Australia vs South Africa: How the Boxing Day Test between Australia and South Africa could play out
South Africa has their task cut out for them going into the Boxing Day Test against Australia, which is the second game of the three-match series.
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Dean ElgarThey lost the first Test handily by six wickets, and their chances of making it to the World Test Championship final have taken a severe hit.
And if they are to keep their hopes of making the 2023 WTC Final alive, they will need to win this Test and perhaps even the next one.
The good news is that, as far as history is concerned, they have done reasonably well in Australia come to Boxing Day. They won the first such Test they played back in 1952.
Subsequent Boxing Day Tests in 1993 and 1997 Down Under contested by the Proteas ended in draws, meaning they had never been beaten in such a Test in their first three tries.
Of course, that all changed after that, as Australia became a dominant side and was nearly unbeatable at home.
Still, of the three Boxing Day Tests South Africa have played against Australia since the turn of the millennium; they have won one of them – meaning they are the only sides apart from India (twice) and England (once) to beat Australia on Boxing Day.
That famous win came back in 2008, when South Africa bundled Australia out for 394 in the first innings courtesy of a Dale Steyn fifer, then piled on 459 in response courtesy of a century from JP Duminy.
Given Australia fared even worse in their second innings, scoring just 247, South Africa just needed 183 to win the Test – which they got quickly in 48 overs, having lost just one wicket.
That was, incidentally, the last Boxing Day Test contested by the two teams at The G. But things have changed a lot for both sides since then – and for the worse for South Africa.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">📝 Boxing Day Eve long read on the one & only David Warner. Been covering this guy for 15 years. Divisive. Controversial. Brilliant. Victim. Bully. Pioneer. His 100-Test story from those who have been there along the way <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AUSvSA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AUSvSA</a> <a href="https://t.co/4j6uL3m66b">https://t.co/4j6uL3m66b</a></p>— Adam Burnett (@AdamBurnett09) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamBurnett09/status/1606881259690811392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 25, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Back then, the squad boasted top-quality players like Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, Duminy, Jacques Kallis, Steyn, Makhaya Ntini, Morne Morkel and others.
South Africa has a mix of experience and youth, but the younger players are highly inexperienced, while some veterans are in the latter half of their careers.
Australia, meanwhile, are sorted in all departments and will fancy their chances of boosting their chances of making it to the WTC Final with another win.
It is telling that their biggest problem going into this Test is whether they should stick with incumbent backup Scott Boland or bring back Josh Hazlewood into the playing XI.
That is an excellent problem to have and shows that their playing XI needs no tinkering – they are a well-oiled machine and are favourites heading into this match.
South Africa may still cause an upset, and they have the players to upset the apple cart. But they will need to do something exceptional to repeat the heroics of 2008.