Archive · 15 Sep 2026
Cummins Expects Hostility on Australia’s First South Africa Test Tour
Australia is going to South Africa to play cricket.
This will be its first Test series there since a serious ball-tampering scandal in 2018.
Captain Pat Cummins thinks some fans may be angry or noisy.
He also believes the attention will move back to the cricket quickly.
Australia will play three one-day matches and three Test matches.
The Tests are scheduled to start on October 9.
Six players from the 2018 Australian team are still involved.
Cummins said Australia lost to Bangladesh because it played poorly, not because it prepared badly.
Pat Cummins expects some hostility when Australia returns to South Africa for its first Test tour there since the 2018 ball-tampering scandal.
Australia will play three ODIs and three Tests, with the Test series beginning on October 9.
Cummins said the reaction may be rowdy but would likely fade once the cricket begins.
Six Australian players remain from the team involved in the 2018 series, which South Africa won 3-1.
Cummins rejected claims that inadequate preparation caused Australia’s home loss to Bangladesh, saying the team simply did not play well.
- Who
- Australia, led by captain Pat Cummins, will tour South Africa.
- What
- Australia will play three ODIs and three Tests, its first South Africa Test tour since the 2018 ball-tampering scandal.
- When
- The Test series is scheduled to begin on October 9; the year is not specified.
- Where
- South Africa.
- Why
- The tour is part of Australia’s scheduled cricket series and marks its return to South Africa for Test cricket after the 2018 incident.
Questions and concerns
Cummins’s response
Cause of Australia’s Bangladesh loss
Questions and concerns
Discussion after the defeat questioned whether Australia had prepared adequately for the series.
Cummins’s response
Cummins said Australia would have prepared the same way for an Ashes Test or a Bangladesh series and blamed the loss on poor execution rather than insufficient preparation.
Reaction to the 2018 scandal
Questions and concerns
Some South African fans and media may revive the ball-tampering controversy, and Cummins expects a degree of hostility.
Cummins’s response
Cummins believes the team has moved on and that attention will return to the cricket once the Tests begin.
- Tour format
- Three ODIs and three Tests
- Test-series start
- October 9
- Previous Test tour
- Australia’s last Test tour of South Africa was in 2018
- 2018 series result
- South Africa won the series 3-1
- Players remaining
- Six Australian players from the 2018 series remain involved
- 2018 penalties
- Steve Smith and David Warner received one-year bans, while Cameron Bancroft received a nine-month ban
- Recent result
- Australia lost to Bangladesh in Darwin, its first home defeat to Bangladesh