South Africa tour of Australia, 2026
Two spinners in South Africa? Harmer hopes Kingsmead turn trend will continue
byTelford Vice•
© Getty
©Getty
South <a href="https://absafricatv.com/the-north-african-people-with-a-forgotten-christian-heritage/” title=”The North African people with a forgotten Christian heritage”>African pitches turn? Says who? Says Simon Harmer, who has news for Australians who are apparently shocked and horrified that surfaces in the country could possibly do such a thing.
“Traditionally coastal wickets do offer assistance for the spinners,” Harmer told a press conference at Kingsmead on Wednesday (October 7). “If I think back to the Bangladesh series (in March and April 2022) there was turn on offer here …”
Then he had to pivot: “ … but against West Indies at the Wanderers (in March 2023) there was also a turn on offer.”
Australians didn’t need to be told the latter. They saw it for themselves last month, when Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram and Bjorn Fortuin bowled 30 overs between them and took a combined 5 for 179 to guide South Africa to victory by 32 runs in the second ODI in Johannesburg. Turn! At the Wanderers! In a white-ball game!
It’s as if some Aussies have freshly slipped out of a slumber they shambled into in 1970, when — legend has it — the only way to know which was the match pitch at Kingsmead was to look for stumps and creases. Because all the strips gleamed as greenly as each other.
That era is long gone. Kingsmead’s tiger has been tamed. The fact that Harmer was at a press conference two days before the start of the first Test was evidence of that. Generally players who are put up to talk to the media in the lead up to a match will be in the XI.
South Africa’s primary spinner is Keshav Maharaj, whose name will surely be among the first to be put down on the team sheet. Harmer’s turn in front of the microphones suggests he will also be in the side.
Two spinners! At Kingsmead! What the hell is going on, mate?
The same thing that went on in that Bangladesh Test of more than four years ago, when Maharaj and Harmer sent down 77 of the 115.5 overs South Africa bowled in the first innings. They were the only bowlers the home side needed in the second dig — Maharaj took 7 for 32 and Harmer 3 for 21 to dismiss the visitors for 53.
Australians should remember that Maharaj took 5 for 123 and 4 for 102 in the first Test of the March 2018 series, also at Kingsmead. But they would be forgiven if their recollections have been clouded by events like Nathan Lyon dropping the ball onto a prone AB de Villiers after the latter had been run out. And David Warner having to be physically restrained during a nasty verbal confrontation with Quinton de Kock in a stairwell.
That’s not to suggest South Africans get everything right about their own pitches. You will hear them, for instance, describing the surfaces at Kingsmead and St George’s Park as “sub-continental”. Not true, Harmer said. “The bounce (in South Africa) is similar to Australia.”
Then he handed down an illuminating thesis: “Subcontinent players play with very low hands because the ball doesn’t bounce as much (in Asia), so a lot of balls came off the glove in that (Bangladesh) series. Non-subcontinent players play out in front of their body a lot more. They like to play the ball nice and late. If you look at how guys cut it’s almost out of the wicketkeeper’s gloves and it goes behind point. We (non-Asians) try and murder it in front of square and get one run.”
Those non-Asian Australians didn’t murder much in an ODI series South Africa won 2-1. The visitors looked clumsy against spin, which earned the home side a dozen wickets at an economy rate of 5.05. The seamers were more successful, claiming 17 wickets — but at an economy rate of 7.12. Economy matters more than wickets in white-ball cricket.
Unsurprisingly Harmer, who wasn’t in the ODI squad, wanted the trend to continue: “They didn’t play spin as well as they probably would have wanted to, but Test cricket is a different kettle of fish. And they have different personnel coming in. So I hope they don’t play spin well again, but we’re expecting them to play it well.”
Will the pitch turn? Probably. We’re at Kingsmead, after all.
Australia tour of South Africa, 2026
Australia tour of South Africa, 2026, 1st Test
South Africa
Australia
Simon Harmer
