Tour of South Africa 2013-14             Captain: Michael Clarke

92nd Test tour

 (January- March 2014)

14th Test-playing tour of South Africa by Australia

 (previous tour2011-12)

Australia arrived from winning The Ashes 5-0 to tackle the team regarded as the best in world cricket. With 7-68 and 5-59 in the first Test match at Centurion Park, all the talk was about the pace bowling of Mitchell Johnson. He sent a shudder through the South African side that he would do the same as against England a few months before.

The other Australian star was David Warner who scored a century at Centurion, two fifties at Port Elizabeth and a century in each innings of the final Test. But he continued to find controversy and was fined for suggesting that South Africa’s reverse swing bowling was achieved by sharp practice.

Johnson continued to intimidate the Proteas’ batsmen but it was Ryan Harris, hobbling with a knee injury, who took wickets at vital moments on the last day at Cape Town when South Africa looked likely to escape with a draw and gave the Australians a 2-1 Test win.

Rain spoiled the Twenty20 international series, with one match rained off and another reduced to seven overs-a-side. Under George Bailey, the tourists achieved an emphatic victory at Centurion but they would have preferred fuller preparation for the World T20 championship in Bangladesh.

Other Australian Tours

Previous tour

England 2013

Next tour

UAE v Pakistan 2014-15

Next tour of South Africa

none scheduled

Members of the Test tour party (15)

Opening batsmen  Chris Rogers, David Warner

Middle-order batsmen: Michael Clarke, Alex Doolan, Shaun Marsh, Phillip Hughes, Steve Smith.

Wicket-keeper  Brad Haddin,

All-rounders:  Moises Henriques, Shane Watson

Spin bowler:  Nathan Lyon

Fast bowlers : Jackson Bird, Ryan Harris,  James Pattinson,  Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle.

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State representation

 Sheffield Shield teams

NSW  New South Wales (7)

Qld  Queensland (2)

SA   South Australia (1)

Tas   Tasmania (1)

Vic   Victoria  (3)

WA  Western Australia (1)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(12 February 2014) :

   yrs   months

T20 - member of the squad for the T20 series v South Africa and World T20 in Bangladesh.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Clarke 102,  Johnson 56,  Haddin 54,  Siddle 51,  Watson 51,  Lyon 30,  Warner 27,  Hughes 26,  Harris 21, Smith 17,  Pattinson 12,  Rogers 11,  Marsh 7,  Bird 3,  Henriques 3,  Doolan 0.

Tour Officials

Selector-on-tour in Bangladesh for the World T20 championship was Rod Marsh.

Selectors

Selection

Unavailable : 

Test team announced:  20 January 2014.

Not selected:  George Bailey,  Nathan Coulter-Nile.

Withdrawal :   James Faulkner withdrew with a knee injury before the team left Australia and Moises Henriques came in to the side on 28 January.  Shaun Marsh (calf strain) was in doubt, too (both picked up their injuries playing in the final ODI against England) so Philip Hughes was added to the squad to replace him on 30 January.

However, Shane Watson was then unfit (also with a calf injury) for the first Test so Marsh was called over to South Africa after all and, picked to play, scored 148

T20 squad announced:  11 February 2014.

The selectors recalled 39 year-old Brad Hodge and 43 year-old Brad Hogg, who first played for Australia in 1996. On 6 March Mitchell Johnson was withdrawn from the squad and his place taken by Moises Henriques.

Time between selection and departure from Australia

   9 days

 (20 January - 29 January )

Travel   

Sydney   Q   Johannesburg

Alex Doolan, Ryan Harris, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson, Chris Rogers and Peter Siddle played in second XI matches for practice while others were playing in the ODIs against England. Jackson Bird was withdrawn from these matches owing to a back strain. 

When the first group of players left Sydney on Wednesday 29 January, Shaun Marsh and Jackson Bird remained in Australia while their injuries were assessed. The Test players arrived at O R Tambo international airport in Johannesburg late on 29 January.

Their first match was abandoned owing to rain and instead they had practice in the middle at Centurion.

Time spent in South Africa

   x days

(29 January - )

⋆On-tour selection

Darren Lehmann  (coach) and  John Inverarity  (national selector).

Reinforcements

Fixtures/Results

⊕(T20)  Twenty/20 international

† not first-class

Time spent in South Africa before First Test:

 14 days

(29 January -  12 February)

Test appearances on tour

3   -   Clarke,  Doolan,  Haddin,  Harris,  Johnson,  Lyon,  Rogers,  Smith,  Warner.

2  -    Marsh,  Siddle.

1  -    Pattinson,  Watson.

0  -    Bird,  Henriques,  Hughes.

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

Australia’s six previous Test tour results:

in England 2013  (5 Tests)

 - lost 0-3

in India 2012-13 (4 Tests)

 - lost 0-4

in West Indies 2012 (3 Tests)

 - won 2-0

in South Africa 2011 (2 Tests)

 - drawn 1-1

in Sri Lanka 2011 (3 Tests)

 - won 1-0

in India 2010-11 (2 Tests)

 - lost 0-2

Highlights

•   In Australia’s first innings at Centurion Shaun Marsh (148) and Steve Smith (100) added 233 together

•   Mitchell Johnson took 7-68 and 5-59 in the first Test match, and ended with 22 wickets in the series.

•   David Warner started the series with a century (115) at Centurion Park.

•   At Port Elizabeth he made 70 and 66, including a century opening partnership with Chris Rogers (107)

•   In the third match Warner made a century in each innings, giving him a series aggregate of 543 runs.

•   Ryan Harris broke through South Africa’s long defiance on the last day at Cape Town with 4-32.

Tour Summary

Return to Australia

Johannesburg   Q

Michael Clarke arrived back at Sydney Airport on Friday 7 March 2014.

3rd match ends 14 March. Arrived back after playing three T20 internationals:

Players then flew out to Bangladesh for the World T20 championship arriving in Dhaka on 17/18 March

Time away from Australia

  x days  

(29 January -  April 2014)

Finances

Postscript

The Boards of the two countries started negotiations for a longer four-Test series in future in recognition of the scintillating Test matches that were seen in recent years.