In the shadow of ‘Sandpapergate’, Australia are back in SA for overdue Test series

Can it really be eight years since Quinton de Kock and David Warner engaged in a heated exchange on the Kingsmead stairwell, with Faf du Plessis, wearing only a towel, readying himself for a scrap?

Warner found Quinton’s surname to be particularly amusing. In retaliation, something was said about Warner’s wife, adding fuel to the simmering fire.

De Kock was responsible for running out Proteas star batter AB de Villiers when attempting a badly judged run, which was exacerbated by Nathan Lyon dropping the ball on De Villiers while he was sprawled on the ground. The Aussies let both of them have it, and the taunting of De Kock continued before it reached boiling point on the stairwell.

Is it really eight years since Kagiso Rabada brushed shoulders with Steve Smith after dismissing the Aussie captain in the second Test at St George’s Park? Rabada was at his fiery best, taking 11 wickets in the match, which the Proteas won by six wickets to level the series.

Rabada, though, was hauled into a disciplinary hearing and faced the prospect of missing the rest of the series for his altercation with Smith.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) didn’t stand idly by and roped in advocate-to-the-stars Dali Mpofu to defend their man. Rabada played the next two Tests.

With the series at 1-1 and tempers frayed, the third Test of a spiteful series in Cape Town was always going to be eventful. It’s just that no one could predict the events that unfolded on day three, with Australia under pressure.

There was a lingering suspicion that Australia had been deploying nefarious methods on the ball during the first two Tests to generate reverse swing.

The umpires informally asked the host broadcaster to keep an eye out for anything untoward that might be unnaturally altering the state of the ball.

Caught out

Forewarned, SuperSport’s crew captured Cameron Bancroft using a square of yellow paper (later revealed to be sandpaper) to tamper with the ball as the Proteas piled on runs in their second innings. Australia were desperate for wickets and didn’t immediately grasp the gravity of what was being beamed to the world.

After the day’s play, Smith and Bancroft attended the media conference and admitted to tampering with the ball, but not to using sandpaper.

“We’ve seen the ball reversing through this series, and this ball didn't seem like it was going to go,” said Smith. “It’s such poor actions.”

It soon became apparent that the Aussies had been caught red-handed in one of cricket’s biggest sins and the fallout was immediate. Smith and Warner – the captain and vice-captain – were stood down from their positions during the match, with wicketkeeper Tim Paine assuming the leadership duties.

Under the pressure of the fallout, Australia crumbled in the fourth innings, losing the match by a massive 322 runs.

Warner, Smith and Bancroft were sent home in disgrace before the fourth Test at the Wanderers. It played out eerily, with a hollow Aussie team taking the field and seam bowler Chadd Sayers opening the bowling in what would be his only Test.

Australia were mercilessly mocked by Joburg fans, revelling in the fact that their hubris had caught up with them. They lost the fourth Test by a mammoth 492 runs.

At the time, the Aussies were the self-proclaimed custodians and arbiters of “the line” when it came to what was acceptable and unacceptable on a cricket field.

Much of the cricketing world took delight in their demise, even if the manner of it was unpleasant.

Rehabilitation

Following the tour, Cricket Australia (CA) conducted an extensive review of its cricketing set-up. In time, Paine was named Aussie Test captain while the ball-tampering trio served lengthy bans.

Paine restored some dignity to Australia’s Test team before losing the captaincy amid his own scandal. His successor, Pat Cummins, has continued to show the best side of Australia – hard and fair – rather than the ugliness of eight years earlier.

Time has also softened the edges of that series at boardroom level. The Aussies have been back to South Africa to play white-ball cricket, but Cricket Australia backed out of their scheduled 2021 Test tour to South Africa, causing anger in this country.

Cricketing relations between the two countries were at a low ebb at that point. CA unilaterally pulled out of a tour to South Africa in early 2021 during the Covid pandemic, citing welfare concerns.

CSA had done everything to accommodate CA’s demands and yet was simply informed via a morning phone call that Australia’s team would not tour.

South Africa did later tour Australia in 2023 for three Tests as relations thawed.

Back in business

Now, after a three-match ODI series, which the Proteas took 2-1, the serious business of Test cricket starts this Friday (9 October) at Kingsmead, the same venue that kick-started the drama of eight years ago.

This time, though, South Africa are also the World Test champions, a title they won by beating Australia at Lord’s last year. The teams are ranked one and two on the current World Test Championship (WTC) table going into the series.

There are nine survivors across both teams from the 2018 series. For Australia, Cummins (22 wickets in 2018), Lyon, Smith, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood remain, while the Proteas have Rabada (who was the series’ leading wicket-taker with 23 in 2018), Aiden Markram (who top-scored with 480 runs in the 2018 series), captain Temba Bavuma and Keshav Maharaj.

Shamefully, it’s the Proteas’ first home Test since winning the WTC final at Lord’s – 16 months ago. It beggars belief that the world champions have not played a Test on home soil in so long.

On the upside, though, it is the start of a bumper summer Test schedule that also includes two home Tests against Bangladesh (who recently beat Australia in Darwin) and three Tests against England over the summer.

Australia boast an ageing but excellent fast-bowling unit in Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood and Scott Boland. They have Lyon as a spinning option.

Batting is where they might be vulnerable, with all-rounder Cameron Green ruled out of the first Test with an abdominal strain and still no long-term replacement for Warner at the top of the order.

The Proteas are thin in the fast-bowling department with Rabada ruled out of the first Test.

Injury-prone fast bowler Anrich Nortje is set to play his first Test in three years and eight months after various ailments, including a spinal stress fracture.

He seldom bowls more than five overs in a day as a T20 specialist, but in Test cricket he might be required to bowl 20 overs in an innings. It’s a risky selection given how little red-ball cricket he has played.

But once Rabada is fit, South Africa will have a decent bowling line-up with the fine all-rounder Marco Jansen adding balance with his left-arm seamers.

All-rounder Wiaan Mulder’s swing bowling is a handy option for Bavuma while spinners Maharaj and Simon Harmer could both play to give the skipper more options.  DM

South Africa vs Australia

• 9-13 October: first Test, Durban.

• 18-22 October: second Test, Gqeberha.

• 27-31 October: third Test, Cape Town.

All matches to be broadcast on SuperSport and SABC.