The rivalry between Australia and South Africa isn’t old. The two teams have over the last few decades fought tooth and nail to stake claim as the best team in the world. Come Saturday, the two teams will battle once again in a 3 match test series.
There is a lot of things on offer, but none bigger than massive points for the World test championships. The two teams occupy the first two places, with South Africa in particular looking over their shoulder with the looming presence of India. Dean Elgar will hope to keep the South African momentum against Australia keeps going and also deny India a place in the final.
Venue – The Gabba , Brisbane
Time – 5:50 AM IST
Likely Pitch conditions –
Gabba has always had pace and bounce and the tall South African bowlers will love bowling at this venue. Australia surrendered their proud unbroken record to India in early 2021. The venue slowly becomes a haven for spinners with the pitch wearing out slowly. Nathan Lyon and Keshav Maharaj will enjoy bowling on these conditions with run scoring set to be difficult come day 4 and 5.
Likely Australia XI –
D. Warner, U. Khawaja, M. Labuschagne, S. Smith, T. Head, C. Green, A. Carey, P. Cummins, M. Starc, S. Boland and N. Lyon
Likely South Africa XI –
D. Elgar, S. Erwee, RVD Dussen, T. Bavuma, T.D. Bruyn, K. Verreynne, M. Jansen, K. Maharaj, K. Rabada, A. Nortje and L. Ngidi
Head to Head Record –
Matches played – 98
Wins for Australia – 52
Wins for South Africa – 26
Drawn games – 20
Head to Head at this venue –
Matches played – 4
Wins for Australia – 2
Drawn games – 2
Brisbane Test Record –
Games played – 64
Games won by Australia – 41
Games won by visiting side – 9
Matches drawn – 13
Tied match – 1
Games won batting 1st – 25
Games won batting 2nd – 25
Games won after winning the toss – 24
Games won after losing the toss -26
Average score batting 1st – 335
Average run rate – 3.1 RPO
Highest score by a batter at this venue – 259 not out by Michael Clarke vs SAF in 2012
Best bowling figures at this venue – 9/52 by Sir Richard Hadlee vs AUS in 1985
Highest team total – 645 by AUS vs ENG in 1945
Lowest team total – 58 by India in 1947 and England in 1936
Approaching milestones –
·Pat Cummins needs 2 wickets for 250 wickets in 1st class cricket
·Carey needs 7 catches to complete 50 catches in test cricket
·Cameron Green needs 19 runs to reach 3000 runs in 1st class cricket
·Travis Head needs 87 runs to reach 2000 test match runs
·Usman Khawaja needs 47 runs to complete 4000 runs in test cricket
·Khawaja will become the 26th player to achieve this feat
·Steve Smith needs 84 runs to complete 13000 runs in 1st class cricket
·Mitchell Starc needs 4 wickets to reach 300 test wickets
·Starc will become the 7th Australian to reach this feat
·David Warner needs 81 runs to complete 8000 runs in test cricket
·Warner will become the 8th player to achieve this feat
·Dean Elgar needs 29 runs to reach 5000 test match runs
·Elgar will become the 8th South African batter to reach this feat
·Elgar also needs 122 runs to reach 16000 runs in 1st class cricket
·Lungi Ngidi needs 1 wicket to reach 50 test wickets
·Rassie Van Der Dussen needs 100 runs to reach 1000 runs in test cricket