The Australia men's cricket team toured South Africa in August and September 2023 to play five

One Day Internationals One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four year ...

(ODI) and three

Twenty20 Internationals Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). In ...

(T20I) matches. The ODI matches formed part of both teams' preparations for the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup (which

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

won). Originally, the tour was scheduled to take place in March 2021, and three

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

matches were slated to be played. Those matches would have formed part of the

2019–2021 ICC World Test Championship The 2019–2021 ICC World Test Championship was the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship of Test cricket. It started on 1 August 2019 with the 2019 Ashes series#First Test, first Test of the 2019 Ashes series, and finished with t ...

tournament. However, that tour was postponed in February 2021 due to the

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Background

In December 2020, South Africa's

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) series against England was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, both cricket boards were looking at contingency plans for the Test series, including the possibility of playing the matches in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

or the

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. An initial provisional start date for the tour of 18 February 2021 meant a tight turnaround from the end of South Africa's tour of Pakistan, although an update in January suggested the tour would begin in March 2021. On 27 January 2021,

Cricket Australia Cricket Australia (CA) is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the 'Australian Board of Control for International Cricket'. It is incorporated as an Australian Public Company ...

(CA) named their squad for the tour, ahead of any confirmation of the dates of the fixtures. However, on 2 February 2021, Cricket Australia announced that the tour had been postponed due to the pandemic. As a result of the tour being postponed,

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

qualified for the final of the 2019–2021 ICC World Test Championship. In October 2021, Cricket Australia said that they were looking at a window in 2023 to play the white-ball matches.

Squads

On 18 August 2023, Australia's Steve Smith and

Mitchell Starc Mitchell Aaron Starc (born 30 January 1990) is an Australian international cricketer who plays for the Australian national team and New South Wales in domestic cricket. A left-arm fast bowler and a lower order left-handed batsman, he is Austr ...

were ruled out of tour due to injuries.

Ashton Turner Ashton James Turner (born 25 January 1993) is an Australian cricketer who debuted for Western Australia cricket team, Western Australia during the 2012–13 season, and is also contracted to the Perth Scorchers. From Perth, Turner represented We ...

replaced Smith in the T20I squad, whereas

Marnus Labuschagne Marnus Labuschagne ( or ; born 22 June 1994) is an Australian international cricketer who captains Queensland and plays for Glamorgan in county cricket and for Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League. Labuschagne was once ranked as high as no. ...

and Spencer Johnson replaced Smith and Starc respectively in the ODI squad. On the same day,

Mitchell Marsh Mitchell Ross Marsh (born 20 October 1991) is an Australian international cricketer who represents Australia in all three formats. Marsh is the current Australian T20I captain, and has served as vice captain in all formats. Marsh currently plays ...

replaced

Pat Cummins Patrick James Cummins (born 8 May 1993) is an Australian international cricketer who captains the Australia men's national cricket team in Test and One Day International cricket. Cummins is widely regarded as one of the finest fast bowlers t ...

as Australia's ODI captain for the tour, with Cummins' participation in doubt as he was returning from a wrist injury. Initially,

Glenn Maxwell Glenn James Maxwell (born 14 October 1988) is an Australian professional cricketer. He has played for the Australia national cricket team in all formats of the game since 2012, although he is primarily a One Day International and Twenty20 Inter ...

was set to miss the ODI series to return home for the birth of his first child. However, he was also ruled out of the T20I series due to an injury and was replaced by

Matthew Wade Matthew Scott Wade (born 26 December 1987) is an Australian former international cricketer. He plays domestic cricket for the Tasmanian cricket team, who he also captains, and for Hobart Hurricanes. In December 2020, Wade List of Australia nati ...

in the Australia's T20I squad. On the day of first T20I,

Tanveer Sangha Tanveer Singh Sangha (born 26 November 2001) is an Australian cricketer who plays for Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League (BBL). He bowls right arm leg spin and bats right-handed. He was Australia’s leading wicket taker at the 2020 Under-19 ...

was added to Australia's T20I Squad, after

Adam Zampa Adam Zampa (born 31 March 1992) is an Australian international cricketer who represents Australian cricket team in limited-overs cricket. Zampa was a member of the Australian teams that won the 2023 Cricket World Cup and the 2021 T20 World Cup. ...

couldn't play due to illness. On 31 August 2023,

Tim David Timothy Hays David (born 16 March 1996) is a Singaporean and Australian cricketer. He played for the Singapore national cricket team between 2019 and 2020, before switching allegiance to Australia in 2022. He was part of the Australian team's s ...

was added to Australia's ODI squad. On 10 September 2023,

Michael Neser Michael Gertges Neser (born 29 March 1990) is an Australian professional cricketer. In domestic cricket, he represents Queensland, and the Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League, as well as Glamorgan in the County Championship, Royal London One-Da ...

was added to Australia's ODI squad.

T20I series

1st T20I

2nd T20I

3rd T20I

ODI series

1st ODI

2nd ODI

3rd ODI

4th ODI

5th ODI

Notes

References

External links

Series home at ESPNcricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Australia men's cricket team in South Africa in 2023 2023 in South African cricket 2023 in Australian cricket International cricket competitions in 2023

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Cricket events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic