Australia and South Africa would compete in their third Test match of the current season at Sydney from the 3rd to 7th January 2009. Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, said “Unfortunately the gap between our best cricket and our worst cricket has been far too great. That’s what we all have to learn from and try to improve heading into Sydney.” Mickey Arthur, the coach of South Africa, commented that “Our ability to keep Matthew Hayden under pressure has given us an opportunity to get two wins out of two, no doubt.”
Things to note
At the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), the new Victor Trumper stand has been constructed which has 8700 seats and this has resulted in a cumulative capacity of the ground of 47,000. In a home series of 3 or more Test matches, Australia has never been defeated in all the matches. In their past 12 Test matches at the SCG, Australia has triumphed in 12 of them. In 2003, it was defeated by England and in 2004, the match with India resulted in a draw. Jacques Kallis, the batsman from South Africa, is short of 53 runs to become the 8th cricketer in the world to cross the milestone of ten thousand runs. This match would be Ponting’s 14th match at the SCG. The other Australian players to do so are Shane Warne (14 Tests), Steve Waugh (17 Tests) and Allan Border (17 Tests).
The teams
A knee operation has been scheduled for Andrew Symonds on Wednesday. Brett Lee has a stress injury on his left foot and he is to undergo ankle surgery and due to these he would miss about 10 weeks of cricket. Doug Bollinger and Andrew McDonald would make their debut for Australia in this Test. The new ball would be shared by Bollinger and Peter Siddle. The first change would be Mitchell Johnson. The probable team of Australia is as follows – Ricky Ponting (captain), Brad Haddin (wicketkeeper), Doug Bollinger, Peter Siddle, Nathan Hauritz, Mitchell Johnson, Andrew McDonald, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Simon Katich and Matthew Hayden. In the South African side, JP Duminy has played well in Melbourne and Perth and is certain of retaining his spot. Graeme Smith has some discomfort with his elbow, however he is determined to play in this Test and ensure a clean sweep. The possible squad of South Africa is as follows – Graeme Smith (captain), Mark Boucher (wicketkeeper), Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn, Paul Harris, Morne Morkel, JP Duminy, AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla and Neil McKenzie.
Condition of the pitch
The Sydney pitch usually favors the slow bowlers. So, it can be predicted that Paul Harris certainly would get maximum assistance here. Tom Parker, the curator of the pitch, has disclosed that in this Test match the pitch would not be a tremendous turner and the spinners would have to wait up to the 3rd or 4th day for substantial help from the pitch. Both the teams would be using pace bowlers as their mainstay.