It wasn't lavish, but it was just enough. Australia were able to make use of reverse swing in Durban with Josh Hazlewood acknowledging it was an important extra string to their bow as they secured a series lead.
With the more heavily grassed surfaces back in Australia, reverse has not been a major feature of their home Tests in recent years. The last time it played a key part on an overseas tour for Australia was the 2022 trip to Pakistan when Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins were brilliant with it to clinch a series victory in Lahore.
During Australia's two-day warm-up match in Potchefstroom ahead of the first Test, the quicks had searched for reverse, right down to instructing the spin bowlers not to get sweaty hands on the wrong side of the ball, but it barely went in the short spells used in that game.
Related
At Kingsmead, however, an abrasive surface and square aided the natural deterioration of the ball. There was a suggestion it had started by the 23rd over in the second innings when David Bedingham was trapped lbw and was certainly on display later in the innings before Hazlewood closed out the game with the second new ball to finish with a career-best 6 for 49.
"It's probably with Australia [pitches] being the green seamers, it just doesn't get talked about at all," Hazlewood said. "The ball still looks new late in the innings if it gets that far. So it's more, if you go back to SCG years ago, we definitely got reversed there every year.
"Here in South Africa, it was just an abrasive wicket, it was very hard underfoot. We probably got a hint of it in the first innings and then as the game goes, it just sort of deteriorates more and you get a bit more. So we knew it was crucial.
"You probably want the ball a bit harder and a little bit of reverse swing rather than a lot of reverse swing with the ball soft. It's much easier to navigate as a batsman. You still want that carry with a harder ball. Just a hint of reverse swing I think is the key."
This is no 2018, for many reasons, but reverse could potentially feature again in Gqeberha, with South Africa set to have an expert exponent available with the likely return of Kagiso Rabada, although the forecast of rain could dampened its impact. The early-season outfield is also very lush after plenty of recent rain in the city, but the pitch itself was already looking quite dry three days out from the game.
"The conditions sort of dictate it," Hazlewood said. "If the wicket is hard, firm, deteriorating, and there's not seam movement, you're probably going to get that reverse swing just due to the basic conditions of the ground, the square and the wicket."
Hazlewood, who has taken six-wicket hauls in two out of his three Tests since returning to the side after missing the whole Ashes series, was confident he had pulled up well from his workload. Excluding the 2024-25 Test against India in Brisbane, which was heavily rain-affected, Durban was Hazlewood's first proper five-day Test since The Oval in 2023.
"I'd rather it be over in two days," he joked when asked more broadly about the nature of pitches back in Australia and the push to tweak the balance back towards batters.
"You probably want the ball a bit harder and a little bit of reverse swing rather than a lot of reverse swing with the ball soft. It's much easier to navigate as a batsman. You still want that carry with a harder ball. Just a hint of reverse swing I think is the key."
Josh Hazlewood
Both he and Starc operated off their full runs at Australia's training session on Friday, with Starc looking particularly impressive as he worked over Marnus Labuschagne and Beau Webster in the centre-wicket net.
But Australia also have considerable back-up pace resources if they are needed with Scott Boland and Michael Neser waiting in the wings. Boland was particularly impressive in the centre-wicket net the day before as he gave Josh Inglis a proper test on his return from injury.
There is, potentially, a scenario where if the start of the Test was delayed considerably by weather where Boland may come into the mix as a fourth quick, but regardless he provides reassurance that if one of the big three does miss a game that the quality of the attack won't suffer.
"He barely bowls poorly," Hazlewood. "Every net the boys come in, it's like, geez, Scotty again. I think he'll play a part in this series [and] I think he'll play a part in the next 12, 18 months. [He's a] class act, his record ridiculous.
"It probably makes it a bit easier on us if we are struggling from time to time to then think Scotty's there, ready to go. It can make those conversations a bit easier and it's more of a unit. Moving forward we can, not miss those big chunks, but we might miss a week or two here and there and things settle quicker and we've just got a nice unit here at the moment."