Ghosts of pitches past haunt Test selection calls

For all the adornments of a new year and fresh challenges, the third and final NRMA Insurance Test between Australia and South Africa begins tomorrow bearing more than a whiff of nostalgia.

For starters, there's the SCG pitch that appears mottled to the point of motley due to grass-growing issues caused by heavy traffic and Sydney's relentlessly wet 2022, with the Test strip situated further east on the stadium's 10-wicket block than any new year's fixture since 2007.

And it's not only geography – with the commensurately short boundary on the Bill O'Reilly Stand side ensuring the match will be lopsided, if not one-sided – that acts as a throwback to summers past.

Australia players who hold memories of SCG pitches from back in the day when they favoured spin to the extent teams would habitually deploy two tweakers have told the famous ground's curator the current track resembles one from a decade or so earlier.

"A few of the players have told me it looks like a wicket from about 10 years ago, which gave me a bit of confidence," curator Adam Lewis said today.

"It's thin on grass, a bit patchy and probably not the best looking pitch that we've seen, but we're looking forward to it and we've done the best we can.

"We're hoping for a traditional SCG pitch. It's not quite what we've seen in the past few years."

Australia's selection panel is so convinced of the SCG's return to the past they are actively pondering naming spin-bowling allrounder Ashton Agar to operate alongside Nathan Lyon in a starting XI revamped due to finger injuries suffered by quicks Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green.

Should Agar be included for his first Test appearance in more than five years – and his first-ever on home turf – it will also represent the first time Australia have taken two specialist spinners into a match on their own patch since Lyon and Steve O'Keefe played against Pakistan at the SCG in 2017.

That match is best remembered for David Warner's blistering century in the opening session of day one, which overshadowed an even bigger contribution from his then opening partner Matthew Renshaw, who scored 184 before being concussed and removed from the game.

Renshaw is also in the mix for a long-awaited Test recall having last represented his country at Johannesburg in 2018, with selectors weighing up whether they need to bolster the team's batting given uncertainty about the true nature of the aesthetically challenged SCG pitch.

Australia captain Pat Cummins revealed the panel had settled on a final XI for tomorrow's Test but declined to release the names, noting he wasn't convinced five specialist bowlers would be needed but conceding uncapped fast bowler Lance Morris would not be aided by the dry conditions.

"I don't think it's the WACA-type pace-bowling friendly wicket out there," Cummins told reporters today. "We're not totally sold (on how many bowlers will be required) either way.

"(Part-timers) Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne can bowl a bit as well, so if we pick five out-and-out bowlers it probably takes it up to six or seven.

"Chatting to the curator, this wicket is quite different to past years.

"AFL (season) played a bit longer, (T20) World Cup, (wet) weather – they just haven't been able to have the preparations of past years.

"The Shield games are pretty good indicators."

Even recent Marsh Sheffield Shield games provide a small sample given there's been just four at the SCG in the past three summers, but that scant selection shows clearly how tricky batting might be.

No Shield team has reached 300 in any innings with two of the four games finishing inside three days, while watchful batters Travis Dean (Victoria) and Kurtis Patterson (NSW) have been the only century makers.

And it's not spin that's acted as the most destructive weapon.

Lyon is the only tweaker among the most potent Shield bowlers at the SCG since the start of 2020-21 with 10 wickets at 7.8 from his sole appearance, while seamers Chris Tremain (15 wickets at 13.5), James Pattinson (11 at 17.9) and Green (9 at 12.4) have returned equally impressive numbers.

But it's that dominance of ball over bat that is surely weighing heavily on the minds of both camps.

South Africa can't even rely on history to settle on their starting XI, given they haven't played a Test in Sydney since 2009 when their skipper Graeme Smith famously tried to save his team from defeat by batting with a badly broken hand.

It's partly that lack of first-hand experience among any of the contemporary Proteas players that left current captain Dean Elgar unable to confirm his team's starting XI for tomorrow's Test.

His selection angst is compounded by the loss of number three batter Theunis de Bruyn who has returned to South Africa for the birth of his first child, as well as indifferent form from a number of players across the first two Tests comfortably won by Australia.

Elgar admitted South Africa are considering the inclusion of off-spinner Simon Harmer to partner left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, with under-performing quick Lungi Ngidi seemingly the seamer most likely to miss out.

"Definitely, given the nature of what wicket has been like in Sydney, it's been a bit lower and slower with a bit of turn," Elgar said when asked if Harmer was in the mix for a call-up.

"It might definitely force our hand to play two spinners.

"Kesh is still our number one spinner going forward, he's definitely deserving of that position."

But Elgar was non-committal on which of the auxiliary batters – Rassie van der Dussen (who played in the opening Test at the Gabba) or Heinrich Klaasen – would come into the XI to replace de Bruyn.

"Rassie's had quite an extended period at Test level, so you can always look at it that he brings a little more experience to the role," Elgar said today.

"Then you look at a guy like Heinrich (Klaasen) who's immensely talented and is maybe deserving a chance now, and maybe an extended chance as well.

"But for us to play seven batters would be a massive call, or a massive ask for our bowling unit to cover those four spots.

"Workload has been quite hectic on our fast bowlers of late, especially in the last Test where they really pushed quite a few numbers in regards to overs bowled.

"So to then come into a Test and only have four bowlers – and potentially only three seamers – is quite a big ask for them to carry that workload."

The quandary for Elgar and South Africa's selectors is, while they remain committed to a team balance of six specialist batters – with keeper Kyle Verreynne at six – their top five have so far proved unproductive against Australia's attack.

Their second innings score of 204 at the MCG last week – where they were crushed by an innings and 182 runs – was South Africa's sole total above 200 in eight Test knocks.

And Verreynne (149 runs at 37.25 with two half-centuries) and vice-captain Temba Bavuma (133 at 33.25 with a solitary 50) are the only Proteas players to average above 20 in this campaign.

As a result, there's a chance number five batter Khaya Zondo might also find himself under pressure to retain his place.

"Talk is cheap at the moment and we need to go out and perform," Elgar said of his team's fragile batting. "We've really got to make amends for our positions that we have within the side.

"We're very much aware of the possibilities of what we might face in Sydney.

"We're very mindful there's a possibility of playing against two spinners, and reverse swing might also play a factor here.

"But it's okay, we're still preparing very well.

"There's a lot to play for in this third Test."

In keeping with the spirit of Test matches past, the placement of the pitch for tomorrow's NRMA Insurance invokes the memory of the greats whose presence will loom large over the five days.

In a match that honours the fundraising work undertaken by Glenn McGrath in memory of his late wife, Jane, and which also heralds the first New Year's Test since the passing of Shane Warne, it's fitting the pitch that has prompted so much discussion is number three on the wicket block.

The last time the SCG used pitch three for a Test match was the final match of the 2006-07 Ashes whitewash, the playing farewell for McGrath, Warne and former men's team coach Justin Langer.

"When we were doing our investigation, we worked out Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer had their final Test on pitch three, so in our planning we had that in the back of our mind," curator Lewis said, noting the original plan had been to use pitch five, located further west.

"We tried bringing grass in on pitch five as best we could, but with the amount of play we've had through the whole season, it just couldn't get there in time.

"But knowing that Shane Warne and the guys played their last Test on three, it just felt right, so we put our energy into three."

Men's NRMA Insurance Test Series v South Africa

First Test: Australia won by six wickets

Second Test: Australia won by an innings and 182 runs

Jan 4-8: Third Test, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Lance Morris, Nathan Lyon, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, David Warner

South Africa squad: Dean Elgar (c), Temba Bavuma, Gerald Coetzee, Theunis de Bruyn, Sarel Eree, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Heinrich Klaasen, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams, Khaya Zondo

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