Australian captain Pat Cummins said he “can’t wait” to get back to South Africa for a Test series with the coming tour being the first for the team in red-ball cricket since the infamous ball-tampering scandal in 2018.
Australia are playing South Africa in three Tests in October, in Durban, Gqeberha and Cape Town. According to Cummins, the series is going to be a big challenge, especially due to the various conditions at each of the three venues.
Cummins added that the matches will be played in South Africa’s home conditions and areas in which Australia have not played for a while. Recently, Australia beat Bangladesh by 51 runs and an innings.
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The Test captain also announced that Australia would be using the upcoming white-ball series to prepare for the South Africa series. Australia will face three ODIs in Zimbabwe and three more in South Africa in late September.
Cummins said he could skip Zimbabwe, but he was looking to play a couple of the South Africa ODIs. He also revealed that Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood might follow the same pattern.
He said “I would think it would be one or two, maybe at best three, of those six games”, adding that the team is concentrating on Test cricket.
The South Africa series holds extra importance following the Proteas triumph over Australia in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s last year. Australia have previously won at home against South Africa, 2-0 in 2022-23.
The next tour will also see Australia return to where the 2018 ball-tampering scandal saw Steve Smith and David Warner banned for a year.
Only four Australian players have limited Test experience in South Africa; they are Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon.
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