Ahead of a massive must-win clash for Australia, get up to speed with all the team news, broadcast info and key stats for the blockbuster showdown with South Africa at the 2023 ODI World Cup
Australia v South Africa: All you need to know
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These sides experienced completely different matches in their opening clashes of the World Cup: Australia lost a low-scoring match against hosts India, while South Africa won a high-scoring match against Sri Lanka. For Australia it's vital they secure their first win in Lucknow to avoid going 0-2 in a very competitive competition.
Match facts
Who: Australia v South Africa (Day-Night)
When: Thursday, October 12. Coin toss at 7pm AEDT, first ball at 7.30pm AEDT (2pm local)
Where: Ekana Stadium, Lucknow
How to watch: Fox Cricket, Kayo Sports and Nine Gem
How to listen: ABC Grandstand digital
Officials: Joel Wilson and Richard Illingworth (standing), Richard Kettleborough (third), Chris Brown (fourth)
Live scores: Match Centre
Highlights, news and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au, the CA Live app, the Unplayable Podcast
The Squads
Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen, Lizaad Williams
The story so far
The South African side are red hot at the minute coming off their humongous score of 5-428 against Sri Lanka on Saturday, which included three centurions (Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram), the first time that has happened in men's World Cup history. The Proteas will be keen to inflict more pain on Australia after recovering from 2-0 down to win their home series against the Aussies last month, an effort that will still be fresh in the minds of both teams.
Australia won't be panicking after their first-up loss to India in Chennai, where spin played a much larger role than any other match so far in the tournament. While they did lose both ODI series to South Africa and India in September, a comfortable victory in the third ODI in Rajkot and a big score against Pakistan in the warm-up match will give the Aussies confidence that their best isn't far off.
The Standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
IND
|
9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 0 | 18 |
|
2
SA
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.261 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
AUS
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.841 | 0 | 14 |
|
4
NZ
|
9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.743 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
PAK
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.199 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
AFG
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.336 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
ENG
|
9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.572 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
BAN
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.087 | 0 | 4 |
|
9
SL
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.419 | 0 | 4 |
|
10
NED
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.825 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points
Local knowledge
Australia have never played at Ekana Stadium, which was built only six years ago. The South Africans played an ODI here last year, defeating India by nine runs on the back of unbeaten half-centuries by Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller and three wickets from Lungi Ngidi.
Marcus Stoinis and de Kock both call this stadium home in the Indian Premier League with their franchise Lucknow Super Giants, with Stoinis making seven appearances at the 50,000-seat stadium.
While not much one-day cricket has been played here – just four games, three of which saw Afghanistan as the 'home' team in a series against the West Indies – the stats slightly favour the spinners.
The Aussies return to the venue four days later to take on their 1996 and 2007 World Cup final opponents, Sri Lanka.
Probable Starting XIs
Australia: David Warner, Mitch Marsh, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi
Marcus Stoinis has trained strongly over the past week since picking up a hamstring injury last month and appears on track to return for Australia's second match. He bowled off his full run again at training on Tuesday night for about 40 minutes and teammate Glenn Maxwell said he was only a day off being available for their World Cup opener. Stoinis, who is familiar with the Lucknow venue as the home of his IPL team the Lucknow Super Giants, is a proven match-winner at World Cups and after a first up loss to India, Australia need to make sure they don't slip to 0-2.
Cameron Green appears the most likely to make way for Stoinis. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were exceptional up front against India on Sunday and will look to Adam Zampa for support through the middle in conditions that are again tipped to be favourable to spinners. Travis Head remains unavailable as he recovers from a broken hand.
Having watched Australia struggle against India's three-pronged spin attack, and with the Ekana Stadium surface a venue where spinners have taken 50 per cent of wickets in men's ODIs, will South Africa be tempted to deploy their own spin assault at the Australians? Keshav Maharaj took 2-62 in their opening wicket against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad and the Proteas also have Tabraiz Shamsi waiting in the wings, the former No.1-ranked T20 international bowler who took 4-61 and 2-29 in his two ODIs against Australia last month. Gerald Coetzee, who took three wickets in their opening match, appears most likely to make way should that be the case, leaving an intimidating pace trio of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen.
Recent form
Past 10 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, N: no result
Australia: LWLLLLLWWW
Australia's recent form slump carried through to the tournament-proper, going down to India by six wickets, which was their sixth loss in their past seven ODIs. It was also Australia's third straight loss in men's 50-over World Cups after losing their last two matches in 2019 (final group match against South Africa then the semi-final to England), and a fourth in this game would be their longest losing run in the history of the tournament.
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South Africa: WWWWLLLWWW
The Proteas carried their good finish to their five-match series against Australia into the World Cup, amassing a tournament-record total of 5-428 to beat Sri Lanka in their first match in Delhi.
Last time they met
South Africa's crushing 122-run win in the fifth ODI in Johannesburg will still be fresh in the minds of players from both sides after the Proteas overturned a 0-2 series deficit to win three straight matches by more than 100 runs to take the series. South Africa have won eight of their past 10 men's ODIs against Australia stretching back to November 2018.
Head-to-head
Overall: South Africa (54 wins), Australia (50 wins), tied (3), no result (1)
Past 10 years: South Africa (18 wins), Australia (9 wins), no result (1)
Most runs: Ricky Ponting (1879), Jacques Kallis (1639), Jonty Rhodes (1610), Steve Waugh (1581), Hansie Cronje (1364)
Most wickets: Shane Warne (60), Glenn McGrath (58), Shaun Pollock (55), Dale Steyn (49), Allan Donald (45)
Where to next?
Some welcome continuity of conditions for Australia who will remain in Lucknow for their next match against Sri Lanka on Monday. Since their first game in India 19 days ago, Australia have played six matches in six different cities.
South Africa head further north to the picturesque Dharamsala at the base of the Himalayas where they take on the winless Netherlands on Tuesday.
Australia's 2023 ODI World Cup fixtures
October 8: Lost to India by six wickets
October 12: v South Africa, Lucknow (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 16: v Sri Lanka, Lucknow (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 20: v Pakistan, Bengaluru (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 25: v Netherlands, Delhi (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 28: v New Zealand, Dharamsala, 4pm AEDT
November 4: v England, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 7: v Afghanistan, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 11: v Bangladesh, Pune, 4pm AEDT