South Africa have replaced their traditional Boxing Day Test with a Twenty20 international for the 2012-13 home season, during which they will host New Zealand and Pakistan. The home summer will begin the week before Christmas, with New Zealand playing three TWenty20s, two Tests and three GDIs through January, after which Pakistan will tour for a full series in February and March.

South Africa will play a Twenty20 against New Zealand in Port Elizabeth on December 26, and the New Year's Test in Cape Town beginning on January 2.

"We have made one other important change this season with the New Zealand tour starting with three T\venty20 International matches to be played over the Christmas period, instead of the normal Test match," Cricket South Africa's acting chief executive, Jacques Faul, said. "It should be another bumper summer for our fans, [with] five Test matches, eight GDIs and fiveTVventy20s at home.

"This will allow us to continue our policy of rotating limited-overs fixtures among all our affiliates. That was a huge success last season — East London and Paarl, who had been off the international roster for some time, attracted more than 25,000 spectators for the two GDIs (against Sri Lanka] that they hosted. These two provinces are very strong growth areas for the game, [and help] fulfil our mandate of making cricket a truly national sport."