Cape Town – The Proteas will replace the injured Vernon Philander with Dane Paterson in their squad for the first Test against Pakistan.

Sport24 can reveal that Paterson, who is uncapped at Test level, will join the Test squad in Pretoria ahead of the Boxing Day Test at Centurion. 

The 29-year-old does have three ODIs and eight T20Is to his name, but he has never been part of the Proteas Test set-up before. 

Philander has been ruled out of the first Test with a fractured finger.

The Proteas will go into the Centurion Test with Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn and Duane Olivier spearheading their seam attack, but if they want to play four quicks on a wicket that has historically aided seam bowling, then Paterson will be in line for a Test debut. 

“We have been looking at him for some time,” CSA’s selection convenor Linda Zondi told Sport24 on Friday. 

“He is a bowler who has performed on the domestic scene consistently for a long time and he will be our back-up for the first Test.”

Paterson is currently in 4-Day Franchise Series action for the Cape Cobras against the Warriors in Port Elizabeth, where he picked up 2/40 in the Warriors’ first innings. 

In 93 first-class matches before this one, Paterson has picked up 321 wickets at an average of just 23.56.