Newlands to provide test of more than bat and ball for Australia

By Nick Said

Australia return to the scene of one of the darkest days in the country’s cricket history when the series-deciding third test against South Africa starts at Newlands on Tuesday.

The battle may ​be mental as much as one of skill for several of the Australian players, not ‌least former captain Steve Smith, who was at the centre of the Sandpapergate ball-tampering scandal in 2018.

Current skipper Pat Cummins was part of that side, as were fellow seamer Josh Hazlewood and spinner Nathan Lyon, though they say they had no knowledge of ​the attempt to alter the condition of the ball with a piece of sandpaper.

Smith bore the ​brunt of the considerable fallout in Australia eight years ago and having not reached the ⁠heights he might have expected on this tour, averaging a little over 20 with the bat, he would ​see this as the perfect time