With the home international summer officially underway following the pulsating BKT Tyres T20 series, South Africa’s tour rolls on into a three-match one-day international series against Australia.
Cairns’ Cazalys Stadium will host the first match before the series concludes with two games at Mackay’s recently refurbished Great Barrier Reef Arena.
While there’s still two years until the next ODI World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by South Africa alongside Zimbabwe and Namibia, both the Proteas and the Aussies are in the middle of transition of personnel and will be hoping to see some promising signs from their newer players in these 50-over contests.
BKT Tyres ODI Series – Australia v South Africa
August 19: First ODI, Cazalys Stadium, Cairns, 2:30pm AEST
August 22: Second ODI, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 2:30pm AEST
August 24: Third ODI, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 2:30pm AEST
How to watch?
Every ball of the T20I and ODI series will be broadcast live and exclusive on Kayo Sports and Foxtel.
For those on the go or perhaps those who prefer the wireless, ABC Sport and SEN will cover the series on radio.
How else can I follow?
Cricket.com.au and the CA Live app is the place to go for all the news, highlights and reactions following each of the T20 matches. The Unplayable Podcast will also be tracking the series, with interviews and updates from on the ground in Far North Queensland.
Listen and subscribe below, or find the show on all podcast platforms:
The squads
Australia ODI squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Adam Zampa
There’s been no shortage of changes to the Australian squad since their most recent ODI, the Champions Trophy semi-final loss to India in early March.
Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell have retired from the format, Spencer Johnson and Matt Short are injured and Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sean Abbott and Tanveer Sangha have been omitted.
In come Mitch Marsh, Josh Hazlewood and Cameron Green, who were all unavailable for that tournament in Pakistan, plus Xavier Bartlett and late inclusion Matt Kuhnemann.
Kuhnemann has been drafted into the squad as a replacement for the injured Short, Mitch Owen and Lance Morris, alongside WA pair Aaron Hardie and Cooper Connolly.
Bartlett and Marnus Labuschagne joined the Aussie camp on Saturday in Cairns after they weren’t included in the T20 squad.
South Africa ODI squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Aiden Markram, Senuran Muthusamy, Keshav Maharaj, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Prenelan Subrayen
A very inexperienced South African squad showed plenty of promising signs in the T20 series and they regain some older heads for the 50-over stuff.
Captain Temba Bavuma is in alongside veteran spinner Keshav Maharaj in addition to Test triple-centurion Wiaan Mulder and top-order batters Matthew Breetzke and Tony de Zorzi.
Spin duo George Linde and Nqaba Peter have been omitted from the ODI squad as well as 19-year-old quick Kwena Maphaka and the vastly experienced Rassie van der Dussen.
South Africa’s T20 players were urged to “entertain” and “play with freedom” and you can expect their ODI side to approach the game in a similar vein.
Local knowledge
It’s a perfect record in Cairns for Australia, clean-sweeping New Zealand 3-0 when the entire 2022 Chappell-Hadlee Trophy was played in the Far North Queensland city.
Prior to that, Australia easily disposed of Bangladesh in two ODIs here in 2003, winning by eight wickets and nine wickets in the one-sided affairs.
In Mackay however, neither Australia nor South Africa have ever played at the venue.
There was a 1992 World Cup match between India and Sri Lanka in the city, but it was washed out after only two balls were bowled.
Australia’s women have a 2-1 win-loss record at the venue after they faced India there in 2021. The numbers below are from that series.
Head-to-head
The two sides haven’t played one another in 50-over cricket since the 2023 World Cup. At that tournament, South Africa won the pool match in Lucknow but Australia had the last laugh with a three-wicket win in a pulsating semi-final in Kolkata.
The teams were supposed to face off at the Champions Trophy in Pakistan this year, but heavy rains in Rawalpindi saw the match abandoned without a ball bowled.
The most recent ODI series between the two was a 3-2 victory to South Africa in September 2023, winning the final three matches to complete a stunning comeback.
South Africa are the only side to hold a positive win-loss record against Australia, with 55 wins to the Aussies’ 51 (with one tie and three no results).
Recent Australia-South Africa ODI encounters
25 Feb 2025, Rawalpindi: Match abandoned without a ball bowled
16 Nov 2023, Kolkata: Australia won by three wickets
12 Oct 2023, Lucknow: South Africa won by 134 runs
Rapid stats
- South Africa have won nine of the past 12 completed ODIs between the two sides, dating back to November 2018
- Australia’s squad contains six players from their most recent ODI against South Africa, while the Proteas have just the four
- Marnus Labuschagne’s batting average of 55.11 against South Africa is the best of all the Aussies
- Since the 2023 World Cup, no Australian has more Powerplay wickets than Aaron Hardie, who has claimed eight wickets inside the first 10 overs.
- With the retirement of Steve Smith, Heinrich Klaasen and Glenn Maxwell from ODIs, the sides have lost a collective 379 games worth of experience, in which they scored 11,931 runs.
Players to watch
Marnus Labuschagne: The Queenslander is back in the Australian side for the first time since being dropped from the Test side following the loss to South Africa in the Test final in June. Labuschagne loves playing against the country of his birth, with an average of 55.11 and both his ODI centuries coming against the Proteas.
Dewald Brevis: The 22-year-old is yet to make his ODI debut but after his showing in the T20 series it would be hard to leave Brevis on the bench for the 50-over games. He averages 48.40 with the bat from 25 List A matches with a strike rate of 112.
Form guide
Past 10 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, N: no result
Australia: LNWLLLLWWL
Only three wins from their past 11 ODIs doesn’t make for the best reading for Aussie fans. They defeated England in a classic at the Champions Trophy and progressed to the semis with a no result against Afghanistan and an abandoned match against South Africa. Their recent losses have come to India in that semi-final, to Sri Lanka 0-2 following the Test series in February and to Pakistan 1-2 during the last home summer.
South Africa: LWWLLLLLLW
South Africa’s record isn’t any better, losing six in a row leading into the Champions Trophy which included a 0-3 loss at home to Pakistan. A couple of wins at the Champions Trophy (over Afghanistan and England) boosted the confidence but a 50-run loss to New Zealand in the semi-final brought them back down to earth and prompted a change coach.
BKT Tyres ODI Series – Australia v South Africa
August 19: First ODI, Cazalys Stadium, Cairns, 2:30pm AEST
August 22: Second ODI, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 2:30pm AEST
August 24: Third ODI, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 2:30pm AEST
Australia ODI squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Lance Morris, Mitchell Owen, Matthew Short, Adam Zampa
South Africa ODI squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Aiden Markram, Senuran Muthusamy, Keshav Maharaj, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Prenelan Subrayen