Aussies ready to handle hostile crowds in South Africa

Josh Hazlewood has warned Australia's players won't be fazed by hostile South African crowds, as officials ramp up plans for the team's first Tests in the country since the ball-tampering saga.

Selectors are set to announce the ODI squads for Zimbabwe and South Africa on Tuesday, as well as an Australia A group that will tour India in the lead up.

The Test squad for the series that begins in Durban on October 9 will then be confirmed at the start of next week, with all eyes on whether Marnus Labuschagne keeps his spot and what batters are called in.

Australia have not played a Test series in South Africa since sandpaper-gate, with Hazlewood one of five players still remaining from the Cape Town Test of 2018.

The national side have returned for white-ball matches in both 2020 and 2023, but the spotlight is expected to be far more significant on this tour.

Australia's players have routinely copped banter about the matter since, with the issue even raised by then UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in the 2023 Ashes.

There was a clear element of crowd abuse crossing the line during the 2018 tour, including two Cricket South Africa officials being photographed with fans mocking David Warner's family.

Cricket Australia will have chief executive Todd Greenberg in attendance for the first half of this year's Test tour, before chief of cricket James Allsopp flies in.

But speaking at a launch of Play Cricket week on Monday, Hazlewood maintained that crowd abuse was not something players would need to address in the lead up.

"I don't think we'll talk about it, no," he said.

"I tend to put New Zealand and South Africa a bit in the same boat. We cop a lot in England as well, so pretty much every away game we cop it a fair bit.

"I'm used to everything at fine leg. The guys out in the slips don't hear too much, so it's probably more the guys fielding on the boundary and different things. 

"It'll be fine."

Hazlewood is expected to be named in Australia's ODI squads to face Zimbabwe and South Africa, and expects to likely play four of the six 50-over games.

Australia also have a two-day warm up match against a Cricket South Africa XI before the first Test.

The drawn home series against Bangladesh was Hazlewood's first long-format cricket since suffering a hamstring injury that forced him to miss last summer's Ashes.

"I think still the best way forward for me is to play as much as I can, in reason," Hazlewood said.

"Once you're at that intensity, which we're all at now, it's trying to maintain that."

South Africa have their own major injury concern, with damaging quick Kagiso Rabada in a race to overcome a hamstring tear and feature in the Test series.

Rabada has been ruled out of the lead-in ODI series, and has a little under six weeks before the start of the first Test.

Australia's arch-nemesis during the 2018 series, Rabada also took nine wickets in last year's World Test Championship final win over Pat Cummins' men.

"He seems to recover from any sort of niggle pretty quickly," Hazlewood said. 

"He's an unbelievable athlete. 

"Things will become clearer as we get closer, but I'm sure the batters will rather face someone else than KG."

Qantas tour of South Africa 2026

All matches to be broadcast exclusively in Australia on Kayo and Fox Cricket

First ODI: September 24, Kingsmead Stadium, Durban

Second ODI: September 27, Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

Third ODI: September 30, JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom (D/N)

Warm-up match: October 3-4, JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom

First Test: October 9-13, Kingsmead Stadium, Durban

Second Test: October 18-22, St George’s Park, Gqeberha

Third Test: October 27-31, Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town