NOTHING less than the No. 1 Test ranking is up for grabs at Newlands over the next five days. Should South Africa win they will go top for the first time since January 2016. If Australia triumph they will remain the leaders, which they have been consistently from May 2024.
But a South Africa victory won’t be enough to put the current WTC champions in pole position in the standings, where they are behind the Aussies and New Zealand. A win for the home side would put the Kiwis on top with South Africa second and Australia third. An Aussie win would leave the order unchanged.
The match promises to be a fitting climax to what has been an enthralling rubber. Unlike Australia’s previous Test series in South Africa, in March 2018 — when the most dramatic headlines boiled over from events off the field in all three matches — this time the news has not crossed the boundary.
From Matt Renshaw’s 190 and Josh Hazlewood’s 6/49 at Kingsmead to Temba Bavuma’s 179, Travis Head’s 121, Scott Boland’s 5/81 and Marco Jansen’s 5/33 at St George’s Park, the cricket has been full steam ahead. That both teams found ways to win despite Durban’s bad light and Gqeberha’s rain was commendable.
And so to the decider. The match is scheduled to end nine days before the start of the first match of the November 2011 series between these teams. That game was also at Newlands — where Australia were bowled out for 47 and South Africa for 96. The overhead conditions that prevailed in a Test played unusually early in the summer for Cape Town were to blame, not the pitch.
As this match is even earlier, thoughts will veer towards that shock. That would be in keeping with the theatrics of the first two Tests, but purists would prefer a more conventional climax to the series. It isn’t difficult to see why. The rubber deserves a thorough examination of the teams’ strengths and weaknesses to settle the issue, not an outcome contrived by situations beyond the players’ control.
Changes, forced and not, will be made in both XIs. But what remains the same, whoever is on the park, is that two of the best teams on the planet will share an arena again. They will likely do so in front of the biggest crowd of the series.
Attendances in Durban and Gqeberha were disappointing but not surprising, what with the elements and the fact that seven of the 10 days’ play were working weekdays. Indeed, Australia enjoyed major support at both grounds thanks to their significant contingent of travelling fans.
That promises to change at Newlands, where Test cricket is enthusiastically supported regardless of which days of the week are involved. And never mind who South Africa’s opponents might be. Even so, that they’re Australia only heightens the interest.
This time people might pitch up waving sheets of sandpaper and wielding banners that read: “We know what you did in 2018.” They should move on. Like the players have done — the first two matches bristled with razor-sharp competitiveness but there was nothing like the ugliness that tarnished the series more than eight years ago.
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Team news:
South Africa: Gerald Coetzee for the injured Anrich Nortjé is the only change. That means Simon Harmer keeps Keshav Maharaj out for the second consecutive Test, thanks to what Temba Bavuma calls Australia’s “plethora” of left-handers.
Confirmed XI: Aiden Markram, Marcus Ackerman, David Bedingham, Temba Bavuma (capt), Matthew Breetzke, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Kagiso Rabada, Gerald Coetzee.
Australia: Cameron Green — who has been out with a shoulder problem — will be back, Pat Cummins confirmed on Monday. But only as a batter. Nathan Lyon also looks like returning after missing the second Test because of the time rain took out of the match, maybe at Scott Boland’s expense. Josh Inglis has recovered from a broken finger.
Steven Smith’s involvement is uncertain because of a neck injury he sustained at St George’s Park. Nic Maddinson has been dropped and sent home. So Matt Renshaw will probably move up the order to open. That might keep Marnus Labuschagne in the side.
Possible XI: Matt Renshaw, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood. (Cricbuzz)