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Australia and South Africa meet each other in the first Test of a three-match series at the WACA in Perth. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the first day of this first Test from 1:30pm AEDT.
» DAY 2 LIVE BLOG
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The series promises to be hard-fought between two sides that have in their ranks bowlers of good pace and skill as well as batsmen of the highest quality.
The big question, however, is whether the surface at the WACA in Perth will allow for an even contest between the bat and the ball.
Both countries have been ranked at No.1 in Test cricket by the ICC during the course of the past 12 months.
The Proteas were knocked off of top spot by their home defeat to England early in the year and are now ranked fifth.
Australia lost their place at the top of the ladder following their 0-3 whitewash in Sri Lanka, and now find themselves behind India and Pakistan at the third spot.
Prior to the humbling in Sri Lanka, Australia had won three straight series, at home and away against New Zealand, and at home to the West Indies, without having lost a single Test. They were expected to be in some fight against the inexperienced Sri Lankan side away from home but fell away rather shockingly to the hosts.
Since their loss to England, South Africa have played just a single series, beating New Zealand at home 1-0 in a two-Test series. That said, they did pummel the Aussie side in an ODI series at home, and will bring with them a lot of confidence going into this series.
Quite amazingly, given the advantage that playing at home in Test matches normally provides, none of the last six series between Australia and South Africa has ended in a victory for the home nation.
The last time that Australia won a series on their own soil against the Proteas was a decade ago in the 2005-06 season, when they claimed a 2-0 success. Since then they have been beaten 1-2 in 2008-09 and 0-1 in 2012-13.
The series-winning victory in the most recent series in Australia between the teams came at the WACA, when the Proteas crushed their hosts by 309 runs inside four days.
Australia have named their playing XI with surprise pick Joe Mennie missing out. South Africa will look at the surface and decide on their XI at the toss but might look at including one frontline spinner in the line-up.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the first day of this first Test from 1:30pm AEDT.
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