Australia v South Africa, Champs Trophy: All you need to know

Match details

Who: Australia v South Africa

What: Champions Trophy

When: February 25, 2025, first ball 8pm AEDT

Where: Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi

How to watch: Amazon's Prime Video

Live scores: Match Centre

Officials: Richard Kettleborough and Chris Gaffaney (on field), Alex Wharf (third), Kumar Dharmasena (fourth), Andrew Pycroft (referee)

Highlights, news and reactions post-play: cricket.com.au, the CA Live app and the Unplayable Podcast. Listen and subscribe to the podcast below: 

Australia's fixtures

February 22: Australia beat England by five wickets

February 25: Australia v South Africa, Rawalpindi (8pm AEDT)

February 28: Afghanistan v Australia, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

Broadcast info

As is now the case (and will be until the end of 2027), Amazon's Prime Video holds the rights to all ICC events. That means no free-to-air TV for this tournament – streaming it is your only option.  

Prime Video is included in an Amazon Prime membership, and for new customers to Amazon the good news is that their 30-day free trial will last the entirety for the tournament – from Australia's first match to the final. And you can sign up here for a Prime Video 30-day free trial.

But what is the Champions Trophy? 

It's been eight years since the last one so that's a very valid question!

Think of it as a mini-World Cup. Only eight sides, three pool matches each. It's short, sharp and over in about a fortnight. You'll notice regular sides like Sri Lanka and West Indies (both previous winners) have missed the cut for this tournament, as only the top eight ranked sides from the 2023 World Cup (including hosts Pakistan) qualified.  

It was introduced as the 'ICC KnockOut Trophy', designed to raise funds for the development of the game in non-Test playing nations. Originally scheduled every two years, that was spaced out to every four between 2009-2017 but it was placed firmly on the back-burner when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world, and was replaced entirely for a period to hold more T20 World Cups. 

Australia have won the thing twice, back-to-back in 2006 and 2009. Part of the tournament's gimmick is that teams who win the trophy are awarded white blazers as part of their reward for taking out the title. 

In 2002 the final was washed out, so India and Sri Lanka fronted up again on the reserve day. Unfortunately, the back up was also rained off, so the teams shared the title. 

Previous winners:

1998 (in Bangladesh): South Africa

 

2000 (in Kenya): New Zealand

 

2002 (in Sri Lanka): India and Sri Lanka

 

2004 (in England): West Indies

 

2006 (in India): Australia

 

2009 (in South Africa): Australia

 

2013 (in England, Wales): India 

 

2017 (in England, Wales): Pakistan

Beyond the white jackets, the winning team will pocket a grand prize of A$3.5m while the runners up will take home a far-from-shabby A$1.77m.

Local knowledge

This will be the second game of the tournament to be played at Rawalpindi after New Zealand beat Bangladesh last night to confirm theirs and India's qualification as the semi-finalists from Group A. knocking out hosts Pakistan and Bangladesh in the progress. Rawalpindi is hosting one-day internationals for the first time since April 2023, when Pakistan took on New Zealand in the first two games of a five-match series.

Rawalpindi has traditionally been a high scoring ground and again produced plenty of runs in those two games. Pakistan had come out on top on both occasions, chasing 288 and 336 successfully, while the Black Caps chased down the Tigers' 9-236 on Monday.

While spin great Saqlain Mushtaq holds the record for the best figures (5-20) at the ground, fast bowlers have had more success overall in Rawalpindi.

Possible line-ups

Australia: Matt Short, Travis Head, Steve Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson

It's hard to see Australia changing their line-up after a sensational win in their opening match against England. Alex Carey repaid the faith for being included a specialist batter with a crucial knock of 69 in a match-winning partnership with Josh Inglis. That should alone be enough to cement his spot, but he also hung on to a stunning grab fielding at mid-on.

Marnus Labuschagne's 47 off 45 too was reassuring amid doubts over his form, while Ben Dwarshuis was the pick of the fast bowlers with his three wickets in absence of the 'Big Three'. Australia might give Sean Abbott – the fourth quick in the squad – a look at some stage during the competition.

South Africa: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma (c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi

After a clinical win over Afghanistan in the first game, where nearly everyone fired, South Africa could also go in unchanged. There is no official update on the availability of Heinrich Klaasen – who sat out of the previous game as a precautionary measure after suffering a soft tissue injury in his left elbow.

Meanwhile, Klaasen's replacement Ryan Rickelton smashed his maiden ODI century at the top of the order, and the Proteas will be faced with a challenging task of who to drop if the in-form hitter is back available.

The squads

Australia: Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Spencer Johnson, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Adam Zampa.

Travelling reserve: Cooper Connolly

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Corbin Bosch, Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen.

Travelling reserve: Kwena Maphaka 

Form guide

Past 10 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, N: no result   

Australia: W L L L L W W L L W

Australia broke a four-match losing streak with a win over England in their Champions Trophy opener. They had defeated the same side 3-2 in September before slumping to a 1-2 series defeat to Pakistan at home ahead of the Test summer.

The side will be happy to have started strongly, having come into the competition on back of 0-2 loss to Sri Lanka.

South Africa: W L L L L L L W W W

The win against Afghanistan would have come as a big relief for South Africa, who had lost six games in a row coming into the tournament. Two of those had come in Pakistan, in a tri-nation series featuring the tournament hosts and New Zealand.

South Africa were also blanked by Pakistan in a three-match series at the end of the last year and had suffered a humbling at the hands of Ireland in the final game of a bilateral series in October. 

Rapid stats

• This will be the first meeting between Australia and South Africa in the ICC Champions Trophy; Australia have won just one of their last five men's ODIs against the Proteas, with that win coming in their most recent clash (by 3 wickets) in the semi-final of ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023.
• South Africa won their opening game of ICC Champions Trophy 2025 by a 107-run margin against Afghanistan and will aim to register back-to-back wins in the competition for the first time since a stretch of two wins in the 2006 edition.
• Australia won their opening game of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, registering the highest score in a successful run chase in the competition (5-356); they will now aim to win each of their first two completed games in a single edition of the competition for the first time since 2009.
• After losing their first men's ODI at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, South Africa have won each of their last five matches in the format at the venue; in fact, only at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore have they won more men's ODIs (P11 W6 L5) among venues in Pakistan.
• Australia have scored 52.9 per cent of their 2,894 runs in men's ODIs since the start of 2024 via boundaries, the second highest such share by any side behind India (56.6 per cent).
• South Africa have effected seven run outs in men's ODIs since the start of 2024, the second most by any ICC full-member side (India – 8), including one in their previous game against Afghanistan; however, only Sri Lanka (30), Afghanistan (21) and Pakistan (17) have dropped more catches in the format during this period than the Proteas (16) among full-member sides.
• Travis Head has scored a boundary once in every 4.9 deliveries faced in men's ODIs since the start of 2024, the second-best rate among batters from full-member teams to have faced at least 200 balls during this period (Rohit Sharma – 4.7).
• David Miller (9) is one 50-plus score away from becoming the fifth South Africa batter to register 10 or more 50-plus scores against Australia in men's ODIs, having hit six 50s and three 100s against them in the format; in fact, Miller has logged three 50-plus scores over his last four innings against the Aussies in men's ODIs, including a knock of 101 in their most recent clash (November 16, 2023).
• Glenn Maxwell (3,983 runs) is 17 runs away from scoring 4,000 runs for Australia in men's ODIs; however, he has been dismissed for a single digit score in nine of his 14 innings against South Africa in the format, the most often against any side.
• Temba Bavuma (South Africa) is one 50-plus score away from logging three consecutive such scores for the first time in men's ODIs; Bavuma has scored 278 runs against Australia in the format at an average of 46.3, scoring more runs only against England (328).

2025 ICC Men's Champions Trophy

Broadcast exclusively on Prime Video in Australia. Sign up here for a 30-day free trial

Australia's Group B fixtures

February 22: beat England by five wickets (15 balls remaining)

February 25: Australia v South Africa, Rawalpindi (8pm AEDT)

February 28: Afghanistan v Australia, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

March 4: Semi-final 1, Dubai (8pm AEDT)

March 5: Semi-final 2, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

March 9: Final, Lahore or Dubai (8pm AEDT)

Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Spencer Johnson, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserve: Cooper Connolly