Bavuma injured his elbow in the One-Day International series against Ireland in Sharjah and missed the successful tour to Bangladesh.

The return of Bavuma sees him taking over the captaincy from Aiden Markram who led South Africa to their first Test series win on the subcontinent in more than a decade.

The 34-year-old has however played no cricket at all since early October and there is a concern that he will not be match-fit for the two vital Tests in South Africa’s bid to reach a first-ever World Test Championship final.

The coach, Shukri Conrad, is confident that they will be able to get Bavuma ready during their camp in Pretoria in the lead-up to the series.

“Whether he’s going to go in cold, yeah he's probably going in cold on the back of not having played any matches,” said Conrad.

“We’re certainly going to be simulating match situations during our short camp we’re going to have in Pretoria, and whatever guys have achieved and gained during playing four-day matches, we feel we can do the same in two days in our camp.

“So whilst everything you say about Temba is correct, I don’t think it plays that much of a role.

Temba Bavuma. Photo: Cricinfo

“His fitness test was always going to be on Monday, and then it would just be too close to a four-day match and too close to the test match. “If we had asked him or forced him to play last week, I think it could have been detrimental and I don't think there was anything to gain from that.”

The Proteas also welcome the return of the two fast bowlers in the form of the left-arm seamer Marco Jansen and the fiery Gerald Coetzee. Both missed the two to Bangladesh after undergoing an eight-week conditioning and rehabilitation block.

The 1st Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka will get underway on 24 November at Kingsmead in Durban.

Proteas Test squad – Temba Bavuma, David Bedingham, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton, and Kyle Verreynne

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek mvh