Mbombela-born Pieter Malan (30) has been selected for the Proteas squad for the first two Test matches against England

He is one of six uncapped cricketers in the squad.

The convener of selectors, Linda Zondi, phoned Pieter on Monday morning, when he and his wife, were heading from home in Cape Town to do Christmas shopping, to inform him of his selection.

“It probably still has to sink in a bit and would definitely become more real if I actually make my debut. But I’m very excited at the moment,” said Pieter on Tuesday.

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He was born on August 13, 1989 at Rob Ferreira Hospital.

Pieter attended Laerskool Bergland and then Hoërskool Nelspruit for three years. He enrolled for grade 11 and matric at Hoërskool Waterkloof when his family moved to Pretoria when he was 17 years old.

Pieter Wolmarans, now head of sport at Hoërskool Bergvlam, coached Pieter for much of his primary school career.

“He was the opening bowler and he opened the batting or came in at number three. He was the star player of the team. At u/13 level he averaged 839 runs in six matches. Not one of the opponents could bowl him out. Pieter scored five consecutive centuries. He was also an outstanding bowler, taking wicket after wicket,” said Wolmarans.

His former coach had this message for Pieter:  “Hi Pieter. Congratulations again. This time I hope they will take note of your staying power and that you will be given a fair chance. Since primary school you have worked harder than the average player and your sheer talent and passion for the game eventually paid off. You were the best primary school captain I have ever coached. May all the luck you deserve be with you and may you be our next big batsman. We are so proud of you. – Mnr Wollie”.

Pieter remembers his days in the Lowveld fondly. “We really loved living in Nelspruit, we couldn’t have asked for a better environment to grow up in. Lowveld people are genuine down earth people who care about each other, something I’ll always remember from our time there,” he said.

As a teenager, he played club cricket for LVCC, at the old oval in Steiltes.

Pieter has two brothers who also attended Bergland, Andre (25) and Janneman (23), both professional cricketers. Their father built them a cricket net with floodlights in their backyard at their house in Mbombela.

Janneman played two T20 matches for the Proteas versus Pakistan in February this year.

Pieter was a member of the South African team that were runners-up in the 2008 u/19 World Cup.

He played minor league club cricket in England early in his career. He represented Northerns and the Titans from 2007 to 2013 and Western Province and the Cape Cobras from 2013 to the present.

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Pieter said his parents, Johan and Tessa, were always extremely supportive of their sport. “When we were in school it wasn’t always about the end result as much as it was about the effort you put in and the way you played the game. My parents always treated us the same whether we got 0 or a 100, and that made a massive impression on me,” he said.

This has reflected on Pieter’s tenacity during his career. In the 13 years as a pro he at times battled to nail down a regular place in his franchise team’s XI. It did not always go his way. Yet he never gave up or stopped working hard.

In the 2016/17 season he was the leading scorer in the Sunfoil three-day cup, with 1 069 runs in nine games. In the 2018/19 season he was top run-scorer for the Cape Cobras in the CSA four-day series, with 821 runs in 10 matches.

SA Cricket Mag has described Pieter as ”arguably the best uncapped batsman in South African first-class cricket”.

The first Test against England is from December 26 to 30 at Centurion. The second will be played at Newlands from January 3 to 7, 2020

The squad gathered in Centurion on Wednesday to prepare for the first match against England.

Pieter has also been selected for the South African A team that is playing England in a three-day match at Willowmoore Park in Benoni from today until December 22. He will open the batting with Reeza Hendricks. England won the toss and elected to bat.

He played two matches for SA A versus India A in India in September.

South Africa Test squad

 Faf du Plessis (c), Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Dean Elgar, Beuran Hendricks, Keshav Maharaj, Pieter Malan, Aiden Markram, Zubayr Hamza, Anrich Nortje, Dane Paterson, Andile Phehlukwayo, Vernon Philander, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Rudi Second, Rassie van der Dussen

South Africa A squad

Temba Bavuma, Nandre Burger, Theunis de Bruyn, Reeza Hendricks, Pieter Malan, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dane Piedt, Lutho Sipamla, Glenton Stuurman, Pite van Biljon, Kyle Verreynne

The Malan brothers made history when, in December 2016, all three hit centuries on the same day in a Sunfoil three-day match between North-West (NW) and Western Province (WP) at Newlands. Pieter scored 117 not out for WP. Janneman made 135 and André 103 not out for NW.