South Africans have been consumed by Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry for the best part of two months. But now that the All Blacks have returned to the Land of the Long White Cloud with their tails between their legs after being humbled by the Springboks, as the seasons switch and the jacarandas start to bloom, it is time for a cricket rivalry that doesn't need manufactured stakes.
The Proteas and Australia have never required a trophy name or marketing gimmicks to make their contests feel loaded — history has done that work for them across Test arenas and fiercely contested white-ball matches. This history stretches from Allan Donald’s very first ball at the 1992 World Cup, through to Lance Klusener and Donald’s despair at Edgbaston, and, of course, to "The Greatest Game of All Time": the 438 epic at the Wanderers.
But this time, the rivalry arrives with something extra hanging over it: a home World Cup just 12 months out, and a Proteas side that knows exactly what's at stake in getting the building blocks right.
The three-match ODI series begins next week Thursday at Kingsmead in Durban — a venue that served up an equally thrilling prelude when the Aussies won by one wicket in the last over to set up the series decider at the Bullring 21 years ago.
The second match follows at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, which will have the extra flamboyance of being the annual Pink Day fixture, before the series moves to Australia’s favoured destination of Potchefstroom for the third.
It was here in the North West university town that Ricky Ponting’s victorious Class of 2003 — the last time the World Cup was held in Africa — set up base for their eventual successful campaign.
A rivalry that has, lately, tilted South Africa's way
The Aussies are the reigning ODI world champions, having beaten the Proteas en route to their sixth title in a pulsating semi-final at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, but the home team have beaten their greatest rivals in two of the last three series.
The Proteas secured a 3-2 home series victory in 2023 after coming back from 2-0 down. Then, on Australian soil last August, they backed that up, taking a three-match series 2-1 away from home. Any team would take that record into a series with some swagger.
But swagger is not the currency this series is meant to deal in. Rob Walter has said as much himself: with the World Cup a little over a year away, this is about shaping the squad and finding combinations, not simply banking another series win.
South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia will host the 2027 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, and everything the Proteas do in white-ball cricket between now and then will be read through that lens, fairly or not.
Bavuma's return and the shape of a World Cup squad
Temba Bavuma returns to lead the ODI side, having last featured in the format against India in December 2025, and his comeback is crucial on so many fronts. Every sports team in South Africa wants a Siya Kolisi, and the hope is that Bavuma can script his own fairytale with the Proteas next year.
Alongside him, Gerald Coetzee's recall has everyone excited — the fast bowler’s first ODI involvement since South Africa's campaign at the 2023 World Cup in India, and a signal that the coaching group is widening its search for the right seam-bowling combinations.
That search is partly due to an attack missing its most seasoned operator, as Kagiso Rabada is unavailable for the ODIs through injury. That absence hands responsibility to Lungi Ngidi, the Jansen brothers (Marco and Duan), Kwena Maphaka, Corbin Bosch and the returning Coetzee to show they can carry an attack without their frontline weapon — precisely the kind of depth question a World Cup-winning squad needs answered in September 2026, not in the group stages of the tournament itself.
There are selection omissions worth noting, too.
Dewald Brevis misses out here, with Matthew Breetzke, David Miller and Tristan Stubbs preferred through the middle order — though the management team has been clear that Brevis remains firmly in the picture, with a chance likely to come against Bangladesh later in the home season. It's a reminder that the door to World Cup squad selection is not shut.
The coaching staff have framed it plainly: with the World Cup just over a year away, this series is an important step in shaping the squad while also giving fringe players opportunities before Bangladesh and England visit later in the season.
Why Australia is not a soft entry point
None of this World Cup framing should undersell what Australia brings to Durban. They are a side built on ruthless depth and a culture of winning major ICC tournaments. Pat Cummins's touring party arrives having had its own selection debates — Marnus Labuschagne has been omitted from the ODI squad and will only return to the country of his birth when the red-ball contests get underway.
For South Africa, beating Australia at home would be a major confidence booster, especially with the much-anticipated Test series on the horizon.
The value of this series isn't only measured in the win column. It’s about Coetzee’s fragile body holding up, whether the middle-order competition between Breetzke, Stubbs and Miller clarifies rather than muddies the World Cup picture, and whether a pace attack without Rabada can hold its own against the best batting line-up in the world.
AUSTRALIA TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA
ODI FIXTURES
September 24: First ODI, Kingsmead, 10am
September 27: Second ODI, Wanderers, 10am
September 29: Third ODI, Potchefstroom, 1pm