South Africa welcome the dysfunctional Pakistan for two Tests to round off 2024 and christen the new year. The 1st Test action from Centurion gets started on Thursday, December 26 and you can find global daily start times below, plus the information you need to watch South Africa vs Pakistan live streams from anywhere with a VPN. There are even free streams for those in Pakistan.
FREE: A Sports / Ary Zap (Pakistan)
US: Willow Sports via Sling TV
UK: Sky Sports
AU: Kayo Sports / Foxtel
Abroad? Use a VPN to watch any stream
South Africa are so close to an unexpected place in June's World Test Championship Final at Lord's, they can practically start booking accommodation in St John's Wood. Just one more win will seal their berth, and captain Temba Bavuma will be confident his side can get the job done.
Alongside mainstays in the Proteas squad such as Aiden Markram, Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen, uncapped Corbin Bosch and Kwena Maphaka are also in the 16 as they start to look towards the future. They're being left to sweat on the fitness of veteran spinner Keshav Maharaj, though.
To say Pakistan's year in Test cricket has been up and down would be a massive understatement. After being embarrassed by Bangladesh and shipping a record amount of runs to England, they struck back against Ben Stokes and co to win their series 2-1. The huge news in their squad is that seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi hasn't been selected.
You never quite know what's going to happen when Pakistan take to the cricket field. But what we can tell you is the information you need to watch South Africa vs Pakistan 1st Test live streams below — including ways to watch cricket online from anywhere in the world and potentially for free.
How to watch South Africa vs Pakistan online for FREE
A Sports is showing the Test series on TV in Pakistan, which means that there will be free South Africa vs Pakistan live streams on its Ary Zap website and app. All you need to register to watch is your name and email.
Daily play starts at 1 pm PKT in Pakistan, which is 10 am local time in South Africa. That's 3 am ET / 12 am PT in the US and 8 am UK.
Abroad? You might find you need a VPN (try NordVPN — Save 70%) to unblock Ary Zap when travelling outside of Pakistan.
How to watch South Africa vs Pakistan live stream 1st Test cricket in the US
How to watch South Africa vs Pakistan in the UK
Sky Sports has the rights to show live coverage of the South Africa vs Pakistan series — the 1st Test will be shown across its Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event channels. Daily action starts at 8 am UK from Boxing Day.
Sky TV base packages currently start from £15 per month. You can then add the full Sky Sports suite for an additional £20. Or, for new customers, pay from £35 a month for a package that includes Sky Sports.
If you'd sooner not commit to a full Sky package, flexible Now Sports Memberships are also available for £14.99 a day or from as little as £26 a month.
How to watch South Africa vs Pakistan in Australia
You can watch South Africa vs Pakistan in Australia across Fox Cricket 501 and Fox Cricket+ 505, with play starting each evening at 7 pm AEDT from Boxing Day (Thursday).
If you don't have Fox and want and don't wish to subscribe, sports streaming specialist Kayo Sports will also show this and the other games of the series, with monthly rolling plans starting from $25 after a 7-day free trial or your first month for just one dollar.
How to watch South Africa vs Pakistan from anywhere with a VPN
If you're going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch the South Africa vs Pakistan Test, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you can solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
A VPN lets you change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune into live cricket or other content even if you're not there. Our favorite is NordVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.
How to use a VPN to watch any stream
- Download the app at NordVPN
- Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
- Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!
What time does the South Africa vs Pakistan 1st Test match begin?
The 1st five-day South Africa vs Pakistan Test starts on Thursday, December 26 and is scheduled to run until Monday, December 30.
Play gets underway each morning at 10 am SAST local time, which is 8 am UK / 3 am ET / 12 am PT.
What are the Test series dates for South Africa vs Pakistan in 2024?
- 1st Test: December 26-30 — SuperSport Park, Centurion
- 2nd Test: January 3-7 — Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town
What are the South Africa vs Pakistan Test squads?
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne.
Pakistan: Shan Masood (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel.
What is the South Africa vs Pakistan 1st Test venue?
The first South Africa vs Pakistan Test is taking place at the 22,000 capacity Centurion Park — officially known as SuperSport Park Cricket Stadium.
The ground lives in cricketing infamy as the venue where former South Africa captain Hansie Cronje was accused of manipulating a result in a Test against England in 2000.
Kagiso Rabada has the chance in this match to break Dale Steyn's record as the highest wicket taker in this venue's 30-year Test history. The seamer is currently on 57 — just two behind Steyn's tally of 59.
What is the head-to-head record between South Africa vs Pakistan?
Head-to-head in Tests only
Played: 28
SA won: 15
PAK won: 6
Drawn: 7
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