Usman Khawaja and the other Australian batsmen are bracing themselves for a heavyweight battle against some of the best fast bowlers in the world.
The coming Test series in South Africa promises intense competition against an opponent who shares so many traits that the last few home and away series have had a sense of mi casa es su casa.
They win in Australia; Australia have not been beaten there for the best part of half a century.
It’s always spicy when the pair meet. There have been stumps through umpires’ doors (Hansie Cronje), broken knuckles (Graeme Smith) and split chins (Jacques Kallis), innings where 47 was all a team could muster (Cape Town, 2011) and chases where history was irrelevant (Perth, 2008, Johannesburg, 2011). Michael Clarke and Dale Steyn came as close to sorting it out on the pitch as you would want to see (Cape Town, 2014).
There’s a rivalry and a recognition. Ricky Ponting looked at them playing a drinking game after they’d won the series and saw a small, tight unit that was ready to take on the world and remembered when he was part of such an outfit (Perth, 2013-14).
Steyn spent his career determined to make the Australian notice him after an early snub.
The two sides measure themselves against each other. South Africa saw Ponting off with respect. Australia saw Smith off with the same a few years later.
Khawaja scored his first half century in difficult conditions against South Africa, in 2011.
It was his fourth Test, one that’s remembered for the efforts of Pat Cummins on debut, but there were subplots aplenty, including the effort by the elegant left-hander in partnership with Ponting. The pair put on 122 and set up a classic chase.
He batted well against them when they were here in the 2016-17 series in which five Australians were dumped from Test cricket after the second Test.
Forced to open in the day-night Test after David Warner was caught with his pants down, Khawaja, who scored 145, set up a win that went some way to righting the ship.
There’s an excitement among the Australian batsmen ahead of the contest.
The fiery Kagiso Rabada is already one of the best bowlers in the world. His 120 wickets at 22 at the age of 22 suggests a high road will be travelled.
Vernon Philander might look a middling sort of prospect but on his day he is, as Australia found out in Cape Town in 2011, unplayable. Steyn is, unfortunately unavailable for the first two matches but there’s a sense he is marking out his run up for a hostile return.
New quick on the block, Lungi Ngidi, 21, began his Test career with a man of the match performance against India earlier this summer.
On the eve of the first Test, Khawaja said: “It’s nice to have faced their bowlers. I’ve faced them a few times now. It’s always a bit tougher going into a series if you haven’t faced the bowlers so you are sort of finding your feet a little bit.
“They are world-class bowlers. They have a really good bowling attack. They are a really good side and you have to respect them. We are in their home now … the conditions are quite similar but it’s a new series and it all starts over again.”
Morne Morkel’s the other one. A mild-mannered giraffe who flings the ball down from the canopy at serious pace and extracts the sort of injurious bounce that left Clarke fractured and frail in 2014.
He’s announced this crack at the Aussies will be his last.
“He’s a world-class bowler, he has been for a long time,” Khawaja said of Morkel. “Even more so, he’s a great bloke. Every time I see him off the field he’s always smiling, always saying hello.
“It’s really nice to see that when you meet someone for the first time. I wish him all the best.
“We just bumped into each other just then and I told him Queensland is a beautiful state if he ever wants to move over.”
Morkel is married to Australian journalist Roz Kelly and there is every chance the pair may make a life here, so the tall quick could feature in the Big Bash League.
Khawaja said: “South Africa is a bit like Australia in that the wickets can vary every ground you go to. Here, predominantly it can go through but it can be a bit slower too,” Khawaja said. “Joburg is one of those quick ones. Cape Town can nip around. I’ve never played at Port Elizabeth but I’ve heard it’s a good batting track. In general, you get wickets that are pretty similar to Australia.
“It will be interesting because you don’t know what to expect
“As a team they always have a lot of depth in South Africa.
“They always have good fast bowlers coming through.
“Talking to everyone back home, everyone is really excited for the series … about what it holds in terms of the batting, the bowling and the contest that is always there against South Africa.’’