South Africa vs Australia Test Series 2026: Schedule, Squads and H2H

South Africa and Australia meet in a Test series for the first time since South Africa beat them by five wickets in the World Test Championship final at Lord's in June 2025. There are three Tests: Kingsmead in Durban from Friday 9 October, St George's Park in Gqeberha from 18 October and Newlands in Cape Town from 27 October. All three count towards the 2025-27 World Test Championship, where Australia top the table and South Africa sit second.

It is Australia's first Test tour of South Africa since 2018, when South Africa won 3-1. Australia arrive as Ashes winners, 4-1 at home last summer, though Bangladesh held them 1-1 in August. South Africa have not played a Test since beating India 2-0 last November, their first series win in India for 25 years. Here is everything you need: the schedule and start times, both squads, the head-to-head record, how the three grounds play and the form figures from the Statz database.

South Africa vs Australia Test series schedule and start times

All three are day Tests. UK clocks go back on 25 October, so the third Test starts at 08:30 GMT. In Australia, Brisbane is an hour behind Sydney and Melbourne, and Perth three hours behind.

Each match page carries the Statz projection, team news and the head-to-head, and turns into the live scorecard on the day.

South Africa and Australia squads for the Test series

Australia

Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Sam Harper, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.

Australia named 16 players on 7 September and added Harper, as wicketkeeping cover, and Maddinson, as batting cover, on 1 October. Josh Inglis has a fractured finger and misses the first Test, and Cameron Green has been managing an abdominal strain. Matthew Renshaw opens with Travis Head, having taken over from Jake Weatherald. Usman Khawaja and Sam Konstas are not in the squad.

South Africa

South Africa have named a preliminary 18 for the first Test, to be cut to 15 after a two-day intra-squad match: Temba Bavuma (captain), Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortje, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne.

Kagiso Rabada is included but has to prove his fitness after a hamstring injury, while Lungi Ngidi, Kwena Maphaka and Ottneil Baartman are still in rehab. Anrich Nortje is back in a Test squad for the first time since 2023, Ackerman is the only uncapped player, and Dewald Brevis misses out: coach Shukri Conrad said Brevis suits subcontinent Tests better.

Both squads, with every player's figures, are on Statz: the South Africa Test squad and the Australia Test squad.

South Africa vs Australia head-to-head record in Tests

Australia lead the all-time Test record: 102 Tests, 54 Australian wins, 27 South African wins and 21 draws. In South Africa the sides have played 54 Tests, with 29 Australian wins, 16 South African wins and nine draws.

The recent record is far closer. These are the last five Tests between the sides:

• June 2025, Lord's (WTC final): South Africa won by five wickets
• January 2023, Sydney: drawn
• December 2022, Melbourne: Australia won by an innings and 182 runs
• December 2022, Brisbane: Australia won by six wickets
• March 2018, Johannesburg: South Africa won by 492 runs

Australia's last Test win in South Africa came at Kingsmead in March 2018, by 118 runs. They lost the next three Tests of that series.

Among the players likely to feature, Kagiso Rabada has taken more wickets in Tests between the sides since 2011 than anyone: 58 at 21.39. Nathan Lyon has 56, Pat Cummins 48 at 18.31 with four five-wicket hauls, and Mitchell Starc 47. Steve Smith leads the current batters with 933 runs, and Aiden Markram has 616 at 61.60, with three hundreds, from only five Tests against Australia.

How South Africa and Australia come into the series

South Africa have played seven Tests since June 2025 and won six: the WTC final, 2-0 in Zimbabwe, 1-1 in Pakistan and 2-0 in India. Their last Test started on 22 November, so this series ends a break of more than ten months.

Their bowlers have driven that run. In those seven Tests Simon Harmer took 30 wickets at 14.3, including 17 as Player of the Series in India; Keshav Maharaj took 20, Marco Jansen 16 at 18.2 and Senuran Muthusamy 16, and Rabada 13 in three Tests. With the bat, Wiaan Mulder made 664 runs, including 367 not out against Zimbabwe, and Markram 335 at 67.

Australia have played 11 Tests in the same period and won eight. They beat the West Indies 3-0 away and England 4-1 at home, then drew 1-1 with Bangladesh in August: Bangladesh won in Darwin by nine wickets, their first Test win in Australia, and Australia levelled inside two days in Mackay.

Travis Head has 934 runs at 84.9 in those 11 Tests, Steve Smith 649 at 72.1 and Alex Carey 630 at 57.3. Mitchell Starc has 63 wickets at 17.3, including 31 as Player of the Series in the Ashes and ten in the match in Mackay. Cummins has 28 at 16.4 in seven Tests.

Kingsmead, Gqeberha and Newlands: how the grounds play

All 13 Tests at these three grounds in the Statz database since 2018 produced a result, and so did Australia's three Tests there in 2018. Not one was drawn.

Kingsmead, Durban (1st Test)

Australia have won six of their 11 Tests at Kingsmead, including that 2018 win. Its last three Tests in our database featured two collapses: Bangladesh were bowled out for 53 in the fourth innings in 2022, and in November 2024 Sri Lanka were dismissed for 42, their lowest Test total, as Jansen took 7 for 13. First-innings totals in those three games were 235, 367 and 191.

All three captains who won the toss there chose to bowl first, and two of them lost. Kingsmead ground stats

St George's Park, Gqeberha (2nd Test)

This is the one ground of the three where Australia have a losing Test record: three wins and four defeats from seven. It has also been the best of the three for batting. Its last four Tests produced first-innings totals of 222, 499, 453 and 358; every captain who won the toss batted, and the side batting first won three of the four. St George's Park ground stats

Newlands, Cape Town (3rd Test)

Australia have won ten of their 14 Tests at Newlands and have never drawn there, but they lost the most recent one by 322 runs in 2018. Newlands normally hosts South Africa's New Year Test: five of its last six Tests were played in January, the exception being Australia's visit in March 2018, so an October Test is unfamiliar ground. Recent Tests there have swung hard: South Africa were bowled out for 55 by India in January 2024, in the shortest completed Test on record at 642 balls, and made 615 against Pakistan a year later. Newlands ground stats

What the World Test Championship table means for the series

Australia lead the 2025-27 table on 80.00 per cent, from eight wins and two defeats in ten Tests. South Africa, the holders, are second on 75.00 per cent from four Tests, with three wins, and New Zealand third on 72.22. Each Test is worth 12 points for a win and four for a draw, so the series is worth up to 36 points to either side. South Africa have played so few Tests in this cycle that every result here moves their percentage a long way.

What the numbers say for betting on South Africa vs Australia

• The draw: none of the 16 Tests at these grounds since 2018 was drawn, and Australia have never drawn at Newlands. Weather can change that, but the recent record points to results.
• The toss: captains bowled first at Kingsmead and batted first at Gqeberha in every recent Test there, and batting first won three of the last four in Gqeberha.
• Top bowler: Starc (63 wickets at 17.3) and Harmer (30 at 14.3) are each side's leading wicket-takers since June 2025, and Rabada has the most wickets in Tests between these sides since 2011, if his hamstring holds.
• Top batter: Head has 934 runs at 84.9 since June 2025, and Markram averages 61.60 against Australia.
• Rust against rhythm: South Africa's last Test was in November; Australia played two in August.

Statz's win, draw and loss percentages for each Test go up on the match pages linked in the schedule above, with any Best Bets once the prices are in.