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SYDNEY. — One more time with feeling. South Africa are on the verge of playing their last Test cricket in Australia until . . . no-one can say.
This will also be their last three-match series anywhere for almost four years, and the first of only four Tests they will play this year. Yet it means more than all of that combined.
Win it and beat West Indies in both games at home in February and March, and the dream of going to the Oval in June to contest the WTC Final should remain alive. Anything less and it’s likely all they’ve done for the past four years will have been for nothing.
Hard as it is to believe, the only team to beat Test cricket’s new rock stars, England, in 2022 are one more loss away from whimpering into the sunset.
South Africa have gone down in four consecutive Tests, two of them against the Australians – who have reeled off four victories. It’s a stark illustration of teams travelling in opposite directions. Dean Elgar’s team arrived in Australia in second place in the WTC standings. The Australians were on top, as they remain. The South Africans are now fourth.
Having come to rely on their crack attack to win six of their first 10 WTC matches on challenging pitches, including at home, Elgar’s side crashed on another scary surface in the first Test at the Gabba.
Australia
Possible XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Alex Carey (wk), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood
South Africa
Possible XI: Dean Elgar (c), Sarel Erwee, Heinrich Klaasen, Temba Bavuma, Khaya Zondo, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi — Cricbuzz
Online Reporter