Live Cricket Score of South Africa vs Australia, Durban, 1st Test

South Africa will look to put behind their poor form in limited overs cricket and get back to winning ways in the first Test versus Australia © AFP

Build up

Any contest between arch-rivals - South Africa and Australia - evokes passion among fans. The two sides have a storied rivalry marked by intense contests.The traces of the fierce rivalry can be found even if you jog your memory down the lane to 1950s as an inexperienced South African side - without the services of Eric and Athol Rowan, Dudley Nourse and Tufty Mann - drew a five-match series 2-2 under Cheetham's leadership in 1952-53.

Even in the recent past, the two sides have been a part of a few thrilling series. In 2013-14, Ryan Harris, despite suffering from a knee injury, helped Australia to eke out a memorable win by castling Steyn in Cape Town as the visitors won the rubber 2-1. South Africa returned the favour by defeating Australia 2-1 in 2016-17.

Fast-forward to the present day. The two teams will again go head-to-head in the first Test of the highly-anticipated four-match series, starting in Durban on March 1. Both teams have imposing pace attacks on paper. In addition to it, with the likes of AB de Villiers, Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis, Hashim Amla and David Warner playing for their respective sides, there are enough world class batsmen in the fray.

South Africa slipped to series defeats in both T20s and ODIs versus India. But, it has to be remembered they won the Test series versus the same opponent. On the other hand, Australia thumped their traditional rivals - England - 4-0 in the Ashes. So who has the upper hand? South Africa? Australia?

On a side note, it is interesting to note that South Africa haven't beaten Australia in a Test series at home since their readmission to international cricket in 1991. On the other hand, South Africa haven't lost a Test series in Australia since 2008-09.

Toss and teams in a while...

You can check our preview for the series.

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