South Africa vs. Australia, 1st T20I: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info, Preview

South Africa and Australia begin the final round of fine-tuning for the World Twenty20 with a three-match T20 series beginning in Durban, South Africa, on Friday.

Venue: Kingsmead, Durban

Date: Friday, March 4

Start time: 6 p.m local time (4 p.m GMT)

Live on: SuperSport (South Africa), Channel 9 (Australia), SkySports (UK), Willow TV (USA and Canada) and Star Sports (India)

Weather: Durban's weather can be quite moody this time of year, with thunderstorms par for the course. According to AccuWeather.com, a thunderstorm is likely late afternoon and again in the mid-evening, so we could be in for a bit of a stop-start affair. 

Overview

When South Africa and Australia square off in the first of three T20s at Kingsmead on Friday, the Proteas will have an extra weapon in their arsenal that has been missing for quite some time.

Dale Steyn will return to international cricket for the first time since a shoulder injury ruled him out of the first Test against England in December. Steyn made his return to competitive cricket over the weekend, playing in a club game for Western Province Cricket Club, taking five for 13 in 10 overs.

While club cricket probably isn’t a yardstick by which to measure one of the best fast bowlers of our generation, the fact that Steyn made it through without pulling up is good news for South Africa. However, his return does leave the selectors in somewhat of a quandary over who’ll get the boot.

Kagiso Rabada and Kyle Abbott have been leading the attack with aplomb in his absence, Chris Morris has established himself as a finisher with the bat (and a very useful bowler), David Wiese is South Africa’s second-highest wicket-taker in the last two years, and Imran Tahir cannot be overlooked as a spinner.

Some might feel that JP Duminy should go, but that would significantly weaken the batting as he is South Africa’s second highest run-scorer in the format for the last two years. This quandary isn’t helped by the fact that the surfaces South Africa and Australia will encounter in this series will be vastly different to the tracks they’ll play on in the World T20 later this month.

Solving quandaries is exactly what this tour is for as both sides try to figure out their best XI. Australia hold the upper hand in terms of games lost, having won nine of the 14 encounters between the two sides. The Aussies did, however, lose a T20 series on home soil recently and hardly played any T20 cricket in 2015.

In contrast, South Africa have the momentum of a 2-0 series win over England behind them, as well as victories in India and Bangladesh. The Proteas have won eight of their 11 T20s since January 2015. This is the springboard from which South Africa are expected to launch a competitive campaign, and facing the old enemy is the perfect way to do so.

Key players

South Africa

Imran Tahir has been by far South Africa’s best T20 bowler in the last two years. There should be some spin on offer for him to exploit in Durban, but this hardly makes a huge difference since it’s the use of his variation that so often foxes players in the T20 format.

Australia

Usman Khawaja is in incredible form recently, and although he was overlooked for the limited-overs series against India, he's in the squad for this series and has a chance to make an impression in the absence of the injured Aaron Finch.

Squads

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (wk), AB de Villiers, David Miller, JP Duminy, Farhaan Behardien, Kyle Abbott, Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir, Rilee Rossouw, David Wiese, Chris Morris, Aaron Phangiso.

Australia: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Shane Watson, Peter Nevill (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Andrew Tye, Josh Hazlewood, Ashton Agar, Glenn Maxwell, Adam Zampa, John Hastings, Usman Khawaja, James Faulkner, Nathan Coulter-Nile.

All information obtained firsthand, unless otherwise stated.