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When the Test series kicks off on Thursday, South Africa will have the core of the same team which lost at home to Australia four years ago.
But there were also a host of fresh faces in the 15-man squad they named this weekend.
For the first Test, the Proteas are expected to name six players from the team Australia beat 2-1 the last time they toured South Africa – Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Dean Elgar, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander.
They’ll also likely field another four players Australians will be familiar with – pace prodigy Kagiso Rabada, gun keeper-batsman Quentin de Kock, spinner Keshav Maharaj and batsman Temba Bavuma.
That quartet was part of the Proteas lineup which hammered Australia in Australia last summer.
(AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
The two most significant newcomers in the squad, neither of whom have previously faced Australia, are prolific 23-year-old opener Aiden Markram and 21-year-old express quick Lungi Ngidi. Here is a look at this greatly-talented pair:
Aiden Markram – (23 years old) (batsman) – 520 runs at 52, including two tons from six Tests
So highly regarded is this aggressive young opener that this month he was made stand-in captain of SA’s 50-over team despite having only two ODIs and six Tests to his name at that stage.
Markram has long been earmarked as a potential international star, having led South Africa to an under-19 World Cup win in 2014.
The tall right-hander debuted in Tests five months ago and made an extraordinary start to his career, making 380 runs in his first four innings, including two tons and a 97.
While those runs came at home against the weak attacks of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, anyone who has watched Markram bat at Test level would surely agree he looks every millimetre a genuine opener.
He has an aggressive streak, fond of planting his front foot and thrashing the quicks down the ground or through the covers. But Markram also has a tight, organised defence and leaves the ball well.
He struggled in the recent three-Test series against India but was not alone in a series which featured two very bowler-friendly surfaces. The one weakness Markram has shown so far is a tendency to get caught on the crease, neither getting back nor forward, when pacemen find that perfect in-between length.
This makes him an LBW candidate.
Lungi Ngidi – (22 years old) (fast bowler) – 9 wickets at 17 from two Tests
While Markram laboured against India, Ngidi stormed on to the Test scene with a match haul of 7-90 on debut in the second Test at Centurion. What made that haul even more significant was that it came on the most batsman-friendly surface of the series.
India were daring to dream they could chase down 287 in that Test before Ngidi scythed through them with 6-39, including the giant wicket of superstar Virat Kohli.
Ngidi not only beat Kohli for pace but got the ball to seam back in appreciably past the inside edge of the Indian skipper, who was trapped LBW.
Ngidi has two obvious attributes – startling pace (up to 150kmh) and disconcerting bounce earned by his towering 193cm frame. But he also displayed more subtle skills against India, getting the ball to nip around off the pitch, and intelligently using the full width of the crease.
Despite taking 9 wickets at 17 in his only two Tests to date, Ngidi is not guaranteed of playing the first Test against Australia. Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel are automatic picks, leaving SA three choices.
South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
The first choice is to play four quicks and leave out spinner Keshav Maharaj, the second is to play Maharaj instead of Ngidi, and the third is to field all five of those bowlers, with Philander batting at seven, the position he filled in all three Tests against India.
While South Africa were happy to bat Philander at seven against India, my gut tells me they will want to bolster their batting against Australia’s much stronger attack. Ngidi probably will miss out for Maharaj.
South Africa Test squad:
Faf du Plessis (C), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada.
My predicted XI for first Test:
1. Aiden Markram
2. Dean Elgar
3. Hashim Amla
4. Faf du Plessis (c)
5. AB de Villiers
6. Temba Bavuma
7. Quentin de Kock
8. Vernon Philander
9. Keshav Maharaj
10. Kagiso Rabada
11. Morne Morkel