With plenty of drama in the two Tests so far, South Africa and Australia will resume their rivalry when they meet for the third game of the series in Cape Town on Thursday.
With the four-match series currently in the balance at 1-1, the victor at Newlands will take an unassailable lead in the contest, the stakes can’t get any higher.
With the overturn of Kagiso Rabada’s two-match ban dominating the headlines, we look at the three key battles that can prove decisive in the Newlands Test.
RABADA V SMITH
This is the most obvious one and perhaps the most crucial. There will be no love lost between Steve Smith and Rabada, especially after the former’s displeasure over the fast bowler’s appeal.
That is not the only reason though. Smith has been redefining run-scoring in the Test format, piling on the runs and centuries with each passing series. After a fabulous Ashes series with the bat, his form in South Africa has been disappointing by his standards.
He will be desperate to play his first big innings on the tour having registered only a fifty so far. But first, he will have to deal with the Proteas pacer who destroyed Australia with 11 scalps in Port Elizabeth.
Smith remains the main wicket for any team playing Australia and Rabada will be the man the Proteas will depend on to get that job done.
Rabada will be itching to have a go at Steve Smith.
HAZLEWOOD V DE VILLIERS
If there is one thing this series has highlighted, it is that South Africa are not ready for the post-AB de Villiers era just yet. The Proteas stalwart returned to the Test format recently and has played like he was never away.
He battled valiantly in the defeat in the opening Test with a counter-attacking 71 in the first innings and then registered a masterful unbeaten ton in Port Elizabeth to lead South Africa’s charge to victory.
On a pitch where bowlers can expect prodigious movement, de Villiers will face a tricky customer in Josh Hazlewood. Not express pace like Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, Hazlewood’s strength lies in his ability to swing the ball both ways while relentlessly pursuing the off-stump line.
With de Villiers capable to changing the course of the match with his counter-attacking abilities, how he deals with the nagging line of Hazlewood will be interesting to watch.
De Villiers has been playing as freely as ever.
WARNER V PHILANDER
If there is one venue South Africa pacer Vernon Philander loves more than any other in the world, it is the Newlands. In eight Tests at the picturesque venue, Philander has picked up 47 wickets at an average of under 17.
He will also remember his 5-15 against the same opposition at Newlands when Australia were bowled out for a humiliating 47 runs. His skills with the seaming ball will be highly effective at Cape Town and that means Australia’s openers will have plenty to do.
In Philander’s line of fire will be David Warner, who will be reminded of his spat with Quinton de Kock at every juncture by the Proteas. Warner however, will take comfort in the fact that the last time these two sides played at Newlands, he registered a century in both innings to lead Australia to victory.
Warner scored two tons in his last Test at Newlands.
