Tour of South Africa (& Bangladesh) 2005-06          Captain: Ricky Ponting

77th Test tour

Eleventh Test-playing tour of  South Africa by Australia

First Test-playing tour of Bangladesh by Australia

 (on separate page)

(February - April 1999)

The tour had no warm-up matches and started with a Twenty20 international, followed by a series of five one-day internationals. Australia fought back from being two-down to level the series but then lost the final one-dayer when Herschelle Gibbs hit 175 as South Africa bettered the highest ever 50-over innings of four for 434 with just one ball remaining.

Australia made a clean sweep in the Test series

Mark Boucher claimed that some of the South Africans were racially abused during the Proteas’ Australian tour. He was quoted in Wisden Cricketer magazine as saying “Nasty things have been said ... I have lost respect for one or two of their players,” and added "I hope our public give them a bit of stick, because we’ve taken a serious amount.”

A spate of suicide bombings in Chittagong and north of Dhaka in December made the Australian Board wary about the Bangladesh part of the tour but they were satisfied with enhanced security arrangements.

Other Australian Tours

Previous tour

England 2005

Next tour

Bangladesh 2005-06

Pakistan 2007-08 cancelled

Next tour of South Africa

2008-09   

Members of the Test tour party  (14  +  3)

Opening batsmen: Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer.

Middle-order batsmen   Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Michael Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke.

Wicket-keeper  Adam Gilchrist.

Spin bowlers:Shane Warne, Stuart MacGill.

Fast bowlers:Brett Lee, Shaun Tait, Stuart Clark, Michael Kasprowicz.

State representation

  Pura Cup teams

N   New South Wales (4)

Q  Queensland (3)

S   South Australia (1)

T   Tasmania (1)

V   Victoria  (1)

W  Western Australia (4)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(16 March 2006) :

   31 yrs 5 months

ODI:member of the squad for one-day internationals (S) in South Africa (B) in Bangladesh.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Warne 135,  Ponting 100,  Langer 97,  Gilchrist 80,  Hayden 79,  Martyn 61,  Lee 49,  Kasprowicz 35,  Symonds 7,  Hussey 6,  Clark 0.   MacGill  Tait

Tour Officials

In November 2005 Cricket Australia appointed Richard McInnes as performance analyst; and the former fitness advisor to Bangladesh Cricket Board, Justin Cordy, as the strength and conditioning coach of the Australian team. He replaced Jock Campbell who had reached the end of his two-year contract.

Selectors

Trevor Hohns  (chairman), 

Selection

ODI squad announced: 

Adam Gilchrist (wk), Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting (capt), Damien Martyn, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Brad Hogg, Stuart Clark, Daniel Cullen, Mitchell Johnson

Unavailable:   ….

Tour Party Announced: 

Not selected :

Withdrawal  Glenn McGrath withdrew from the limited-overs section of the South African tour to spend more time with his sick wife.

Selection for Bangladesh part of tour announced:  30 March 2006

The only change was Dan Cullen replacing Mick Lewis in the one-day squad

Time between selection and departure from Australia       x days

(?   - 20 February

Travel

Sydney  Q  Johannesburg

The Australians held a news conference in Sydney before the one-day squad flew out on Monday 20 February and arrived in Johannesburg in the afternoon of the same day.

Mike Hussey remained in Australia where his wife was due to give birth.

Time spent in South Africa

   x days

(20 February - 9 ? February)

On-tour selection

 Ricky Ponting (captain),  John Buchanan  (coach),  x   (vice-captain).

Reinforcements

Phil Jaques was flown in on 27 February to help the one-day squad when Ricky Ponting (abdominal strain) and Andrew Symonds (hip) were injured.

Shaun Tait picked up a back injury in South Africa,  Justin Langer  was concussed by a bouncer from Ntini and Mike Kasprowicz had a sore back, so Cricket Australia decided they would return to Australia for treatment rather than tour Bangladesh.  

Jason Gillespie,  Phil Jaques and  Mitchell Johnson  (who was already in the one-day party to Bangladesh) were added to the Test team in their places.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Å  T20 international

§  one-day international

Time spent in South Africa before First Test: 

  24 days

(20 February - 16 March)

Test appearances on tour

In South Africa

3  -   Clark,  Gilchrist,  Hayden,  Hussey,  Kasprowicz,  Langer,  Lee,  Martyn,  Ponting,  Symonds,  Warne.

0  -   MacGill,  Tait.

In Bangladesh

2  -   Clarke,  Gilchrist,  Gillespie,  Hayden,  Hussey,  Lee,  MacGill,  Ponting,  Warne.

1  -   Clark,  Cullen,  Jaques,  Martyn.

Highlights

•   In the fifth one-day match Australia’s 4 for 434 in 50 overs (was the highest total in 50 overs cricket till South Africa overtook it.  Ricky Ponting’s innings of 164

•   

•   Mick Lewis’s ten overs went  for 113 runs - the most expensive analysis in one-day international cricket.

•   Jason Gillespie scored 201 not out against Bangladesh at Chittagong

Tour Summary

Return to Australia

Johannesburg  Q  Dubai    Q  Dhaka

After completing their 3-0 series victory with a two-wicket win at Johannesburg on Tuesday, the Australians flew to Dhaka on Thursday 6 April

Shaun Tait returned to Australia following the conclusion of the final Test at Johannesburg.

Time away from Australia

 x days  

(20 February - )

Finances

The tour was sponsored by Travelex. In 2005-06, Travelex signed for another five years as the international tour partner of the Australian cricket team.

Written accounts of the tour

……..

Postscript

In June 2006 physiotherapist Errol Alcott stood down after 22 years with the Australian national team to join the Sydney rugby league club, Rabbitohs, recently taken over by film actor Russell Crowe. Alcott had begun work with the Australians on the 1983-84 tour of West Indies.  Alex Kountouris,his number two since leaving the Sri Lankan team in 2003, took over as the Test side’s main physio.