Tristan Stubbs will keep wicket for South Africa in the opening T20I against Australia in Durban as the hosts look to rotate the gloves in the absence of the rested Quinton de Kock. Stubbs is one of three options for the three-match series and has been chosen to start in the position ahead of Matthew Breetzke and Donovan Ferreira, who have both yet to play an international match.

“He has been working really hard over the last couple of weeks and those that know Stubbo well, know he is the kind of guy that will never really leave a stone unturned,” Aiden Markram, South Africa’s T20I captain, said at the pre-match press conference. “He has spent hours and hours practicing his keeping and it’s been great to see.”

This will be just the second time that Stubbs is the designated wicketkeeper in an official match after he also did the job in a first-class match between Warriors and Boland last summer. In that encounter, which Warriors won by 168 runs, Stubbs took two catches in the first innings and six in the second. He also scored 52 in Warriors’ second innings to help them set Boland a target of 343.

Add to that the fact that Stubbs also bowls offspin – most regularly in T20 cricket – and South Africa have a “real all-dimension player”, as Markram put it. “From his personal game, it adds another element for him to take forward in his cricketing journey,” Markram said. “We’ve seen him do well with the ball and we all know what he can do with the bat, now all of a sudden he has got the gloves.”

But he may not keep them for all three matches. Prior to the series, South Africa’s white-ball coach Rob Walter confirmed the wicketkeeping role will be rotated while de Kock is rested and one or both of Breetzke and Ferreira will also get an opportunity. The first thing would be to get them in the starting XI and Markram could not confirm whether either would debut immediately. “We’ve not finalised our team completely. We will be having our team meeting at 6pm [on Tuesday night] and if there are debutants, we will make it a special ceremony for them, to remember for the rest of their lives.”

Also in line for their first T20I caps are Dewald Brevis, who is expected to bat in the middle order, and Gerald Coetzee, who has played at the Test and the ODI level for South Africa.

Not in line for Wednesday’s match is left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, who is making a comeback from a ruptured Achilles’ ahead of schedule. Maharaj tore the ligament in a Test against West Indies in March and was expected to be out for the rest of the year but has been included in the South Africa squad for the second and third T20Is and the ODI series that follows.

Maharaj spent Tuesday playing his first competitive match since his injury, a warm-up match between Dolphins and Tuskers. “It’s fantastic to see him back on the park,” Markram said. “He has been incredibly committed and motivated to get ahead of schedule in terms of his recovery and today is probably a very special day for him. It’s huge for his career and it’s something he can be incredibly proud of, to get back on the park this soon.”

If match fit, South Africa will consider Maharaj for their 50-over World Cup squad, which will be announced on September 5, with alterations permitted until September 28. With those dates in mind, both the T20I and ODI series against Australia are auditions of sorts and though Markram said the squad is focused on results first, there’s no doubt the World Cup is at the back of their minds.

South Africa prepared to take on Australia with a two-day camp in Kruger National Park, with all their white-ball hopefuls. “It was fantastic,” Markram said. “Being a bush lover, I was in my element. There are certain guys for whom it was outside their comfort zone. You also have to appreciate that. But all in all, the guys loved it. We camped out, in the middle of the Kruger, had rangers and trackers around us. The camp was a tracking camp, so being able to track animals, follow animals, go on bush walks, things like that, which is quite a rare thing to be able to do in the middle of Kruger. The boys loved it.”