Australians and South Africans don’t get along on the cricket field. There, I said it. Now we can all acknowledge the elephant in the room.
Yes I know you were trying to pretend it was Jacques Kallis. That was very unfair of you calling the elephant names like that.
Why do the two sides not get along? It’s simple really. It is because they are so similar. Both sides are generally ultra-competitive, full of machismo, attacking, and arrogant.
It’s kind of like the two jocks at school competing over the affections of the hottest looking cheerleader. Lucky for us it tends to generate some extremely engaging cricket.
This mutual disdain will be on display again this week as the two countries clash in a two match series. Although calling two Test Matches a series is almost the same as calling a schooner a pint.
The Proteas come into the match possibly a tad underdone in the long format of the game. Their last Test Match was the New Years Test against India and most of their squad haven’t played first-class cricket since last summer.
However their squad oozes class. In the batting department any one of Kallis, Hashim Amla, A.B. de Villiers, or even the out of form Graeme Smith can take the game away from the opposition with classy hundreds.
Bowling-wise South Africa has the number one rated Test bowler in the world. Fast, accurate, fiery, and as intense as a mother with high blood pressure on her daughter’s wedding day, Dale Steyn is the complete fast-bowling package.
Steyn, who has neck veins that pulsate like the heart of a lion on amphetamines and breathes actual fire, is ably support by Morne Morkel, left-armer Lonwabo Tsotsobe, and Kallis.
South Africa’s bowling X-factor though could be Imran Tahir, who looks set to make his Test debut. The leg-spinner, who was born in Pakistan, is a proven wicket-taker in First-class cricket and if successful for South Africa would be their first attacking spinner since, well, forever!
The dour negative finger-spinners Pat Symcox, Nicky Boje and Paul Harris will be turning in their graves, if they were dead that is.
Despite facing this formidable opposition, Australia come into this series full of confidence after a successful tour of Sri Lanka and a win in the One Day Series earlier in this tour of South Africa.
The men in the baggy green caps will be banking on Michael Hussey and Shaun Marsh continuing their good form with the bat and that captain Michael Clarke and his predecessor Ricky Ponting get their mojo flowing once more.
The two enigmas of the Aussie side, Phil Hughes and Mitchell Johnson, will be returning to the scenes of glory past as both had extremely successful tours of South Africa in 2009. Johnson took 9 wickets in the warm-up match and he will spearhead an attack that has been bowling a much fuller and more attacking length under new bowling coach Craig McDermott.
In the spin department, Nathan Lyon could make or break Australia. Not necessarily with his wickets but his economy rate as well. He will need to play a holding role at times and if he proves expensive he could end up be the 671st post-Warne era spinner on the scrapheap.
However, all in all I believe throwing all these factors into a container and shaking them around produces the cocktail of a 1-0 series win for the Aussies. The main factors being Australia’s confidence after their win in Sri Lanka and South Africa lacking some Test Match fitness.
One thing is for sure, and that is that there will be no love lost between the two sides. It will be fiery from the first ball.
So grab some biltong, a can of Castle Lager to wash it down with, and sit back and enjoy. This is going to be an intense ‘not quite a series’ series.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Australia have sealed victory in the best-of-three one-day international series against South Africa, avenging their upset loss in match two with a rain-affected 110-run…
South Africa closed an extraordinary see-saw first day of the second and final Test against India at Newlands on 3-62 in their second innings,…
The imminent death of Test cricket has been discussed for decades. From the inception of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket in 1977 to Andrew…
Debutant left-arm pacer Nandre Burger claimed 4-33 as India crashed to a stunning defeat against South Africa on day three of the first Test.…
24 years ago, at Edgbaston, Australia and South Africa locked horns for the most famous ODI in history, ending with scores tied on a…
South Africa have seen off a spirited fightback from Afghanistan to win by five wickets with 15 balls to spare in their final World…
