SA, Aussies play nice as series looms

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

DAYS before the start of their one-day series in Perth on Friday, SA and Australia are falling over each other to talk up their opponents.

“It’s always important to test yourself against one of the best sides in the world and see where you are as a team,” SA coach Russell Domingo said on Tuesday.

“They’ve just come off a good series win in the one-dayers against Pakistan (in the United Arab Emirates, where the Aussies won 3-0 before crashing 2-0 in the test series), so we know that they are dangerous.”

Australian batsman George Bailey was on the other side of the same page: “I know the players will be focused on playing really well, just because SA are so good. There’s every chance they will feature in the back end of the World Cup, so this will be a really good starting point to see where we are as a team.”

Enough already. What happened to the healthy enmity that raged between these teams and forced the umpires to intervene when Dale Steyn threatened to get nasty with Michael Clarke during the Newlands test in March?

Or, as Bailey was asked, will things explode out there this time?

“I imagine they will on the field in terms of the cricket played, through the talent of the two teams,” he said. “I don’t know how it will play out in terms of emotions, but I think we are two of the stronger teams around.

“We’re two teams who are very much gunning to win the World Cup in a couple of months. There’s just that pressure that comes with two highly competitive, closely matched teams. So, there’s a lot of bragging rights on the line and I think the cricket played will reflect that.”

Domingo and Bailey concurred that the series was an important part of their preparation for the World Cup, which will be played in Australia and New Zealand in February and March.

“It’a about ticking the boxes we still have questions over,” Domingo said. “We also want to finalise a pattern of play under these conditions, and also to make sure we get used to the conditions that we’ll be faced with.

“We had some experience in the T20 games (which Australia won 2-1), so hopefully we can learn more if we play the one-day series under those same conditions.”

For Bailey, “There’s probably a handful of teams that would put their hand up and say that they are World Cup favourites. That’s the challenge of a World Cup. Once it gets to that knock-out stage you need a little bit of luck and you need to be playing your best cricket.

“That will be on Michael Clarke’s mind - his batting orders, who he wants bowling at the death, that sort of thing.”

Australia have included six men who did not play in the T20 series in their squad for the ODIs, among them Michael Clarke, David Warner and Mitchell Johnson.

SA welcome back AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.