Australia arrived in Brisbane this week without a scratch.
The West Indies were powerless to stop Australia’s batters from helping themselves to the mountains of runs on offer.
Come Saturday, however, only one week will have separated Marnus Labuschagne facing Anderson Phillip to facing Kagiso Rabada.
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That represents a massive step-up for Australia who went largely unchallenged in a 2-0 series whitewash against the West Indies.
The visitors, already one of the world’s weaker Test sides, lost Kemar Roach and Jayden Seales from its attack mid-series, along with all-rounder Kyle Mayers, who was arguably their best bowler in Perth.
Not to talk down the brilliant performances of Labuschagne, Steve Smith, or Travis Head, who all averaged more than 125 runs, but little has been proven in the summer thus far.
Now awaits the team sitting second on the World Test Championship table, and featuring a red-hot pace attack considered one of the world’s best.
Already armed with genuine pace and bounce, the South Africans will enjoy playing in Australia where the nation has historically performed well.
Not since 2005 has Australia beaten South Africa at home, losing in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
True that South Africa has dipped since those great teams, led by names like Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn and Faf du Plessis. However, thanks to its fearsome pace attack, the Proteas remain an outfit not to be taken lightly.
“They obviously have got an extremely talented bowling attack,” Mitchell Starc told foxsports.com.au earlier this year.
“They’ve found ways with the bat … but they obviously rely on that pace attack to do a lot of the damage.
“(It will be) a huge challenge for our batters, likewise for our whole group.
“They’re going to be a huge threat to our team and to the series. Obviously front of mind is that pace attack.”
“It’s going to be a tough contest,” Labuschagne conceded. “It’s going to be great to play against a quality team like South Africa in our conditions.
“When you look over the past, when we’ve come up against really good pace attacks it’s made for a really good series, and they’ve got one of the best fast-bowling attacks going around at the moment.”
WHO ARE THEY?
Waiting for a crack against Australia are Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, and Marco Jansen.
Asked by foxsports.com.au last week about the quartet, England legend Michael Vaughan said: “Their bowling is fantastic. When it fires, it’s a world class attack.
“It’s got genuine pace, aggression. It’s fantastic to watch.”
In the past two years, the four bowlers have taken 169 wickets at just 20.85. Ngidi has the highest strike rate at 40.8, while Jansen’s is the lowest at 34.0.
For context, Scott Boland is the only Australian in Test history with a strike rate below 40 (20 wicket minimum).
The South Africans haven’t simply bolstered their numbers by playing against weaker opposition either.
Over the past two years, they have played some of the world’s best sides India, New Zealand and England, while they toured Pakistan, where fast bowlers are forced to toil away on flat decks.
Set to lead the charge this summer is Rabada, who Australians will need no introduction to. Many are already familiar with the 27-year-old’s exuberant, fiery send-offs that have landed him in hot water on multiple occasions.
During the bitter 2018 Sandpapergate series, Rabada was initially banned for an aggressive send-off of Steve Smith, whose face he screamed in before giving him a shoulder bump. He had the decision overturned on appeal, but was suspended again two years later for the same offence against England’s Joe Root.
The right-arm quick, who averages above 140km/h, burst on the Test scene at just 20 and took his first 200 wickets in only 44 matches — one better than Glenn McGrath, and equal with Pat Cummins.
He was player-of-the-series last time Australia and South Africa faced off, while he averages just 20.50 runs per wicket against the nation.
Needless to say, he enjoys playing against Australia.
“When you are playing a quality opposition, it can get the best out of you. It’s about letting it happen,” he told ESPNcricinfo earlier this month.
“With me, it’s always come out against Australia. It’s about not backing down to a challenge. If they want to come hard, you stand up to it. That’s what competition is.”
Meanwhile, South African-born Labuschagne told foxsports.com.au earlier this year: “Rabada is one of the best bowlers in the world and it’s going to be a great challenge coming up against someone of his caliber.”
The quartet’s true speed demon, however, is Nortje.
Ahead of Nortje’s debut in 2019, Proteas legend Steyn said the quick “really gets me excited”. It’s been easy to see why.
Chief among his attributes is his ability to regularly break the 150km/h barrier – in 2020 he bowled the second-fastest ball in IPL history, clocked at 156km/h.
The 29-year-old has dealt with his fair share of injuries already but is now fit and firing, recently dominating at the T20 World Cup with 11 wickets at 8.54, including best figures of 4-10.
South Africa’s left-arm option is Jansen, whose point of difference is not limited to what arm he bowls with.
The 22-year-old stands at a towering 2.07 metres, offering him extra bounce that will make him a handful for Australia’s batters.
Jansen only made his Test debut last Boxing Day, but has swiftly established himself as a regular for the Proteas.
He started out as a batter, but it’s his bowling that stands out now after starting his Test career with 37 wickets at 18.59, which includes taking 5-25 against England at the Oval in September.
Asked how Australia would prepare to face South Africa, assistant coach Daniel Vettori joked: “It’s me stepping up on something and throwing it, getting ready for Marco.”
Lastly is 26-year-old Ngidi, who is also an imposing figure at 1.93 metres and can bowl in excess of 140km/h.
Ngidi’s rise came through T20 cricket and he immediately made a splash with a player-of-the-match performance on debut.
It was therefore little surprise that when he earnt a Test cap in early 2018, he once again wasted no time in making his mark. He was player-of-the-match again, this time taking 6-39 in the second innings to help roll India for 151. Among his wickets were KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya.
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The next five years haven’t gone to plan with Ngidi only amassing 15 Test caps due to a series of injuries, but when he has played, he’s been hard to stop — he has 49 wickets at 21.61.
Proteas bowling coach Charl Langeveldt said earlier this month that Ngidi is the perfect companion for the aggressive Rabada.
“Lungi is a lot more controlled, where KG is a genuine wicket taker,” he said during a tour match against CA XI.
“Rabada doesn’t deliver as high as Ngidi. Ngidi has got a better wrist position. They are different. That is their strength.”
He added: “Lungi has always been good and can swing the ball. Sometimes the conditions overhead in Brisbane (means) it does swing,” he said during a tour match against CA XI.
“In Brisbane, they also leave a lot of grass on the wicket to start the game off, so that plays into our favour day one or day two.”
All of this is to say nothing of veteran spinner Keshav Maharaj who cannot be ignored, as Vettori warned on the weekend.
“We understand this is an important series and obviously want to do it really well, but that pace bowling attack has been exceptional for a period of time,” Vettori said.
“And their spin bowlers as well, if you underestimate Maharaj you’re going to get yourself in trouble.
“I think you’ll see a lot of work (in training) on short ball, a lot of work on pace, left-arm, and also bearing in mind their spin bowling attack.”
CAN THEY RATTLE AUSTRALIA?
Australia’s batters are in fine touch, but it must be said that the West Indies didn’t have a single bowler capable of surpassing 140km/h in the second Test.
South Africa has four, including one that will regularly crack 150km/h.
If there’s anything that can unsettle Australia, and indeed any batting line-up in world cricket, it’s genuine pace. There’s no way around it; the faster the bowling, the less time there is to make the right decision, and execute the correct footwork.
Last summer, Labuschagne was on-track for an outstanding Ashes series, but was stopped in his tracks after the second Test by Mark Wood and his 150km/h thunderbolts. Labuschagne had peeled off scores of 74, 103 and 51 with his decisiveness outside off-stump a major strength – as it was against the West Indies.
But Wood’s speed then posed problems, dismissing Labuschagne in three-consecutive innings with balls the right-hander could have left.
It was a similar story in Pakistan just weeks later with speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissing Labuschagne three times in five innings.
More recently, Labuschagne went through periods in Perth where he struggled under the short ball to the West Indies’ Alzarri Joseph. Nortje and co. will have taken notice, and come armed with quicker, and potentially more dangerous bouncers.
Of course, Labuschagne isn’t the only one South Africa’s speed poses a threat for.
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Cameron Green looked noticeably shaky in the Adelaide Oval nets last week when facing uncapped 24-year-old Lance Morris, who has been clocked at 153km/h.
Morris wasn’t hitting top speed, but was still fast enough to have Green in all sorts. Eventually, Green simply stood aside and let Morris bowl at the vacant stumps.
The lack of time Green spent at the crease against the West Indies could also add to his vulnerability. Australia batted almost 300 overs in the series before Green got to bat in Adelaide – and he looked nervous as he laboured to nine runs off 42 balls. He was then asked to swing the bat around in the second innings and made just five off four.
Then there’s the fact David Warner is potentially in trouble heading into the series, having not made a Test century in nearly three years while failing to make a half-century against a limp West Indies attack.
Warner’s footwork has been lacking, and the extra speed of the South Africans is going to do nothing to help that.
“(It will be) good fast bowling, so a good test for a few players,” Mark Waugh told foxsports.com.au.
“David Warner – he’s going to be tested against the quick bowling.”
South Africa’s fragile batting line-up means Australia still starts as favourite heading into the three-Test series, which starts in Brisbane on Saturday (11.20am AEDT).
But after a walk in the park against the West Indies, Waugh warned that the Australians will need to be ready for the jump up.
“It’s a different class of opposition (compared to the West Indies).
“You don’t have to be a genius to work that out,” he said.
“The Australians will know they’ll have to work a lot harder for their runs than what we’ve seen (against the West Indies).”
