The much-awaited South Africa-Australia Test series gets underway today at Kingsmead, Durban. The series has added significance because of the controversial Sandpapergate back in 2018, the last time the Aussies were in the Rainbow Nation for five-day contests. Australia and South Africa last year played in the World Test Championship final, which the latter won at Lord’s, a result that, to all intents and purposes, surprised many. Proteas captain Temba Bavuma, who scored a crucial 66 in the fourth innings, chasing 282 to win, is looking forward to the upcoming Test as it gives them an opportunity to celebrate their triumph last year with their local supporters.
“It’s our first time playing Test cricket since we’re the WTC champions here at home,” Bavuma said at the pre-match press conference on the eve of the series opener.
“We’d like to celebrate that moment with our local fans. Hopefully, the people in Durban will come out in support tomorrow,” he added.
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Bavuma, who has played 66 Tests to date and scored 3,810 runs, has made it clear that his team is looking at nothing but a win against Pat Cummins’ men. “The focus is on this game. We want to put out the best team to be competitive in this game and obviously to win it,” he said.
South Africa have already announced their playing XI with tear-away pacer Anrich Nortje set to play his first Test since 2023. Hamstrung since August, first-choice Kagiso Rabada has failed to recover in time for the first Test, and that may have paved the way for Nortje. 36-year-old Bavuma, however, says: “A guy like him (Nortje) is hard to ignore. There aren’t many guys around who are bowling 150-plus, and I think as a batter, that’s not something that I would look forward to. He fits in very well into our approach from a bowling point of view with regards to the fast bowlers. I think the time that we’ve had here as well, he’s been very impressive in the nets. I think it was a calculated call to give Anrich Nortje a go.”
Bavuma also thinks that the inclusion of fast-bowling allrounder Wiaan Mulder is going to help the Proteas in a big way as the 26-year-old can contribute in all three departments, particularly in batting. “Wiaan gives you a little bit more with the bat. I think in that position, six, seven, you need someone that can score big runs. Wiaan has shown he can do that. The opportunity is there. And I think with the new ball as well, in terms of the role that we see him playing, we believe that he can be effective in that. He’s a good slip catcher as well. So I think that also counts in his favour. But yeah, probably the overriding factor was his ability with the bat,” he said.
South Africa Playing XI:
Temba Bavuma (c), Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, David Bedingham, Tristan Stubbs, Wiaan Mulder, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje.