The South Africa cricket team toured Australia between 6 December 2008 and 30 January 2009, playing three Test matches, two Twenty20 Internationals and five One Day Internationals against Australia.
Following a dispute with Cricket Australia, the three leading news agencies, Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Associated Press decided not to cover the series.
Build-up The South African players and media were buoyant ahead the tour, citing their telling Test form and Australia's coincident decline. Proteas captain Graeme Smith saw it as his team's best chance to win a Test rubber Down Under: the bowling attack was globally vaunted, the fielding polished and the batsmen enjoying a particularly fecund run, Neil McKenzie, Hashim Amla and Smith himself all having passed 1,000 Test runs for the year, while Ashwell Prince and AB de Villiers hovered around the 900 mark.
Australia, on the other hand, was still reeling from its two-nil Test defeat in India, although a clinical display against the touring New Zealanders assuaged some of their apprehensions: most notably, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin's sizeable hundred against New Zealand for once made seamless the void left by Adam Gilchrist's retirement.
The press duly built the series up as a must-see, but the players were far more reticent than they had been during the adjacent encounter three years before. Early in December, however, Australian captain Ricky Ponting drew considerable criticism for his comments about the ICC's wines and spirits. "It has taken us a long time and a lot of great wins in different conditions around the world to get us to that number-one spot", Ponting declared, speaking to the Associated Press. "If South Africa beat us three-nil I don't know if that gives them enough points to get over us. But if they won the series one-nil or two-one, I don't think that would mean that they deserve to take over that mantle. It's a bit the same with India last series. Just because they beat us, the number-one team, doesn't necessarily mean they go from the number four or number five in the world to number one in the world, because it's something that's accrued over a long period of time." The remark was seen as fatalist and trivialising, suggesting that the rubber hardly mattered and, in the eyes of many, that Ponting's hopes of securing a series victory were low.
South African allround kingpin Jacques Kallis arrived in Australia on the back of one of the worst batting troughs of his career. A little over a week before the First Test, journalist Robert Houwing observed that many of his countrymen had "been ripping the proverbial fox to shreds: almost surreally, Kallis is the hound labouring at the rear of the pack. He shows just 519 runs from 13 Tests and 20 innings this year, at 28.83."Houwing 2008.
Squads Test squads Ricky Ponting (c) Graeme Smith (c) Michael Clarke Ashwell Prince Stuart Clark Hashim Amla Brad Haddin (wk) Mark Boucher (wk) Matthew Hayden AB de Villiers Michael Hussey JP Duminy Simon Katich Paul Harris Mitchell Johnson Jacques Kallis Jason Krejza Neil McKenzie Brett Lee Morné Morkel Peter Siddle Makhaya Ntini Andrew Symonds Robin Peterson Shane Watson Dale Steyn Doug Bollinger Lonwabo Tsotsobe Nathan Hauritz Monde Zondeki Ben Hilfenhaus Andrew McDonald
Following injuries to Watson, Symonds, Clark, Krejza and Lee, Australia drafted in McDonald, Hilfenhaus, Bollinger and Hauritz.
Test series
First Test
Team selections: Shane Watson was named 12th man for Australia. South Africa's Ashwell Prince withdrew from the First Test team after suffering a broken thumb while batting in the nets. JP Duminy was chosen to replace Prince to make his Test debut.
Day 1: Australia won the toss and elected to bat. After a brief flurry of boundaries from Matthew Hayden, South Africa took three quick wickets - Hayden (12), Ponting (0, first ball) and Hussey (0) - to have Australia 3/15. Simon Katich (83) and Michael Clarke (62) then combined for a 4th-wicket partnership of 149 before both batsmen were out in the two overs before tea, leaving the home side at 5/166. After tea Andrew Symonds and Brad Haddin pushed the run rate up towards 5 per over before Symonds was dismissed for 57, off 68 balls. Haddin (46) and Brett Lee (29) scored at a steady rate, and the day ended with Mitchell Johnson being out off the last ball of the day for 18. Jason Krejza remained 19 not out and Australia finished the day at 9/341. South Africa took a while to get used to the pitch before Makhaya Ntini took two wickets and Dale Steyn one within five overs in the morning session. The pitch settled down after lunch and only persistent bowling and poor shot selection produced the bulk of the wickets. Ntini finished with 3-66, Steyn 2-72, Morné Morkel 1-62, and Paul Harris 2-70.
Reports considered that honours were relatively even at the end of day one.
Day 2: Australia's tenth wicket partnership put on 34 runs, and the team ended on 375. Morkel took the last wicket to finish with figures of 2-80. South Africa lost McKenzie for 2, but then consolidated until Amla (47) and Smith (48) fell close together and the score was 3/110. Kallis (63) and de Villiers (63) seemed to be in total control, and took the score to 234 without further loss. Mitchell Johnson then took 5 wickets for 2 runs in 21 deliveries with the old ball to have South Africa 8/243 at stumps. Johnson finished the day with 7-42.Would-be kings given a rude awakeningMitchell Johnson is fastest gun in the west Krejza was the only other wicket-taker with figures of 1–102.
Day 3: South Africa's last two wickets put on 38 runs to end at 281, with Johnson and Siddle taking one each. Johnson finished the innings with 8-61, the 8th best bowling figures in Australian Test cricket history. He might have taken nine, and the best figures ever, except that a skied top edge from Boucher (26) fell between Haddin and Lee in a mix-up between the fielders. Other wicket-takers: Siddle 1–44, and Krejza 1–102. Australia had a lead of 94 runs on the first innings.
Australia lost wickets regularly to reach 4/88. Katich (37) and Ponting (32) both got starts but were dismissed by determined bowling. A 60-run partnership between Clarke (25) and Symonds (37) was followed by three quick wickets. At 162–7 the match was evenly poised. Haddin (39*) and Krejza (28*) then added 66 runs to end the day with Australia at 7/228, and a lead of 322.
South African wicket-takers: Kallis 2–19, Steyn 2–57, Harris 2–64, Ntini 1–55.South Africa stays in huntProteas refusing to lie down in First Test
Day 4: Australia's tail wagged for the second time in the match (putting on 162 runs for the last 4 wickets). Haddin (94), Krejza (32) and Johnson (21) all contributing runs and Siddle being at the crease for 37 minutes for his 4*. Haddin was the last out attempting to hit a six to reach his century, but was stumped by Boucher off Harris. Australia's total of 319 gave it a lead of 413.
South African wicket-takers: Kallis 3-24, Harris 3-85, Steyn 2-81, Morkel 1-42, Ntini 1-76.
South Africa started its run-chase slowly with McKenzie taking 52 deliveries to make his 10. Amla's arrival changed all that and he and Smith put on 153 for the second wicket in good time before Smith was out for 108 - his first score above 50 against Australia. Amla (53) was out shortly thereafter and the score was 3/179. Kallis (33*) and de Villiers (11*) saw the visitors through to stumps at 3/227. Australian wicket-takers: Lee 1-40, Johnson 2-56.Series 'on line' in thrilling opener
Day 5: Requiring 187 runs to win with a full day's play available, South Africa achieved the second highest successful run chase in Test cricket history, losing only the wicket of Kallis (57) on their way to 4/414. AB de Villiers (106*) and debutant JP Duminy (50*) put on 111 for the fifth wicket to take the visitors to victory.
Australia had a poor day in the field, taking only one wicket. Johnson 3-98 finished with 11 wickets for the match, while Lee was the only other wicket-taker with 1-73.They came, conquered: South Africa over the moon
Second Test
Team selections: Despite an injured knee Andrew Symonds was preferred to Shane Watson, who again was named 12th man. Australia also replaced Jason Krejza with Nathan Hauritz. South Africa named an unchanged side, after Ashwell Prince failed a fitness test on his cracked left thumb.Symonds injury gamble
Day One: Australia won the toss and elected to bat. Hayden (8) fell early before Katich (54) and Ponting (101) put on a 107-run partnership for the second wicket. Hussey went for his second duck in three innings before Symonds (27) and Haddin (40) got starts but didn't go on with it. Australia ended the day on 280–6, with Clarke (36*) and Lee (0*) at the crease. The Australian highlight of the day was Ponting's 37th Test century in front of a crowd of 63,263. South African wicket-takers: Steyn 2-61, Ntini 2-71, Harris 1-33, and Morkel 1-67.Lesson 101: Ponting replies
Day Two: Michael Clarke (88*) and the tail added a further 114 runs and Australia ended its first innings on 394. South African wicket-takers: Steyn 5-87, Ntini 2–108, Harris 1-38, Kallis 1-55 and Morkel 1-89. South Africa stated slowly and reached 141-6 when Boucher was dismissed. Smith continued his run of form with 62. Duminy (34*) and Morkel (21) helped the score to 198–7 at the close. Australian wicket-takers: Siddle 3-24, Hauritz 2-49, and Johnson 2-53.Siddle sizzles as Proteas wilt
Day Three: In a remarkable day's play South Africa reached 459 all out, after Duminy (166) and Steyn (76) put on 180 for the ninth wicket - the third highest all-time. Brett Lee didn't take the field all day due to a stress fracture in his foot, and Australia was left with three front-line bowlers and their part-timers. Australian wicket-takers: Siddle 4-81, Hauritz 3-98, Johnson 2–127, and Hussey 1-22. Australia faced only 3 overs at the end of the day and finished on 4–0.Host endures its worst nightmare
Day Four: Only captain Ricky Ponting (99) and bowler Mitchell Johnson (43*) withstood the South Africa bowling as Australia was dismissed for 247 in their second innings. Ponting just missed out on a second century for the match which would have made him the only player to have done so four times. Steyn took five wickets to finish with ten for the match. South African wicket-takers: Steyn 5-67, Morkel 2-46, Kallis 2-57, and Ntini 1-26. South Africa were set 183 to win the match. At the close of play South Africa were 30–0.No guarantee for Hayden
Day Five: Losing only captain Graeme Smith for 75, South Africa reached their victory target in 48 overs. This gave them a 2–0 lead in the series and their first ever Test series win in Australia. Australian wicket-taker: Hauritz 1-41.Australia faces 3-0 whitewash
The fallout was significant: while the hosts were almost universally roasted, their opponents were lauded to the skies. Talk predominated around the forging of a new world order. "This defeat doesn't mark the end of an era", claimed Gideon Haigh in his blog for The Guardian. "The era had already ended. And the 13-year green and golden age in international cricket has really been a sequence of overlapping phases, subtly different, distinguished by key retirements: Taylor and Healy in 1999; the Waughs in 2003; Warne and McGrath in 2007."Haigh 2008. Calls for Shane Warne's return to Test cricket, omnipresent since his retirement in 2007, were now accompanied by calls for him to be given the captaincy in the impending Ashes as well. This was also the first time since 1992-93 Australia had lost a test series at home.
Third Test