It was not lavish, but it was just enough. Australia were able to make effective use of reverse swing in Durban, with senior fast bowler Josh Hazlewood acknowledging that mastering the art provided an important extra string to their bow as the tourists successfully secured an early lead in the series against South Africa.
With the more heavily grassed and responsive surfaces commonly found back home in Australia, reverse swing has not been a major, recurring feature of their home Test matches in recent years. The last time the phenomenon played a defining, key part on an overseas tour for the Australian Test team was during their memorable 2022 trip to Pakistan, where seasoned quicks Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins proved brilliant with the older ball to help clinch a famous series victory in Lahore.
During Australia’s two-day tour warm-up match in Potchefstroom ahead of the first Test, the visiting fast bowlers actively searched for signs of reverse swing, going so far as to issue strict instructions to their spin bowlers to avoid getting sweaty hands on the wrong side of the ball. Despite their tactical efforts, however, the ball barely showed any tendency to reverse during the short, controlled spells used throughout that fixture.
At Kingsmead, however, the story was entirely different. An abrasive surface and square aided the natural deterioration of the ball far more quickly than anticipated. There was an early suggestion that the ball had begun to reverse as early as the 23rd over in the second innings when David Bedingham was trapped lbw. The movement was certainly on full display later in the innings before Hazlewood efficiently closed out the game with the second new ball, finishing with a career-best return of 6 for 49.
Reflecting on the conditions, Hazlewood noted how rare the phenomenon has become in modern Australian conditions. "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 reverse 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."
Hazlewood also offered a technical insight into what constitutes the ideal bowling conditions when reverse swing comes into play, emphasizing that a subtle amount of movement is far more dangerous for batters than excessive swing with a soft ball. "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 series is certainly no 2018, for a multitude of reasons, but reverse swing could potentially feature prominently once again when the action shifts to Gqeberha. South Africa are set to have an expert exponent of the art available with the likely return of Kagao Rabada to their bowling attack, although an adverse forecast of rain could dampen its overall impact. The early-season outfield is also notably lush after plenty of recent rain in the city, but the pitch itself was already looking quite dry just three days out from the start of the match.
"The conditions sort of dictate it," Hazlewood said, analyzing the physical factors behind the craft. "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."
For Hazlewood personally, the match in Durban represented a continuation of an exceptional run of form. Having taken six-wicket hauls in two out of his three Test matches since returning to the national side after missing the entire Ashes series due to injury, the tall fast bowler expressed full confidence that he had pulled up well from the physical workload. Excluding the 2024–25 Test against India in Brisbane, which was heavily interrupted and affected by rain, Durban marked Hazlewood’s first proper, uninterrupted five-day Test match 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 ongoing national conversation and push to tweak pitch preparations to restore a fairer balance back towards batters.
Both Hazlewood and his long-time partner in crime, Starc, operated at full tilt from their complete run-ups during Australia’s intensive training session on Friday. Starc looked particularly sharp and impressive as he worked over senior batter Marnus Labuschagne and middle-order player Beau Webster in the center-wicket net.
Beyond the established frontline attack, Australia also boast considerable back-up pace resources should they be required as the demanding series progresses, with Scott Boland and Michael Neser waiting in the wings. Boland was particularly imposing and impressive in the center-wicket net the day prior to the session, giving Josh Inglis a proper, uncompromising test during the batter’s return from injury.
There is a potential tactical scenario where, if the start of the upcoming Test were to be delayed considerably by adverse weather conditions, Boland might come into immediate selection contention as a fourth specialist quick. Regardless of tactical shifts, however, his presence provides immense reassurance to the team management that if any member of the established "big three" fast bowlers is forced to miss a game, the overall quality and potency of the Australian bowling attack will not suffer.
"He barely bowls poorly," Hazlewood said of Boland. "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."
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