Amid pledges of good behaviour, South African captain Dean Elgar conceded there could be “a few feisty encounters” against Australia as both teams attempt to draw a line under the ugly ball-tampering series of 2018.
Australia’s captain, Pat Cummins, however, insisted there would be none on the eve of the opening Test of a three-match series that starts at Brisbane’s Gabba on Saturday.
Pat Cummins and Dean Elgar with the unnamed trophy for the Australia-South Africa series.Credit:Getty
“Hopefully, it’s played in good spirit,” Elgar said before training at the Gabba on Friday. “There will be moments, no doubt, where there will be a few feisty encounters but hopefully it doesn’t reach the stage that we experienced in 2018.
“What’s happened in the past happened. There’s no grudges. We know they want to win, we want to win. There will always be a moment where egos and the heat of the moment gets to the guys but think it will be better controlled this time.
“I really want to play a bloody good Test series. Sure, they also want to play a Test series but hopefully not as good as us. If they’ve got added issues with regards to that then that’s their thing, but regards to my team we haven’t spoken about it once. It’s history for us.”
The overtly aggressive behaviour of both sides in 2018 would rate as one of the low points in Test history even before Cameron Bancroft, David Warner and Steve Smith were implicated in ball tampering, but Cummins claims it is a dim, if disappointing, memory.
“We’ve all moved on, done with it,” Cummins said, adding that he was in charge of a different team with a different attitude.
“I think you’ve seen over the last 12 months 11 different individuals going out there to play. We all play slightly differently, but seeing a lot of laughter.
Pat Cummins and Kagiso Rabada at the Gabba on Friday ahead of the first Test.Credit:Getty Images
“I don’t think we’re as abrasive as we’ve been in the past. It’s working for us. How we are off the field is pretty similar to what we play on the field I think – calm, very chill, just enjoying it out there, really competitive. And we’ve done that really well over the last 12 months.
“Going into this series as well, just be ourselves. Don’t try and feel like we have to act in a certain way.
“We’re really strong on who we are as a team, how we want to go about it. The last 12 months have been a great example on that. We’re pretty firm on how we want to act and conduct ourselves. Whatever gets thrown at us won’t change that.”
Certainly, the broad smiles and thumbs-up handshake between Cummins and Kagiso Rabada as they chatted merrily during a photo shoot on the ground was a million miles from the raging Rabada of 2018.
One of the worst memories of 2018, apart from Bancroft pulling sandpaper out of his pocket and then putting it down his trousers in front of thousands at Newlands and many more at home, was when Rabada shoulder-charged Steve Smith in the previous Test at Port Elizabeth.
Cameron Bancroft at Newlands in 2018.Credit:Getty
Rabada was suspended but then let off on appeal when Cricket South Africa brought in heavy-duty lawyers, infuriating the Australians, particularly Smith, who was captain.
“The ICC have set the standard, haven’t they? There was clearly contact out in the middle,” Smith said at the time. “I certainly won’t be telling my bowlers to go out there and after you take a wicket go and get in their space. I don’t think that is on and part of the game. But the standard has been set.”
Then the Australians set their own standards with ball tampering in Cape Town during the next Test, resulting in Smith, Warner and Bancroft being dropped for the fourth Test. Smith and Warner were subsequently suspended for 12 months and Bancroft nine months while Smith was banned from the captaincy for two years and Warner for life.
Veteran batsmen Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh both confirmed on Thursday they were not spoken to during the hastily conducted investigation into the use of sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball by Australian players during the Test at Newlands.
Both said they were surprised not to be interviewed along with other players following the incident.
Concerns have lingered that the investigation by Cricket Australia was far from comprehensive, but Cummins was determined to put it in the rearview mirror.
“I got interviewed and it was all done five years ago and we’ve moved on,” he said.
