| Australian cricket team in South Africa in 1993–94 | |||
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.svg) |  | ||
| South Africa | Australia | ||
| Dates | 10 February 1994 – 8 April 1994 | ||
| Captains | KC Wessels | AR Border | |
| Test series | |||
| Result | 3-match series drawn 1–1 | ||
| Most runs | AC Hudson (293) | DC Boon (277) | |
| Most wickets | CR Matthews (13) | SK Warne (15) | |
| Player of the series | SR Waugh (Australia) | ||
| One Day International series | |||
| Results | 8-match series drawn 4–4 | ||
| Most runs | WJ Cronje (380) | SR Waugh (291) | |
| Most wickets | CR Matthews (17) | SK Warne (11) | |
| Player of the series | SR Waugh (Australia) | ||
TheAustralia national cricket team toured South Africa from February to April 1994 and played a three-matchTest series against theSouth Africa national cricket team. The tour was Australia's first to South Africa since the end of theapartheid regime which had led to asporting boycott of the country.[1] Australia's most recent tour to South Africa had taken placein 1969–70 and a planned tour of the country in 1971–72 had been cancelled after theInternational Cricket Conference had imposed a moratorium on tours in 1970 and following the player withdrawals and protests which accompanied thetour of Australia by the South African rugby union side during 1971.[2][3][4] TheAustralian Cricket Board postponed their proposed tour of Sri Lanka in order to schedule the series, payingA$50,000 compensation to theBoard of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka.[5]
The tour, which was described as "momentous in many senses"[1] and "a big success on and off the field",[6] immediately followed atour of Australia by South Africa, an unusual occurrence whichWisden called into question.[6] A total of 170,000 spectators watched the Test matches whilst 157,000 people attended the ODIs.[6]
The teams were considered evenly matched with "two top quality pace attacks, high standards of fielding, and a level of on-field hostility" between them.[7] After three warm-up matches, the tour began with fourOne Day Internationals (ODI) played between 19 and 24 February before the first Test began on 4 March. The Test matches were played throughout March before another four ODIs were played between 2 and 8 April.[6] Both series were halved; the Test series was drawn 1–1, mirroring the result in the preceding tour of Australia, and the eight-match ODI series was drawn 4–4.[6]
The first Test match of the series saw two incidents where Australian players were fined 10% of their match fee for verbal abuse of opponents and was the first in which aTV umpire was used to rule on all line decisions, although communication difficulties and a lack of cameras created problems with the implementation of this innovation.[6]
The Australian team was captained byAllan Border. It included the uncappedMatthew Hayden who made his Test debut in the first Test of the series. At the end of the series, Border, having achieved his ambition of captaining Australia in South Africa, retired from international cricket aged 38.[8]Dean Jones, who did not play in any of the Test matches on the tour, also retired from international cricket at the end of the series.[5] BowlerDamien Fleming was included for the ODI portions of the tour only, withMerv Hughes not considered for these matches.[5]
The South African team was captained byKepler Wessels who had recovered from an injury sustained during the tour of Australia. Wessels was named as one of the fiveWisden Cricketers of the Year in 1995.[9]
The three Test series was played between 4 and 29 March. AustralianSteve Waugh was named the player of the series.[6]
The first Test was held atWanderers Stadium inJohannesburg. Australian batsmanMatthew Hayden made his Test debut, deputising forMark Taylor who was taken ill on the morning of the match.[1][10] South Africa won the toss and chose to bat first on a "cracked" pitch that the Australian side thought would deteriorate and favourspin bowling towards the end of the match.[11] After recovering from 126/6, the hosts scored a "respectable"[11] 251 in their first innings. Australia were bowled out for 248 runs in their first innings to leave the match balanced, only South Africa'sJonty Rhodes scoring a half-century in either first innings.[11]
The South African second innings sawAndrew Hudson,Peter Kirsten andKepler Wessels all make half-centuries andHansie Cronje score 122 runs, his second career Test century. They declared after scoring a total of 450/9, leaving Australia with a world-record target of 458 runs to win the match with 133 overs remaining.[11] Hayden's thumb was broken by South African fast bowlerAllan Donald[1][10] and the Australians were bowled out for a total of 256 runs, despite a last wicket stand which lasted an hour with the threat of rain looming.[11][a]
The match included several instances of verbal abuse of South African batsmen by Australian bowlers. Fast bowlerMerv Hughes was reported to the match refereeDonald Carr for continued abuse of a number of batsmen and was fined 10% of his match fee by Carr.[6] Hughes responded to taunts by South African spectators by "lunging at the offenders with his bat"[1] in the uncovered player's tunnel and later received a suspended fine of A$4,000 from theAustralian Cricket Board (ACB).[1][11] Spin bowlerShane Warne confrontedAndrew Hudson after taking his wicket in South Africa's second innings and had to be restrained by wicket-keeperIan Healy.[1][11] The incident was described as "disgraceful" and "almost unprecedented".[11] Writing inWisden,Jack Bannister was of the opinion that a "worse example of misbehaviour it would be difficult to imagine"[6] and that "rarely on a cricket field has physical violence seemed so close".[11] Warne was fined 10% of his match fee and fined A$4,000 by the ACB.[1] Border also clashed with South African bowlerBrian McMillan during the match and afterwardsBrian McMillan entered the Australian dressing room and jokingly asked for Border with a pistol in his hand.[1]
4–8 March 1994 | v | South Africa won by 197 runs | | ||
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The second Test was played on a slow pitch with low bounce atNewlands Cricket Ground inCape Town.[12] South Africa chose to bat first and scored 361 in their first innings, with opener Andrew Hudson scoring 102 runs, his second Test match century. In reply Australia made 435 in11+1⁄2 hours; a first innings lead of 74 on a slow scoring pitch that looked like it would lead to a draw.[12]
The match was changed on the evening of the fourth day when South Africa lost four wickets for three runs, including therun out of captain Kepler Wessels which was referred to thethird umpire for review using television footage.[6]Steve Waugh was influential in the South African collapse, taking the wicket of Hansie Cronjecaught and bowled before taking Hudson's wicket. Waugh finished the innings with five wickets for 25 runs, his best bowling in Test cricket and his thirdfive-wicket haul in Test matches.[12][13] South Africa were all out for 164 on the final morning, leaving a target of 91 for Australia to make which they achieved before tea on the final day.[12]
17–21 March 1994 | v | Australia won by nine wickets | | ||
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The third Test, atKingsmead Cricket Ground inDurban, ended in a draw to leave the series tied at 1–1. South Africa chose to bowl first on a pitch described as "hard and grassy" which was expected to favour the South African fast bowling attack.[14] After bowling Australia out for 269 the South Africans scored 422 in their first innings, but took almost 14 hours to do so.[14]Wisden called the tactics of batting so slowly "baffling"[14] and the time taken to compile their total meant that South Africa were unable to bowl Australia out again, the tourists finishing the match on 297/4 withMark Waugh on 113not out afterMichael Slater had scored 95 runs.[14] The final partnership of Waugh and Australian captain Allan Border, playing in his final Test match, lasted for more than three hours to save the game.[14]
25–29 March 1994 | v | Match drawn | | ||
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A total of eightOne Day Internationals were played during the tour, four before the Test series and four after it. The series was tied at four wins for each side. The matches which were played over 50 overs.[6] Australia's Steve Waugh was named player of the series, repeating his success of the Test series.[6]
The first set of four ODIs were played between 19 and 24 February. South Africa won the first match by five runs after the penultimate over, bowled byFanie de Villiers, restricted the Australians to just one run from it with the loss of Allan Border's wicket.[15] The over, made up of sixyorkers, was described byWisden as "one of the best-ever penultimate overs in a one day international".[15] An innings of 97 by Hansie Cronje and one described as "violent, even by his standards"[16] byAdrian Kuiper who added 47 runs in 22 balls, led South Africa to an easy win in the second match of the series the following day.[16]
Australia won the third match before being bowled out for 154 in the last match before the Test series began and losing by seven wickets in another easy South African victory.[17][18]
19 February 1994 | South Africa  232/3 (50 overs) | v |  Australia227/5 (50 overs) | South Africa won by 5 runs | |
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Wanderers Stadium,Johannesburg Umpires:SB Lambson andCJ Mitchley Player of the match:WJ Cronje (South Africa) | |||||
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20 February 1994 | South Africa 265/5 (50 overs) | v | Australia 209 (42.4 overs) | South Africa won by 56 runs | |
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Centurion Park,Verwoerdburg Umpires:WA Diedricks andKE Liebenberg Player of the match:WJ Cronje (South Africa) | |||||
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22 February 1994 | Australia 281/6 (50 overs) | v | South Africa 193 (43 overs) | Australia won by 88 runs | |
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St George's Park Cricket Ground,Port Elizabeth Umpires:RE Koertzen andCJ Mitchley Player of the match:ME Waugh (Australia) | |||||
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24 February 1994 | South Africa 154 (43.2 overs) | v | Australia 157/3 (45 overs) | South Africa won by 7 wickets with 30 balls remaining | |
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Kingsmead Cricket Ground,Durban Umpires:WA Diedricks andKE Liebenberg Player of the match:CR Matthews (South Africa) | |||||
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The second set of ODIs was played as day/night matches under floodlit conditions.[18] South African fast bowlerAllan Donald was rested for the remaining matches after playing in each of the Test matches.[19] Australia won the first of the second set of matches, reading a slow, turning pitch more effectively than the South African team and selecting two specialist spin bowlers whilst their opponents retained a bowling attack made up solely of fast bowlers.[19]
In the sixth match a floodlight failure during the Australian innings meant that they had to bat with a reduced level of light after South Africa had made 227/6.[20] After losing their first seven wickets for 77 runs, bowlersPaul Reiffel andShane Warne both scored half centuries for Australia and came close to winning the match for their side, a close run out of Warne towards the end of the Australian innings clinching the match for South Africa.[20] The partnership of 118 between the two players set a new record for the eighth wicket in an ODI.[20]
The series was poised at 4–2 in South Africa's favour after the match, but Australia won both the remaining fixtures to level the series. Despite a poor start in the seventh match,Mark Taylor andMark Waugh put on 123 for the Australian's third wicket and South Africa fell behind therun rate to lose the match.[21] The final match came down to the final over. Australia had scored 203/6 and, with 41 overs bowled, South Africa required just 46 runs from the remaining overs. Six were required from the final over, bowled byDamien Fleming who was playing his first match of the tour; South Africa scored just four, with a run out off the final ball of the series meaning that Australia won the match by one run, levelling the ODI series at 4–4 with an "improbable victory".[22][23]
2 April 1994 | South Africa 158 (49.5 overs) | v | Australia 159/3 (40 overs) | Australia won by 7 wickets with 60 balls remaining | |
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Buffalo Park,East London Umpires:RE Koertzen andKE Liebenberg Player of the match:AR Border (Australia) | |||||
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4 April 1994 | South Africa 227/6 (50 overs) | v | Australia 201 (49.1 overs) | South Africa won by 26 runs | |
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St George's Park Cricket Ground,Port Elizabeth Umpires:WA Diedricks andSB Lambson Player of the match:JN Rhodes (South Africa) | |||||
PR Reiffel 58 (68 balls) TG Shaw 2/19 (8 overs) | |||||
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6 April 1994 | Australia 242/6 (50 overs) | v | South Africa 206/5 (50 overs) | Australia won by 36 runs | |
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Newlands Cricket Ground,Cape Town Umpires:RE Koertzen andCJ Mitchley Player of the match:ME Waugh (Australia) | |||||
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8 April 1994 | Australia 203/6 (50 overs) | v | South Africa 202/8 (50 overs) | Australia won by 1 run | |
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Springbok Park,Bloemfontein Umpires:SB Lambson andCJ Mitchley Player of the match:AC Hudson (South Africa) | |||||
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As well as the internationals, threefirst-class matches and two other matches were played during the tour. The tour began with a friendly one-day match againstNF Oppenheimer's XI, followed by a first-class match againstNorthern Transvaal and a one-day match against a representative side. Before the first Test match Australia played a first-class match againstOrange Free State and between the first and second Tests they playedBoland.[24]
10 February 1994 | Australia 223 (55.5 overs) | v | NF Oppenheimer's XI 121/4 (29 overs) | Match drawn | |
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12–14 February 1994 | v | Australians won by 249 runs | | ||
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17 February 1994 | Australians 142/5 (35 overs) | v | South African Board President's XI | No result | |
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26 February–1 March 1994 | v | Australians won the match by 60 runs | | ||
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12–14 March 1994 | v | Match drawn | | ||
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