Key events
Dewald Brevis is expected to make his ODI debut for South Africa today – after smashing 125 not out and 53 in the last couple of T20s against Australia. The Proteas could do with Brevis’s power hitting after their bowling stocks suffered a huge blow when Kagiso Rabada was ruled out of the ODI series.
🚨Squad Update 🚨
Proteas Men’s fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has been ruled out of the three-match One-Day International (ODI) series against Australia due to inflammation of his right ankle.
The 30-year-old underwent a scan on Monday, which confirmed the extent of the injury. He… pic.twitter.com/8SYrKWMgHz
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) August 19, 2025
The toss will be coming up in about five minutes – but it seems we can easily predict which way it will go if Mitch Marsh gets to decide whether Australia will bat or bowl first.
Australia’s middle-order maverick Tim David and South Africa’s rising star Dewald Brevis lit up the T20s in Darwin, but it was left to a more familiar name in Glenn Maxwell to steer the hosts home with one ball to spare in the decider held in Cairns.
Preamble
Martin Pegan
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the first one-day international between Australia and South Africa at Cazalys Stadium. The focus turns to three matches in the 50-over format after a gripping T20 series over the past couple of weeks that included some powerful hitting in Darwin then went into a decider held in Cairns.
Glenn Maxwell was the hero with the bat as Australia clinched a T20 series victory last Saturday night, though the white-ball great will be missing from this group of games after retiring from ODIs with the next World Cup still two years away.
There are a number of other changes to each squad as the teams give opportunities to fresh talent and aim to find the right mix and formula for the longer term. Australia’s designated ODI captain Pat Cummins is unavailable with Mitch Marsh again set to take the reins, while Temba Bavuma will lead South Africa just as he did when the sides met in the World Test Championship final a couple of months ago.
The teams should be more familiar with the conditions in Cairns after playing at the same venue three days ago, while they will head to Mackay for the remaining two games in the ODI series to be played on Friday and Sunday. The forecast is for sunny skies all afternoon and a high of 25C before it barely cools for the second stanza.
First ball will be at 2.30pm local time / AEST. The toss and team news will be coming up shortly. Meanwhile, let us know your thoughts and predictions – shoot me an email or find me @martinpegan on Bluesky or X. Let’s get into it!
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