Proteas spin a surprise pick for WACA Test

South Africa have sprung a selection surprise on the morning of the first Test at the WACA Ground, selecting uncapped left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj to make his Test debut.

South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bat first in the first Commonwealth Bank Test against Australia at the WACA Ground in Perth. The weather is set fair, with cloudless skies and a gentle breeze making it ideal conditions. 

Maharaj took 3-59 in the Proteas' warm-up game against a second-string South Australia XI that racked up 8-435 at Glenelg last week.

The son of a provincial representative wicketkeeper, Maharaj was the fifth leading wicket-taker in South Africa's domestic scene last season, with 36 wickets at 32. He started the new season with a career best 13-157 in the opening round, sparking his surprise inclusion into the Test squad at the expense of Dane Piedt.

Image Id: 784B0EE2BFB2474182CE5D545E9EBBC6 Image Caption: Keshav Maharaj makes his Test debut // Getty

Morne Morkel, who has been on the comeback trail from injury, was declared "90 or 95 per cent fit" by du Plessis as selectors opted to leave the tall quick out on the bouncy WACA pitch.

Australia captain Steve Smith named his XI yesterday, with returning paceman Peter Siddle getting the nod ahead of South Australia quick Joe Mennie. 

Smith said he would have prefered to bat but added "the wicket looks good, let's hope we can get a little bit out of it".

South Africa are unbeaten in their past two Tests at the WACA, beating the Australians in the summer of 2012-13 and 2008-09. 

Teams

First Test preview

For so many years the Australian international cricket summer have pounded out a familiar, almost pre-ordained rhythm.

Touring teams arrive primed and ready for a Test campaign, are ground into the dust or the grass or the drop-in or whatever the individual Australian Test venues dish up, and head home having barely raised a yelp.

The most recent roll call of the vanquished reads West Indies (2-0), New Zealand (2-0), India (2-0), England (5-0) and Sri Lanka (2-0).

Indeed, the only team to boast black ink or the Test ledger in Australia over the past decade is the one that begins a three-match campaign against the notorious home-track bullies at the WACA Ground in Perth tomorrow.

And South Africa enter this Commonwealth Bank series justifiably wielding greater confidence and self-belief than most of those who have come before them because not a single member of their 16-man touring party have been part of a losing Test assignment on Australian soil.

A collective record that every rival Test nation must find utterly unthinkable.

To compound that ebullience, they remain the only team to have won consecutive Tests at the WACA since the legendary West Indian outfits of the early 1990s.

Quick Single: Siddle named in Australia's first Test XI

And they find themselves pitted against a foe coming off a couple of comprehensive drubbings, an unforeseen 0-3 whitewash from their most recent Test outing in Sri Lanka and then an equally unprecedented 0-5 ODI thumping at the hands of the euphoric Proteas in South Africa just weeks ago.

So if South Africa’s stand-in skipper Faf du Plessis was the sort of bloke who indulged in hubris on the basis of historic precedent (both recent and not) he’d have been chortling from the rafters during his pre-Test media conference at the WACA today.

The fact that he was cautious, diplomatic and respectful was evidence in itself as to why this South African team, that like its rival has shed a host of veteran players and slid down the Test rankings ladder of late, just might be capable of pulling off the unthinkable.

That is, to become only the second outfit in more than a century - after the once mighty Caribbean kings – to win three consecutive Test series in Australia.

What du Plessis identifies as the single significant obstacle between his quietly confident young team and that unlikely honour is the self-same one that has stopped pretty much every visiting mob in its tracks in recent years.

The fact that Australia is a vastly more formidable opponent on home turf than it is on the road, even in those days when they’re pretty good in away matches.

And it’s a truism that the South Africa captain intimately understands because he experienced that phenomenon of familiarity after the Proteas were humbled 3-0 in India last year at which point they were labelled a Test team in terminal decline.

Quick Single: Pressure will be on Faf: Siddle

“I think they (Australia) will take comfort from the fact they’re playing in home conditions,” du Plessis said as he recalled a Proteas group that found itself in transition after the retirement of legends the likes of Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis.

“If I can speak from our point of view, I can remember when we went to India and we were a little bit scarred after that series and we went back to South Africa, we took comfort in our home conditions (to tackle and defeat New Zealand last year).

“It did play a role with some of the guys who were still a bit out of form so that might be the case for some of them (the Australians), it might not be the case.

“But they’ll definitely take confidence in the fact that it’s their home conditions they can look forward to.”

It’s the same rationale that du Plessis’s captaincy rival Steve Smith nominated as the key element to turning around a rare lapse in form that has seen Australia tumble from the top to third on the Test ladder in less than a year.

With du Plessis forecasting that India will retain their hold on the number one honour for “at least the next year” because of the raft of Tests they are scheduled to play at home – including a four-match series against the Australians early in 2017.

Quick Single: Bouncy WACA on the cards for first Test

"Traditionally we have played well at home, and it’s about us knowing what we do well here, we have scored big first innings runs and that is going to be crucial for us this year again,” Smith said today.

“And bowling aggressively to the tail, not being afraid to get it up there and intimidate them a little bit and to the top order consistently bowl good areas and challenge them on wickets that traditionally bounce a bit more than they are used to.

"Obviously we haven't come off the back of much great cricket, South Africa was disappointing and Sri Lanka was as well.

“But that's gone, we've left that behind and we are focusing on what we have can control now and that is this summer.”

Integral to that plan is left-arm quick Mitchell Starc, Australia’s fast bowler and without whom the team’s fortunes in Sri Lanka would have been even more dire.

Starc will be backed up by seam trio Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle and Mitchell Marsh who are all experienced, reliable and steady in Test company but who – to invoke the serpentine analogy so beloved over past days – lack Starc’s quick-kill venom.

As such, du Plessis has nominated his fellow batters’ capacity to withstand the short, sharp spells that Smith has foreshadowed Starc will bowl in his comeback from a serious leg gash as being decisive in the final outcome.

“If we’re going to win this series it’s going to be how well we play him (Starc), du Plessis said today.

“He’s a wicket-taker, so he needs to come on and get wickets and we as a team understand that and need to just get through that.”

Quick Single: Smith hisses at Steyn's snake theory

While the South Africans are yet to finalise their playing XI, it seems likely they will include bean-pole quick Morne Morkel ahead of Kyle Abbott in a four-man pace battery after du Plessis declared Morkel free of his recent back troubles and available for selection.

Notwithstanding the respective employment of fast bowler fire power, this certainly looms as a more cordial series than the most recent between these most competitive rivals.

Which ended in a heated, at times ugly street fight in Cape Town in 2014 where du Plessis was hounded with dog calls by the Australia fielders, and the last-day tension saw a handful of players including Dale Steyn and Australia’s then captain Michael Clarke land a volley of angry verbal blows.

There was genuine camaraderie between Smith and du Plessis as they posed with the newly struck series trophy at the WACA today, with Smith quizzing his counterpart on the secrets of his whiter-than-white playing uniform and the pair exchanging a prolonged hug prior to returning their respective preparations.

Despite noting that the lead-up to the opening Test had been a bit “busy” with some of the reptilian repartee exchanged, du Plessis is genuinely of the belief that Australia under Smith will be less abrasive than previous incarnations of their southern hemisphere rivals.

“The teams I’ve played against in the past, Australia are probably the most verbal team in the world but that doesn’t mean it’s bad or good,” du Plessis said.

“It’s just their style of play and I think personality does determine how you play in that sort of space.

“So the kind of personalities we have in our team now, we’ll just focus on the cricket and hopefully that takes care of itself.

“And the personalities that Australia have now, and the leadership of Steven Smith is similar to ours, respecting the opposition and making sure cricket does the talking.

“If it goes away from that, I don’t know how that’s going to affect the series but that’s certainly not the style of play or the personalities that I think we have in the teams.”

Quick Single: Philander tips Test series to get 'nasty'

For his part, Smith finds himself having to tread a careful path between remaining true to his character and also acknowledging voices such as former captain Steve Waugh who have claimed the current Australia team lacks the intimidatory on-field presence of many successful ones in the past.

As such, he invokes a non-verbal rallying cry for a team that is by nature more reserved and less overtly confrontational than its immediate predecessors to “puff out their chests” in order to boss their opponents.

“I’ve actually come out and said that myself,” Smith said when asked how he responded to the observations of Waugh and others.

“I guess that’s what I’m after from the team, and it’s not necessarily about sledging or anything like that.

“It’s about making sure that each individual can get the best out of themselves and have a presence about them.

“Everyone does it differently, for someone it might be about getting into a verbal contest with a bowler to get themselves going.

“For me I don’t like to say a great deal it’s more about making sure that my body language is right and I’m puffing my chest out and looking like I’m out there and I own the place.

“That (verbal intimidation) is not my cup of tea, it’s just about making sure my body language is right and looking like I’m on top of them.

“I’ve been working on that.”

The matches

First Test: November 3-7, WACA Ground, Perth (10.30am local, 1.30pm AEDT start)

Second Test: November 12-16, Blundstone Arena, Hobart (10.30am local, AEDT start)

Third Test: November 24-28, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide (2.00pm local, 2.30pm AEDT start)

We don't care what scientists or calendars tell us, summer starts on November 3 in Perth! The WACA Ground hosts the first Test of season 2016-17, before the series shifts across the continent to Hobart and concludes with a day-night Test at the Adelaide Oval.

What's gone down since the last Test in Oz?

Well, a fair bit. After the draw in Sydney against the Windies in early January, Steve Smith's men travelled across the Tasman Sea and beat New Zealand 2-0 in Brendon McCullum's international swansong. The series clean sweep vaulted Australia to the top of the ICC world Test team rankings, but unfortunately for Smith and his comrades, they weren't numero uno for very long.

A 3-0 whitewash at the hands of Sri Lanka in July-August re-exposed a weakness against high-quality spin bowling, with wily veteran Rangana Herath taking 28 wickets in the comprehensive thrashing. If it wasn't for Mitchell Starc and his outstanding series haul of 24 wickets, the damage could have been a lot worse even if the scorecard couldn't get any more lopsided.

South Africa have only played two Tests since January, comprising of a draw and win to defeat New Zealand 1-0 on home soil in August. The first Test in Durban was significantly hampered by rain, but the second match in Centurion was dominated by skipper Faf du Plessis' 112no and spearhead Dale Steyn's second-innings haul of 5-33 to deliver the series win.

These two sides have played each other in three separate series already this year, but perhaps the most telling is also the most recent. Just last month Australia toured South Africa and were whitewashed 5-0 for the first time in history. While the teams and formats are extremely different in the Commonwealth Bank Test Series, the Proteas will undoubtedly take a lot of confidence and momentum from that result.

The squads

Australia (first two Tests): Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Joe Mennie, Peter Nevill, Peter Siddle, Mitch Starc, Adam Voges

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (c), Kyle Abbott, Morne Morkel, Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Stephen Cook, JP Duminy, Dean Elgar, Quinton de Kock, Keshav Maharaj, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Dane Vilas.

Watch these men

For Australia, Mitchell Starc and David Warner possess an x-factor like few others. Starc didn't feature in the 5-0 drubbing in South Africa – he was set to be rested before a gruesome fielding mishap required 36 stitches in his left leg and sidelined the quick for a couple of weeks. Any doubts about his form and fitness have been put to bed with a successful return to cricket in the preceding Sheffield Shield match in Brisbane and a fiery display of fast bowling in the volatile WACA nets. Warner loves taking on the Proteas, loves the contest and loves the first Test of the summer where's scored five centuries in six innings over the past three years. The vice-captain also scored a career-high 253 against New Zealand in Perth last summer, so if Warner goes well you can be sure those below him in the batting order will follow suit.

South African fans will be hoping Hashim Amla and captain Faf du Plessis can repeat their form from the last time the Proteas toured Australia in 2012. Amla scored two centuries, including 196 at the WACA, and averaged 62.83 four years ago, while du Plessis posted his maiden Test century in a marathon 376-ball innings of 110no to salvage a draw in Adelaide. Speedsters Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada could prove to be the most lethal new-ball duo in world cricket with a dominant series Down Under. Both quicks are capable of hitting speeds in excess of 150kph, although veteran Steyn might need the assistance of a strong breeze to reach those extremes these days. If either one of Steyn or Rabada get on a roll then it could be curtains for Australia's batsmen.

The history

South Africa have never lost a Test match in Perth, drawing once and winning twice. The Proteas are also looking for a historic third successive series win on Australian soil after victories in 2008 and 2012.

Australia haven't lost a Test match or series at home since 2012 when South Africa spoiled Ricky Ponting's final match in the Baggy Green with a win in Perth to clinch the series 1-0.

How to consume this series?

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