Cardiff, Sept. 11 -- South Africa is battling a pair of fresh injury concerns just one month out from their first match in the new ICC World Test Championship cycle, as per the ICC website.

Key pacer Lungi Ngidi hurt his hamstring at a training session prior to the Proteas' T20I series against England. At the same time, experienced spinner Keshav Maharaj injured his groin during the warm-up for the opening match of that series.

The pair played a significant role in helping South Africa to a first World Test Championship mace at Lord's in June and have little time to recover ahead of the side's opening fixture of the new cycle against Pakistan that commences in Lahore on October 12.

While the extent of Maharaj's groin problem is still t...