Ask any Australian fan, player, referee or weekend scorer and they will tell you that the most famous rivalry is the Ashes.
The history, the prestige, the atmosphere… I would be a fool to argue otherwise.
India is usually one of the exciting preparations because teams winning away from home happen very rarely, apart from the Virat Kohli of everything, and Australia’s huge Indian diaspora generating excellent crowds.
But if we really think back over the past decade, South Africa should hold a special place in the hearts of every Australian cricket fan.
It’s not always a warm place in the heart, but it’s always intriguing when the men’s teams collide.
Even the first Test between them this summer, though hardly a contest to remember, was more dramatic than it had any right to be.
In a Test cricket climate where winning away from home seems as rare as a still mooing cow, the embarrassingly still nameless series between Australia and South Africa is an outlier.
Only once in eight outings since 2005 has a local team won a Test series, and that was the Proteas in 2018 (and we’ll see how that happened).
Unlike a trip to the cloudy skies and balls of England’s Dukes, or a trip to the dusty, cracked decks of the subcontinent, conditions are similar enough between Australia and South Africa that a tour for either team don’t feel like you’re landing in a strange environment.
So instead of one side struggling with the conditions while the other yells ‘yeah, you better run’ behind the safety of their country’s weather and fields created by friendly outfielders, almost every series is a proper contest between the teams.
We could go back to Mitchell Johnson destroying South Africa, and specifically the hand of Graeme Smith, in 2008. Or a 20-year-old Phillip Hughes scoring two tons in his second Test in 2009. Or Johnson sweeping an impressive century in a losing effort. in the next game.
But let’s focus on the last five series, which have delivered more than enough drama to last a lifetime of rivalries.
2011: Cape Town and Cummins
With 43 of Pat Cummins’ 44 Test matches coming in the last five years, it can be easy to forget how long ago he made his debut.
We all know that he was young. We all know that he spent the next several years injured. But 2011 really feels like another time. And for the Australian men’s test team, he was.
Still afloat and desperately trying to hit rock bottom after the retirements of Warne, McGrath, Hayden, Langer and Gilchrist, Australia were in the infancy of Michael Clarke’s captaincy and the twilight years of Ricky Ponting’s career when they traveled to South Africa to two tests. in November 2011.
The pieces were there, with Hughes, Shaun Marsh, Nathan Lyon and Ryan Harris in the early days of their careers, with the debuts of David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Usman Khawaja just months away, but none of that helped Australia in the series opening in Cape Town.
After Clarke scored 151 of 284 runs in the first dig, and Shane Watson’s reverse swing defeated the Proteas for 96 in the second, Australia were bowled out for 47 in 18 overs in their second innings.
It was the lowest Test score by an Australian men’s team since 1902, with only Peter Siddle’s and Nathan Lyon’s 26 runs for the last wicket preventing them from their worst ever outing.
After that eight-wicket defeat, Australia needed a win to tie the series and retain bragging rights, but would have to do it without the frequently injured Harris.
An 18-year-old New South Welshman was named to replace him. Showing pace, precision, seam and swing, Cummins took 6-79 in the second inning against a stacked batting lineup and then hit the winning runs in a 310-run chase for another famously thrilling victory in Johannesburg.
2012: Du Plessis marathon debut
The first of three Tests in Australia in 2012 ended in a draw when Australia failed to take 10 wickets in 68 tight overs at the Gabba. But 148 at the Adelaide Oval should have been a long time.
Especially once they’ve dropped four wickets in the first 21 overs, bringing a debutant to the fold, right?
Alongside AB de Villiers’ dazzling 33 of 220, future captain Faf du Plessis was simply unbeatable with his unbeaten 110 of 376 balls.
Without injured spearhead James Pattinson, an attack by Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon (helped though they were by Clarke, Ponting and Rob Quiney) fell to within two wickets of victory.
In the final Test in Perth, South Africa captain Graeme Smith surprised a retiring Ricky Ponting with an honor guard as he made his way to the crease, which has since become commonplace for greats to withdraw.
2014: The great forgotten series
On the heels of the Mitchell Johnson-led sweep in the 2013/14 Ashes series, Australia traveled to South Africa for three games.
Sadly Jacques Kallis played his last Test a couple of months earlier, but otherwise all the modern stars were there: Clarke, Johnson, Harris, Warner, Watson, Lyon, Smith (Steve) for the Aussies; De Villiers, Steyn, Morkel, Philander, Amla, Du Plessis, Smith (Graeme) for South Africa. And almost all of them were in something close to his prime, creating an elite fast bowling vs. top batting contest.
Johnson carried his Ashes form into the series at 7-68 and 5-59 as he led Australia to victory in the first Test, while Warner scored 543 three tons at 90.5 for the series in the only country where he has a strong record. on tour. .
In a series that focused on great cricket from top to bottom, perhaps the highlight was Clarke’s 161 with a broken shoulder to set up victory in the decider in Cape Town.
Alex Doolan was also there.
2016: South Africa leads Australia to rebuild
A strong Australian side perhaps cashed in some easier series late in 2014 to 2016.
In fact, Australia had not lost a Test on home soil since 2012 (against South Africa) as they prepared to take on the Proteas once more in 2016.
The lack of competition helped an explosion of interest in the Big Bash, while Adam Voges cashed so aggressively that he had a batting average so high historians will have a hard time explaining it 40 years from now.
It all came crashing down in the space of a couple of days in Hobart.
After losing the first Test in Perth, Australia traveled to Bellerive Oval hoping to turn things around, but cloudy skies prompted the tourists to boldly send Australia up to bat and it worked wonders.
Australia managed 33 overs and 85 runs later, and Steve Smith’s 48 was not the only double-digit score in the first dig.
Despite scoring only a decent 326 in his first innings and losing a whole day to rain, South Africa won by an innings and 80 runs before lunch on the fourth day.
Showing true leadership qualities for perhaps the first time during and after the game, Smith spoke passionately about how they needed a major change. He finished Test races for Adam Voges, Peter Nevill and even rookies Callum Ferguson and Joe Mennie as the team completely revamped itself in pursuit of “ugly racing”.
Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson and classic young Queenslander Matt Renshaw joined the team for the final round of the series, which Australia won handily under the lights at Adelaide Oval.
An Australian journalist was also seen wearing the front of the shirt by a member of South Africa’s support staff as he attempted to question Faf du Plessis after the South Africa captain was cited for tampering with the ball with a mint.
Shame on you, Faf.
2018: hmmmm
No, I don’t remember much of interest happening on this tour of South Africa.
South Africa won it 3-1. Well played guys.
…
It’s okay.
Here are the notes from the cliffs:
- Australia won the first Test thanks to a devastating reverse-swing spell from Mitchell Starc, prompting some to raise suspicions of ball-tampering on the tape in David Warner’s hands on the pitch.
- Quinton de Kock and David Warner clashed on their way backstage after de Kock made comments about Warner’s family.
- Kagiso Rabada was lucky to avoid a ban for excessive wicket celebrations and a hit on Smith.
- All hell broke loose when Cameron Bancroft was caught handling sandpaper in the third Test in Cape Town.
- Subsequently, Tim Paine became captain. Matt Renshaw and Peter Handscomb received their second Protea-induced callout, as did Joe Burns, sporting a beard that wasn’t ready for prime time. They land just in time for the final Test, which Australia lose by 492 runs.
So yeah, a bit of drama.
ABC Sport will have live blog and radio coverage when the Australia vs South Africa test series resumes in the Boxing Day test at the MCG.
