Australia vs South Africa in 2022-23

Test matches (3): Australia 2 (28pts), South Africa 0 (4pts)

This three-Test series was billed as a heavyweight bout, with Australia top of the World Test Championship, and South Africa second. The South Africans, meanwhile, had won here on each of their last three visits, a feat matched only by England in the 1880s and West Indies in the 1980s. And then there was 2017-18, Australia's spiteful trip the other way, which began with near-fisticuffs between the players, moved to sandpaper ball-tampering and a cover-up plot, and ended in a 3-1 thrashing and an implosion that ultimately cost the jobs of everyone at the top of Australian cricket.

But by late 2022, the South African team were teetering on the edge. A. B. de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock had all retired from Tests; Aiden Markram had fallen from favour. Their previous series had been a chastening trip to England, where they were bowled out four times in a row for under 180. Their batting line-up arrived in Australia featuring three players with Test averages below 20, three below 30, and no one averaging more than captain Dean Elgar's 38 - a figure that would drop by the end of the series, reflecting a team never in the contest. Even an attack as impressive as South Africa's, with four pace options plus quality spin, needed to be backed up by runs.

For Australia, after nearly five years, the sandpaper story still bubbled: David Warner had just abandoned an attempt to end his lifetime captaincy ban, unhappy when a panel of legal experts said the hearing would be public, and would revisit the original offence. Some felt the punishment had been excessive, but his claim of remorse and rehabilitation seemed to contradict the insistence his testimony be kept secret. Cricket Australia's biggest failing in 2018 had been trying to limit reputational damage with a circumscribed investigation in which no one gave a full public account; lack of disclosure meant the story stayed alive.

South Africa's board, meanwhile, had all but gone broke since 2018, and shed administrators. Financial salvation now depended on the new domestic T20 league, bought by IPL franchises. The tournament overlapped with the one-day series in Australia scheduled after the Tests, so Cricket South Africa forfeited it. There was a hint of payback, since Cricket Australia had called off a Test visit in 2021, citing pandemic concerns. However, South Africa's forfeiture increased the chances they would have to go through a qualification tournament for the 50-over World Cup in 2023.

Although they had a potent attack, spearheaded by the scorchingly quick Anrich Nortje, their batting problems were obvious. They started with a two-day defeat at Brisbane, where the first of three feisty half-centuries by Travis Head gave Australia a slender advantage, pressed home by Pat Cummins, the captain, who took five wickets as the tourists dissolved for 99. Warner's 200 at Melbourne, in his 100th Test, showed up South Africa's insipid first-innings total of 189, and only bad weather in Sydney prevented a probable whitewash.

Four Australian batters collected centuries, while South Africa's highest score was just 65. Kagiso Rabada did take 11 wickets for the visitors, one behind Cummins, but their first-choice spinner Keshav Maharaj was innocuous, finishing with one for 260. Overall, it was quite the mismatch. The question was how South Africa could possibly find a path back to the top in Test cricket, given they had only four more matches planned for the rest of 2023, and no series of more than two games until 2026.