South Africa v Australia: first men’s cricket Test, day one – live

Hello and welcome to live coverage of the first day of the first Test between South Africa and Australia in Durban. This is a heavyweight clash between the top two teams in the current World Test Championship standings, and the two teams that met in the final of the last cycle little more than 15 months ago. The Proteas defeated the defending champions Australia in that WTC decider at Lord’s last year to claim a rare piece of silverware rid themselves of a choker’s tag. But the buildup to this series has inevitably looked much further back.

More than eight years have passed since Cameron Bancroft reached into his pocket at Newlands, pulled out a piece of sandpaper and exposed the fractures in Australian cricket that had been papered over across decades. That moment and the cover-up that followed led to the young opener and his more experienced batting partner David Warner, along with captain Steve Smith, being banned from playing cricket for as much as 12 months, while the culture reckoning that swept over the national team lasted much longer.

As Australia returns to South Africa for a first Test since the Proteas won that infamous series 3-1, the tourists’ culture has been transformed under captain Pat Cummins. Smith, Cummins and the other pillars of the bowling attack in Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon are back as Australia seek to finally lay the ghosts of 2018 to rest. For South Africa, skipper Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram and Keshav Maharaj return after also playing in the Cape Town clash eight years ago.

There is more on the line in the present day than just reopening – and perhaps healing – old wounds with Australia a couple of steps down the path of a 20-Test journey that will also take in a home series against New Zealand and tours of India and England. A return to a third consecutive WTC final would be a sure sign that stretch has been filled with success as well as going a long way to cementing the legacy of this renewed version of Australia under Cummins’ leadership.

South Africa have built on their triumph in the last WTC cycle with a 2-0 series victory in Zimbabwe, a 1-1 draw in Pakistan and then a historic two-Test series sweep in India last year. But this is the Proteas’ first red-ball international in more than 10 months and their first Test on home soil since January 2025. The two teams started sounding each other out with three ODIs last month. But this long awaited and highly anticipated Test series is undeniably the main event.

Toss and confirmed teams will be coming up shortly – with the first ball to be bowled at 9:30am in Durban / 6:30pm AEDT . In the meantime, get in touch with your thoughts and predictions by email or find me @martinpegan on Bluesky .