🏏Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #10: Australia vs South Africa🏏

🏏Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #10: Australia vs South Africa at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on 12 October 2023 at 2:00PM IST🏏

Storied World Cup rivals joust again but it is Australia under pressure

Australia have had the wood over South Africa in the majority of their World Cup meetings but Bavuma's men are in red-hot form of late

Is there a more storied World Cup rivalry than South Africa versus Australia? It's hard to argue against. In ESPNCricinfo's top 20 Greatest ODIs, two of the top three matches were played between South Africa and Australia. Admittedly, one was not in a World Cup, but the other was the OG of World Cup ties, the 1999 Edgbaston semi-final. Even that game had come after a thrilling encounter at Headingley four days earlier.

The two teams would meet in a World Cup semi-final again eight years later. South Africa were on the wrong side of history in all three of those encounters. But they exacted revenge four years ago in another famous World Cup game in Manchester.

Having had a woeful 2019 campaign and missed the semi-finals, South Africa still played a huge part in shaping the outcome of the tournament by beating Australia in a high-scoring thriller to flip the semi-final matchups that would eventually produce the England-New Zealand final.

While the history has fans salivating, the 2023 teams are sick of the sight of each other. This will be the sixth ODI played between South Africa and Australia in just over a month, not to mention the three T20Is played just prior to last month's five-match ODI series in South Africa. Australia did not show all their cards on that tour with Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell all missing. Regardless, it was a series where South Africa found some irresistible form that they have carried to the opening game of the World Cup, while Australia's wobbles have continued since blowing a 2-0 series lead in the Highveld. They have lost six of their last seven ODIs including the World Cup opener in Chennai.

South Africa's batters are in dazzling form after piling up 428 against Sri Lanka, with Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram all blazing centuries. It is the same form they found against Australia where they made scores of 338, 416 and 315. Meanwhile, Australia's woes have continued with both bat and ball despite the return of key personnel. In Chennai against India, the middle order collapsed from 110 for 2 to 199 all out, just as they had done regularly in South Africa. In Potchefstroom, they were 140 for 1 in the 15th over chasing 338 and were bowled out for 227 with Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi sparking the collapse. South Africa did not play two spinners in Delhi against Sri Lanka, but they would have noted the success of India's three spinners against Australia in Chennai.

Lucknow as a surface is a complete unknown for both teams, however both are well aware of the recent dramas surrounding the re-laid strip and the way it played during the IPL this year.

Tag Credit: Sutapasima

Australia vs South Africa Pitch Report

A new pitch will likely be used for the match between Australia and South Africa. During the IPL 2023, the pitch in Lucknow was slow and tough for batters. However, the ground staff prepared a new wicket during the off-season and that surface might be used for the first time today.

Australia vs South Africa Weather Forecast

The skies in Lucknow will be mostly cloudy for the match. The temperature will be around 33 degrees Celsius. There is no chance of rain in Lucknow on Thursday. Fans should witness a complete 50-over match.

Pitch and conditions

The pitches at the Ekana International Cricket Stadium were dug up after IPL 2023 where it was widely regarded as the worst surface in the tournament. That followed the sacking of the curator in the wake of a low-scoring T20I between India and New Zealand in January. There have only been four ODIs here, and the highest score batting first in those games was 253. Both pace and spin were equally successful in those games. However, on the eve of the game, Australia captain Pat Cummins said he was expecting "pace and bounce" after taking a look at the Lucknow pitch.

Thanks for the tag, Raji!❤️

I really don’t know who to pick🥹

Australia played below themselves and lost convincingly. South Africa rose above expectations and won handsomely. The teams who will clash in Lucknow on Thursday couldn't have had more contrasting starts to their men's World Cup campaigns.

India deployed Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja in Chennai on Sunday, dismissed Australia for 199 and won by six wickets with 8.4 overs to spare. In Delhi on Friday, Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram scored centuries for South Africa, who beat Sri Lanka by 102 runs.

Thus more hangs on this particular fixture than on most games between these sides, which are never anything other than heavy with context and consequence. Win and the belief that better days are ahead will grow. Lose and watch concern leap - in the Aussies' case that they could go at least a dozen years without winning another World Cup, in the South Africans' that the dream of their first title might be deferred for the ninth time.

Logic says it's too early to draw conclusions as big as those after two of the nine matches the teams' will play before the knockout rounds. Maybe that's true for other sides, but not these two. Australia, for all their wider republican ambitions, are as close to World Cup royalty as cricket gets having won the trophy five times in its 12 editions. South Africa are the game's perennial flatterers only to deceive; contenders who are exposed as pretenders sooner or later. This really is princes versus paupers.

That South Africa have won 15 of their last 20 completed ODIs against Australia - a streak of success that runs from November 2014 - doesn't matter much. The Aussies didn't have their strongest combination in several of those games. In their series in South Africa last month, for instance, they were without Pat Cummins, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell. And, as no-one will need reminding, this is a World Cup.

The closer contest on Thursday could be between South Africa's batters and Australia's bowlers, albeit that opinion is based on the events of each team's one match so far. That said, the same could apply conversely. Who doesn't want to see a fractious batting line-up take on an attack and fielding side that didn't exactly cover themselves in glory last time out?

It's difficult to look past the notion that this is a contest between a team who are losing their footing on the global stage and a side who have found theirs just in time to stand tall at the same level. Thursday's game might well reduce that idea to folly, but right now it's as good an idea as any about the outcome of the latest episode in one of cricket's most enduring rivalries.

Teams:

Australia

Marcus Stoinis is over the hamstring problems that stopped him from bowling in Australia's last three ODIs and both their World Cup warm-up games. He should crack the nod ahead of Cameron Green, who has passed 30 once in his last six completed innings and taken more than one wicket once in nine ODIs.

Tactics & strategy

Given Australia's batting in Chennai, and the theory that Lucknow's conditions could be similar, the pressure will be on to avoid the kind of collapse that claimed eight wickets for 89 against India. Marcus Stoinis' likely addition should help shore up the middle order and help make that happen.

A downright un-Australian lack of direction afflicted Australia's performance against India. South Africans have seen it before - during the ODI series between the teams in South Africa last month, when the home side stood up at last to win the last three matches, and with that the rubber, after losing three T20Is and two ODIs to the visitors.

The Aussies need to rediscover their compass fast if this tournament isn't to recede in their rearview mirror.

Probable XI: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

South Africa

What to get for the XI who scored three centuries and posted a World Cup record total of 428/5 in their last game, against Sri Lanka in Delhi on Saturday? Perhaps a second spinner, what with India's three slow poisoners taking six wickets in Chennai and Lucknow expected to suit spin. Gerald Coetzee might have to make way for Tabraiz Shamsi.

Tactics & strategy

South Africa's shimmering batting in Delhi overshadowed a less convincing performance with the ball and in the field. They conceded runs too easily and dropped three catches and botched another - which didn't matter much considering the target they had put up. But they will want to nip those issues in the bud.

Lucknow's mystery pitch means that, in an important sense, the jury has to be out on whether they will be able to do so, but the bigger outfield compared to the Kotla should give them more room to take remedial action.

Probable XI: Temba Bavuma (capt), Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi

In the spotlight - Alex Carey and Marco Jansen

Alex Carey has been a bedrock in Australia's team since his standout performance in the 2019 World Cup and he even captained Australia in three ODIs in 2021. But his place in the side is firmly under the microscope. He did make 99 off 77 balls in the third ODI in South Africa in a hopeless losing cause. But outside of that he has failed to reach 40 in his other 12 ODI innings over the past 12 months and has only passed 15 three times. More worryingly, over the last four years, he is striking at just 85.73 with the bat. With Australia's middle order lacking firepower, and the talented and inventive Josh Inglis travelling with the squad, Carey badly needs some runs to both keep the wolves from the door and help Australia arrest their slide.

Marco Jansen is a pivotal player in South Africa's line-up in this World Cup and was a key contributor in their turnaround in fortunes in the recent series against Australia. While he cleared the rope in his seven-ball cameo with the bat against Sri Lanka, he was extremely expensive with the ball conceding 92 runs although he did dismiss both openers and also had some bad luck with two catches going down. But Jansen is prone to be expensive days, as he showed early in the series against Australia. His extra bounce and left-arm angle make him a weapon on fast pitches in South Africa but can make him a target on some of the slower pitches in India. His control of length and line with the new ball will be crucial against David Warner and Mitchell Marsh, in particular, given both men love to seize on anything short or wide in the powerplay.

When: October 12, 2023 at 14:00 IST

Where: Ekana Stadium, Lucknow

What to expect: It's a brand new pitch, so who knows? Only four ODIs have been played here and the pitches were relaid after this year's IPL. That followed the curator being fired for producing what Hardik Pandya called a "shocker" of a slow, turning surface on which India needed 19.5 overs to overhaul New Zealand's 99/8 in a T20I in January.

Stats and trivia

David Warner became the quickest player to 1000 World Cup runs, reaching the mark in his 19th innings against India. He needs just 53 runs to go past Adam Gilchrist to second all-time on Australia's list of World Cup scorers behind Ricky Ponting.

Adam Zampa has gone wicketless in four of his 10 ODIs this year, and has only five wickets in five ODI World Cup matches in his career at an economy rate of 7.

South Africa's middle order has the highest average (44.6) and run-rate (6.4) over the last four years in ODIs. Australia's middle order average 29.9 at a run-rate of 5.40 over the same period.

But South Africa's powerplay bowling is the worst in the world this year, averaging 43 with an economy rate of 6.6 in ODIs in the first 10 overs of their bowling innings. Australia's powerplay bowlers average 40.7 but have an economy rate of 5.4.

Did you know?

- Australia have won three of their six World Cup games against South Africa, one which - at Edgbaston in 1999 - was, famously or infamously, depending on whether you're Australian or South African, tied.

- One of South Africa's victories over the Aussies was in their World Cup debut, at the SCG in 1992, when they won by nine wickets. The other was at Old Trafford in 2019, when they won what amounted to a dead rubber by 10 runs: by then South Africa were long out of the running for the semifinals.

- Andy Flower is coming home. Until recently Lucknow Super Giants' head coach, he is now serving as Australia's bowling consultant.