A precursor before the big one? South Africa and Australia haven't faced each other in the Champions Trophy ever which is surprising given how consistent the two teams have been in ICC events of late. Since both teams are set to lock horns in the World Test Championship (WTC) final four months later, the clash is being advertised like a dress rehearsal for the same and evidently, both teams have been quite consistent across formats in recent times. Both teams are fighting for the top spot in Group B and the Tuesday encounter in Rawalpindi could be yet another chapter in the one-upmanship battle.
The latest encounter in the ICC events between the two teams was in the Cricket World Cup in 2023 when Australia prevailed in a low-scoring encounter by just three wickets. Historically, Australia have had the wood over South Africa in the ICC events with four wins over the Proteas' three with one game being washed out in the ODI format (World Cup). Overall, the Proteas are a smidgen ahead with 55 wins as compared to Australia's 51 in 110 ODI games, with three tied matches and one game ending in no result.
Form-wise and looking at the overall structure of the two teams, South Africa are a bit stronger with most of their squad available. However, the WTC and the T20 World Cup finalists will pray and hope that Heinrich Klaasen, the wicketkeeper-batter is fit and raring to go after missing the CT opener due to a left elbow injury. Even though it was precautionary, South Africa wouldn't want to be without one of their most important pieces in the jigsaw puzzle.
Head-to-Head Stats
While Klaasen has been the form batter in the last 12-18 months, it is David Miller, who has been their ICC man. Miller smashed that century in the World Cup 2023 semi-final when the rest of the team just fell flat on a slow Kolkata track. In historic records, Miller is the only active batter across two teams to have scored 1,000 runs in the AUS vs SA fixture in ODIs. Ricky Ponting is the top run-getter with 1,879 runs to his name in 48 innings with the former all-rounder Jacques Kallis being the leading run-scorer for South Africa against Australia with 1,639 runs in 47 innings.
Among bowlers, Shane Warne is at the top of the pile with 60 scalps, followed by Glenn McGrath at 58 and former South African captain Shaun Pollock at 55. Among active bowlers, Kagiso Rabada is at the top with 30 scalps.
It promises to be a cracker of a contest. On paper, South Africa should be favourites but they will be foolish to take Australia lightly in an ICC match, especially after what the latter pulled off a few days ago against England.