Tour of  South Africa 2008-09               Captain: Ricky Ponting

82nd Australian Test tour

Twelfth Test-playing tour of South Africa by Australia

(February - April 2009)

At Durban Phillip Hughes broke records by becoming the youngest to score a century in each innings

Other Australian Tours

Previous tour

India 2008-09

Next tour

England 2009

Next tour of South Africa

2011-12

Members of the Test tour party  (14)

Opening batsmen   Phillip Hughes, Simon Katich

Middle-order batsmen:Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Marcus North

Wicket-keeper  Brad Haddin

Spin bowlers   Bryce McGain, Nathan Hauritz

Fast bowlers :Doug Bollinger, Andrew McDonald, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus.

Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin (wk), David Warner, Ricky Ponting (capt), David Hussey, Michael Hussey, Adam Voges, Cameron White, Callum Ferguson, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Bracken, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Laughlin, Brett Geeves, Shane Harwood.

State representation

  Sheffield Shield teams

NSW   New South Wales (5)

Qld  Queensland (0)

SA   South Australia (0)

Tas   Tasmania (2)

Vic   Victoria (4)

WA  Western Australia (3)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

   (26 February 2009): 

    2 yrs  months

T20 - member of the squad for the two Twenty20 inter-nationals in South Africa

ODI - member of the one day international squad …

(S)   in South Africa

(U)   versus Pakistan in United Arab Emirates

Test Appearances made before the tour

Ponting 128,  Clarke 44,  Katich 35,  Hussey 34,  Johnson 18,  Haddin 12,  Hauritz 4,  Siddle 4,  McDonald 2,  Bollinger 1,  Hilfenhaus 0,  Hughes 0,  McGain 0,  North 0,  Geeves 0,   Magoffin 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Andrew Hilditch (chairman),   David Boon,  Allan Border,  Merv Hughes, 

Selection

Unavailable :  Stuart Clark (elbow injury),  Brett Lee (ankle and foot operation in January) ;  Shane Watson (back stress fractures) ; Andrew Symonds (knee injury, and then not considered by Cricket Australia after making radio criticisms of Brendon McCallum. He was not considered for the South African Test tour following a series of incidents and was required to undergo counselling and rehabilitation);  Matthew Hayden (retired).

Tour Party announced:   5 February 2009.

Not selected:  Phil Jaques (not yet regarded as fit after back injury); 

Limited-overs team announced:  12 March 2009.

One-day squad v Pakistan in UAE announced:  8 April 2009

Michael Clarke (capt), Brad Haddin (wk), Nathan Bracken, Callum Ferguson, Brett Geeves, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, David Hussey, Ben Laughlin, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson.

Brett Lee was withdrawn from the ODI squad on 15 April and replaced by Doug Bollinger.

Time between selection and departure from Australia       11 days

5 - 16 February)

Travel

Sydney   Q  Johannesburg

The team left Sydney on Monday 16 February and arrived in South Africa later the same day. Bryce McGain missed the connecting flight from Melbourne to Sydney and arrived in Johannesburg via Hong Kong the morning after his team-mates. The disciplinary lapse was dealt with "internally"

Brett Lee and the New South Wales physio flew to South Africa on 6 April to train with the Australian one-day squad and prepare for the one-day series in UAE in the hope of being selected

Time spent in South Africa

   61 days

(16 February - 18 April)

On-tour selection panel

Ricky Ponting (captain), Michael Clarke (vice-captain), Tim Nielsen (coach), David Boon / Merv Hughes (on-tour selectors).

Reinforcements

Brett Geeves joined the touring party on Monday 2 March  as cover for Doug Bollinger, who sustained an abdominal strain while training at Johannesburg.

Geeves was later ruled out of Australia's limited-overs side with a fractured foot and Stuart Clark was brought in.  Clark joined the team on Monday 13 April.

Marcus North was admitted to hospital with gastroenteritis allowing McGain to make his Test debut.

Steve Magoffin flew from Perth to South Africa on 4 March to cover for injuries to fast bowlers Ben Hilfenhaus (lower back) and Peter Siddle (left foot).

Shaun Marsh returned home to Perth after injuring his left hamstring in the first ODI against Pakistan in Dubai.

Fixtures/Results

ϯ  not first-class

Å T20 international

§ one-day international

Time spent in South Africa before First Test: 

  8 days

(18 February  -  26 February)

Test appearances on tour

3   -  Clarke,  Haddin,  Hilfenhaus,  Hughes,  Hussey,  Johnson,  Katich,  McDonald,  Ponting,  Siddle.

2   -  North

1  -   McGain

0  -   Bollinger,  Geeves,  Hauritz,  Magoffin.

Match appearances

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

x   other match 

⊕ T/20 international

∙  played for opposition

 W won  L lost  D drawn   N no result   A abandoned   u unknown result

Highlights

•   Philip Hughes (20) became Australia’s youngest Test debutant since Craig McDermott in 1984, while 36 year-old Bryce McGain became the country’s oldest Test debutant since Bob Holland

•   Hughes scored a duck on debut but then a century (115) in the Durban Test, the youngest to do so since Doug Walters, and then added 160 so becoming the youngest to score a hundred in each innings of a Test.

•   At Cape Town Australia suffered their first defeat by an innings since losing to India at Calcutta in 1997-98.

Tour Summary

Return to Australia

Johannesburg   Q  Dubai

Dubai    Q  Sydney

The Test-only players arrived back in Melbourne on Wednesday 25 March. Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus were rested for Australia's limited-overs contests in South Africa and Dubai

Shane Harwood and David Warner flew home after the two T20 matches.

Ricky Ponting, Mitchell Johnson and Michael Hussey were rested from the UAE series and returned home from South Africa after the ODIs

The Australian tour party flew straight from South Africa to Dubai for the Pakistan series on 18 April. Brett Lee was not fit and continued to train in South Africa.

Shaun Marsh returned home early from the ODI series against Pakistan after straining his hamstring in the first match.

Lee flew in to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday 28 April to train with the Australian squad and played in the last T20 international before heading for the IPL in South Africa.  Andrew Symonds and David Hussey also went to the IPL.  On medical grounds Shane Watson (groin), Nathan Bracken (knee) and James Hopes (knee) were prevented from taking part in the IPL by Cricket Australia, and they returned with the rest of the team on Saturday 9 May.

Time away from Australia  

   82 days  

(16 February  -  9 May)

Finances

…..

Postscript