When Australia take the field against the Proteas at Kingsmead in early October, it will be the first time their Test side has set foot in South Africa since the drama-filled 2017/18 tour that ended with three players sent home in disgrace.
Eight years on from Sandpapergate, only six members of the touring squad who were part of the darkest period in Australian cricket history will be back for the upcoming series.
The Proteas won that 2018 series 3-1: Australia took the first Test in Durban by 118 runs, before the home side hit back at St George's Park, then at Newlands in Cape Town, before completing a rout in Johannesburg.
It was during the third Test, with picturesque Table Mountain in the background, that the series — and a chunk of Australian cricket's reputation — came apart. Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera roughening the ball with sandpaper on the third day; captain Steve Smith admitted he had known of the plan, and vice-captain David Warner was found to have devised it.
Smith and Warner were banned for 12 months, Bancroft for nine, and coach Darren Lehmann resigned within days. Depleted and shell-shocked, Australia were beaten by 492 runs in the fourth Test at the Wanderers.
Five of the players who began that tour are in the squad that returns this October: Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc. A sixth, Matthew Renshaw, wasn't originally selected — he was flown in from a Dukes League stint in England to open the batting in that final Test at the Wanderers, thrown into the deep end of a crisis he had had no part in creating.
STEVE SMITH carries the heaviest history of the six. He was Australia's captain when the plan was hatched in Cape Town, and it was his admission to match officials that changed the course of history.
Smith’s post-day press conference at Newlands remains some of the best theatre the grand old ground has witnessed. The tears he shed upon returning to Australia after being sent home displayed a broken man.
But the now 37-year-old served his ban, returned to the Australian side in 2019, and has been one of the format's best batters ever since. He has been back to South Africa with the Australian white-ball teams since, but this Test series will be a full-circle moment for the former Aussie skipper.
PAT CUMMINGS was on that 2018 tour as a young fast bowler, not yet the leader he would become. He returns as Australia's captain, taking the side back to the country where his career, and Australian cricket's culture, both took a very public hit.
He will be desperate for redemption for this new generation of Australian players to finally put Sandpapergate behind them.
JOSH HAZLEWOOD and MITCHELL STARC were part of the same attack that toured in 2018, and both remain first-choice quicks eight years on. The duo distanced themselves from the ball-tampering scandal, with Starc admitting: "It was such a stressful time in our lives. There was strain on relationships both as individuals and as a team."
NATHAN LYON, the constant of Australian Test cricket for well over a decade now, was actually the catalyst for much of the drama that unfolded after the off-spinner dropped the ball onto AB de Villiers’ chest as the Proteas batter was flat on the ground after being run out.
Lyon was docked 15% of his match fee for the incident, but it set in motion a string of events that ultimately led to David Warner trying to assault Quinton de Kock on the Kingsmead dressing room staircase. But the 38-year-old remains Australia’s premier red-ball spinner and will be looking to make an impact again during this upcoming series.
MATTHEW RENSHAW's story is the odd one out. He wasn't part of the squad when the scandal broke — he was called up afterwards, essentially as damage control, and made his return to Test cricket in the wreckage of the fourth Test. He will be thankful that he is walking into a much calmer environment eight years later.
Australia Test squad to face Proteas in three-match series
Pat Cummins (capt), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster