If Ashes is the Gold medal in Cricket, matches between Australia and South Africa arguably forms the silver medal. Over the years, Ashes has survived more on hype rather than substance, while contests between the latter have enthused cricket fans from all over the world.
It is safe to say Australia have had the better of South Africa in the early years, although South Africa announced their re-entry to World Cricket by thumping the Aussies in the 1992 World Cup. The Aussies, however, thrived in a golden period for them ranging from the mid-1990s to mid-2000s and had the better of the Rainbow Nation many a time. Recently the trend has changed, though, and South Africa have held the aces- except in World Tournaments, of course - over the Australians.
The emergence of World Class talents in Graeme Smith, AB De Villiers, Dale Steyn, Faf Du Plessis, Morne Morkel and Quinton De Kock have seen South Africa battling it out better on the cricket field against the Aussies. The Australians have enjoyed a World Cup win recently but did not have to face South Africa. Test match history, of late, between the sides reveal a story. Both have had success in the other nation while failing to do the same at home.
In the light of an impending South African tour Down Under, it is worth going through some intense battle between star players from either side. These face-offs have made matches between them gruelling and kept fans on the edge of their seats.
#5 Allan Donald and Steve Waugh
In the second Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground of the 1997/98 South Africa tour of Australia, Allan Donald was given the new ball. He softened up the Waugh brothers with a fiery spell of fast bowling that had the brothers hopping around. The White Lightning, as he is known, Donald kept probing Steve with short stuff before cleaning him up with a full delivery.
Donald describes Steve Waugh as a batsman who you want to get out in the first 20 balls. He describes that, like England opener, Michael Atherton, he tends to stay deep in the crease early in his innings and at this stage bowling at his stumps will knock him over.
At the MCG, Donald bowled a slower delivery first up in a Test to Steve Waugh. Waugh was hanging back for the short ball and the change up shook him. Waugh was heard to have said, "Jeez, that was different".
Waugh, however, had a good time against the South Africans in general. His famous 120 in the 1999 World Cup Super Six match went on to become the vital innings that would knock South Africa out of the tournament.
#4 Glenn McGrath and Gary Kirsten
There was a time when South Africa were one down against Australia even before they started their innings. This was courtesy McGrath, who seemingly had a black magic spell over the South African opener, Gary Kirsten. He has had Kirsten eight times in Test matches and another seven in one-day internationals.
"There was a look in his eye that told me he was expecting it," said McGrath recently, years after both players had retired. "It wasn't fear – just a look that told me he didn't have an answer, that we'd been here before and he knew how it was going to turn out."
Kirsten believes he had a psychological problem against the Aussie spearhead. To prepare for McGrath, he would go through the same rigorous net routine each time. He later mentioned that he would probably have been better off taking a break from the nets.
Despite his woes against McGrath, Kirsten has had a good time against the Aussies in general, scoring his first ODI hundred against them in 1994.
#3 Dale Steyn and Michael Clarke
When Australia toured South Africa in the aftermath of their bullish Ashes victory over England in 2013, they had purpose, intent and a fiery Mitchell Johnson. The confrontation between Clarke and Steyn began when Steyn defended his teammate Vernon Philander against James Pattinson, following the overturning of his dismissal on a decision review. Clarke then intervened and made a personal remark at Steyn that did not go down well with the pace bowler.
Two years earlier too, in 2011, Clarke, after an intense battle, eventually got on top of Steyn to make one of the finest hundreds of his career in the first innings in Cape Town.
However, that came only after Clarke survived a superb burst of pace bowling where Steyn shook up the Aussie skipper with a run of lethal short deliveries and a mid-pitch verbal spray.
Steyn had said the South Africans had made it their mission to go for the kill whenever Clarke strides to the crease.
But in 2013, when Clarke's personal remark made newspaper headlines, Steyn was pretty unhappy and made sure he let the press know that he was hurt by the comments.
"The issue got blown out completely, it was like two schoolgirls the way the media got hold of it. I felt like Clarkey had his opportunity to say something at the end of the Cape Town Test and obviously I wasn't in the press conference there and the next opportunity I got was a couple of months later in Zimbabwe [Zimbabwe Tri-Series, 2014] so I said what I felt.", Steyn said later.
#2 Graeme Smith and Mitchell Johnson
The Aussie left-arm seamer and the ex-South African captain have a long standing history. Johnson has broken Smith's hand twice in Test matches in which Australia have defeated South Africa. And Smith has scored two hundreds against an Australia attack that had Johnson, both times taking his century off the left-armer in matches where South Africa emerged victorious.
Smith's average against Johnson in Tests is a mere 27.14: 190 runs in 245 balls with 7 dismissals. In South Africa, he averages 22 (88 runs, four dismissals) and in Australia 34 (102 runs, three dismissals). Johnson has had the better of the opener seven times in Tests.
In the lead up to a Test series between the two, Smith said when asked whether he will do anything specific to prepare for his next encounter with Johnson, "I can go and watch some videos of scoring hundreds against Mitchell, which I've done. It's important not to get caught up in the hype."
The left-hander famously came out to bat to save a Test match in Australia, after Johnson had fractured his hand earlier in the game. Although South Africa lost the game eventually, Smith was lauded for his bravery to face a fiery Johnson with a broken hand.
#1 Daryll Cullinan and Shane Warne
Shane Warne's bullying tactics early in his career saw him dominate the battle against South Africa's middle order batsman, Daryll Cullinan. there was something about the way Warne waged a war on Cullinan that captured the imagination of the public.
"There are no mates on a cricket field," Warne had once said. Something which Cullinan would accept, albeit a bit uncomfortably.
In seven Tests he played against Warne, he scored only 153 runs at a paltry average of 12.75. Warne took his wicket on four of the 12 occasions he was dismissed, bit it felt like many more.
Cullinan arrived in the 1993-94 tour of Australia with a lofty reputation forged in his homeland. He began by sledging the Aussie batsmen in the first Test even as he shelved four catches. From then on, Warne cast his spell around him. Cullinan would be greeted with, “Is the shower already running, Daryll?” More than most, Cullinan suffered from Shane's impeccable flipper. “It's going to be the third ball, Daryll,” Shane would tell him. ”Make sure you come forward. Oh, you're out!”
Warne felt his dominance over Cullinan was more of a psychological thing. "I can only imagine he developed a bit of a phobia," Warne said. In a post-match press conference after the Wanderers Test of 1997 he said, "I didn't care how many I got, so long as I got Cullinan."
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