Connolly offers some left-arm spin, with the Kingsmead surface expected to offer turn as the match progresses, although there is a route where both he and Maddinson play with Beau Webster missing out.
“We’re just trying to work out what we think is the best batting line-up for those conditions, obviously Cam Green’s out,” Cummins said. “Everyone brings something a little bit different to it, and it’s just trying to work out what the combo is.”
South Africa, who did confirm their XI, have picked two frontline spinners in Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer.
Whichever way Australia structure their final XI, Cummins has urged his team to be ready to play the long game in South Africa if the Test matches take on a slower tempo. It was a concern he had raised after the defeat against Bangladesh in Darwin, where Australia’s batters chased the game on a slower, flatter surface than they had been used to, although Cummins said it applied to the batters and bowlers.
Australia have been involved in three two-day Tests in the last ten months – two against England and one against Bangladesh – which have often been dominated by counterattacking batting and surging spells from the quicks. There have also been a number of other lower-scoring contests where the games have moved in fast-forward, as head coach Andrew McDonald put it earlier in the week.
“We haven’t played too many of those [slower] Test matches in the last few years, particularly in Australia, they’ve been quite fast-paced,” Cummins said. “I think a lot of our success has come off these big moments, with a Travis Head hundred or Starcy running through the top order, but I think we’ve got to get a little bit better at getting to the grind.
“It might not be the glamorous stuff, but it’s that grinding out of session, going for two runs and over, not these major falls or not these whirlwind innings at times. So that’s been part of the conversation, just again, whatever tempo gets thrown at us, or what the game needs, just making sure we match that.”
Labuschagne struck a rapid century in the warm-up match against CSA Invitational XI in Potchefstroom, although the bowling was friendly. He had also dominated domestic cricket in Australia before earning a recall to last season’s Ashes, so the level below has never been the issue for him.
Cummins reiterated his view from the Bangladesh series that he felt Labuschagne was “close to his best” but acknowledged that looking good in the nets “doesn’t guarantee success out on the field”. He also encouraged him to keep things simple.
“He loves cricket, so he’s always talking about cricket and asking lots of questions, which you love,” Cummins said. “For someone like Marn, who is so skilled, it’s actually zeroing in… you don’t need to go too wide with all your different shots and all your different thoughts, you can always think about it too much.
“For us, it’s narrowing in that focus, here’s your scoring areas. You’re never going to play the perfect innings, you’re not going to crack the code of batting perfectly. Just find a way to get through when you’re not feeling well, how do you still get off strike, how do you get down the other end, how do you build an innings. Which, when he first started out, he did brilliantly.”
Meanwhile, Cummins, who has had a carefully managed build-up to this series with just five overs in the final ODI and eight in the two-day warm-up, said he was feeling confident in his body after returning to international cricket against Bangladesh following the stress fracture of his back which restricted him to one Ashes Test last season.
“Physically I feel really fresh, I feel great,” he said. “Last week we had a day in the field in Potch, I think that was good, I feel better for that. So now I feel like I’ve got a good balance between being extremely fresh, a lot of our last nine months [has been] planning for this series essentially, so I feel like I couldn’t be in any better place.
“I don’t need to worry about my back or how many overs I’ve never bowled or anything like that, I can just go and play what’s in front of me. In previous years, you’re fighting a tight hamstring or a sore ankle, I’ve got none of that at the moment. I dare say that won’t be the case if I play a lot of these Test matches, but I’m enjoying it at the moment.”
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at Cricinfo