir Jamshed, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Umar Gul, 9 Saeed Ajmal, 10 Junaid Khan, 11 Rahat Ali