South African pacer Gerald Coetzee has emerged as a major doubt for the upcoming white-ball series against Pakistan after sustaining a muscle injury during the one-off T20I against Namibia in Windhoek on Saturday, October 11.
Coetzee, who has been troubled by injuries throughout his career, reportedly suffered a pectoral muscle strain during his first spell at the Namibia Cricket Ground. The right-arm quick bowled with good pace early on but was forced to leave the field after just 1.3 overs, including four wides, and did not return to complete his quota.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) later confirmed his absence from the remainder of the match, which the Proteas went on to lose by four wickets.
“𝑰𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒆. 𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 — 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓,” 𝒂 𝑪𝑺𝑨 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂.
Injury Woes Continue for Coetzee
The 23-year-old has endured a string of fitness setbacks over the past year. A groin injury had already ruled him out of the Champions Trophy 2025, but he made a successful return in the Zimbabwe series earlier this year. Since then, Coetzee featured for South Africa A against New Zealand A and was included in both the ODI and T20I squads for the Pakistan tour.
“𝑮𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒅’𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒏,” 𝒂 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅.
Coetzee last played red-ball cricket in November 2024 before being sidelined for the remainder of South Africa’s Test summer due to another groin strain.
Adding to South Africa’s growing injury list, Kwena Maphaka has also been ruled out of both the Namibia fixture and the Pakistan series after suffering a hamstring injury during a domestic red-ball match.
Proteas Still Strong in Pace Department
Despite the setbacks, South Africa boasts impressive depth in their pace attack. Nandre Burger and Lizaad Williams have both made successful comebacks following long injury layoffs — Burger from a stress fracture and Williams after knee surgery.
The Proteas’ Test squad to face Pakistan includes Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, and Wiaan Mulder, giving them a formidable pace arsenal even if Coetzee fails to recover in time.
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