DURBAN – Across continents, there are two engaging Test series nearing their conclusion, and both will have an impact on the order atop the ICC rankings come the end of the month.
India, thanks to a startling record at home for the past few years, are still comfortable leaders in the latest rankings, but the battle for second place is tight, with Australia knowing full well that a slip up will allow South Africa in.
The Proteas, who lead their three-match series against a struggling New Zealand 1-0, with the final Test in Hamilton, have made no secret of their desire to get back to the top of the Test tree.
Convenor of selectors Linda Zondi admitted that it was a goal that was on the horizon, for a team that already leads the ODI rankings.
Of course, South Africa’s reign in the ultimate format nose-dived in India, when they were confronted by a turning ball and an opportunistic foe.
Since then, India have kicked on to become the world leader in five-day cricket, though South Africa will have a lot to say about that in the summer when they host Virat Kohli’s men in a bumper 2017/18 campaign.
Before that, though, the Proteas have to finish the job against New Zealand in Hamilton where, coincidentally, the ball is expected to turn a lot more than anywhere else they have been on their trek across the Antipodean islands.
At the same time, they will know that Australia meet India under the mountains of the Himalayas, in Dharamsala, certainly one of the game’s most breathtaking venues.
Australia will go into that final match buoyed by their defiant stand-off in Ranchi, when their middle-order refused to let the Indian spinners steal a 2-1 series lead.
It is ominously set up for the final match of an engaging series, where bat and ball have had a chance to shine, and the result has been an excellent advert for Test cricket.
In New Zealand, meanwhile, the Proteas have established a lead, with scattered contributions from their top-order.
Dean Elgar started the series well, but Stephen Cook is in a dark place, and Hashim Amla is still locating his best touch using a candle.
The pressure has been passed onto the middle-order, and even the tail, but the character within the side has seen the second Test won with surprising comfort.
In the absence, through injury and otherwise, of several big names, South Africa has again found fresh inspiration.
A rejuvenated Morné Morkel has galloped in freely, with a mind free of doubt, and thus bowled with a fuller length that has examined technique and temperament in the Kiwi ranks.
Out-of-form Stephen Cook is in a dark place at the moment. Photo: Muzi Ntombela, BackpagePix
Keshav Maharaj, still in his first year of Test cricket, has become increasingly important to Faf du Plessis, with his accuracy a real source of security – and force – when he has been called upon.
In Hamilton, he may have a spin twin in Dane Piedt, another wily customer who tends to give little away.
It has been a while since South Africa have leaned on spin over speed outside the sub-continent, but this may be the week where Messrs Maharaj and Piedt share centre stage.
The likes of Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada will still pose a threat, as it is in their DNA to probe and prosper in most conditions, but it may well be a slow bowler who again takes the plaudits, as Maharaj did in the second Test.
A win for South Africa, coupled with a loss for Australia, would see the Proteas jump into second spot, with only India between them and the top of the five-day mountain again.
They will then go to England, for another mission of vengeance, before they set their sights squarely on India, probably on hard, bouncy surfaces.
But, for this week, it is the low and slow of Hamilton that they must master once more.