Sydney – South Africa’s Twenty20 squad are keen on dragging momentum into the one-day series against Australia even though a lot of the players won’t be playing in those five matches.
The three T20 Internationals between the two countries are just a superfluous set of matches that have little context other than to fill the coffers of Cricket Australia and local television companies.
There isn’t a T20 World Cup for another 18 months, and whatever magic display or show of form that emerges here for any player will have very little meaning when a squad is picked for that event in 2016.
There are some areas, though, where individuals in the South African and Australian teams will view this series as important for the summer ahead.
Wayne Parnell, Kyle Abbott, David Miller and Rilee Rossouw need every bit of game time to prove they can fit into the World Cup squad.
JP Duminy’s captaining of the team gives him the opportunity to improve his understanding of skippering the side, adding to the leadership core that already exists in the group.
Robin Peterson’s call-up as a replacement for Aaron Phangiso has opened the door for him to have another shot at making a World Cup squad.
On the Australia front, Shane Watson gets his first taste of international cricket after missing the tour to the UAE, while Aaron Finch, James Faulkner and Cameron White all have World Cup aspirations.
“We want to win, too; that’s always important because it breeds confidence,” Proteas coach Russell Domingo said ahead of the team’s first training session at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
“And we can take some winning momentum into the one-dayers against Australia, which will be good for us.”
In a reflection of how seriously the South Africans are taking the series, they have even arranged a warm-up game – an unprecedented move in today’s hectic cricket travel schedules – against a CA Chairman’s XI at the North Sydney Oval earlier today.
The players were probably in need of such an encounter, though, with many having last played a week ago – and in Parnell and Abott’s case, not at all since coming on this tour.
The South African squad is a mix of some new and old faces.
Among the rookies are Kagiso Rabada and Reeza Hendricks, while Marchant de Lange, David Wiese and Farhaan Behardien will all be looking to impress, given they have an outside shot of getting into the 50-over World Cup squad later this summer.
SQUADS
Australia: Aaron Finch (capt), Sean Abbott, Doug Bollinger, Cameron Boyce, Patrick Cummins, Ben Cutting, Ben Dunk, James Faulkner, Nic Maddinson, Nathan Readon, Kane Richardson, Shane Watson, Cameron White
South Africa: JP Duminy (capt), Kyle Abbott, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Marchant de Lange, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, David Wiese
T20I schedule
Wednesday: Ist match, Adelaide, 10.35am SA time
Friday:2nd match, Melbourne, 10.35am
Sunday, Nov 9:3rd match, Sydney, 10.35am