Having already been musing on the merits of left-arm spin for their return to Durban in next month Test series opener, Australia’s first ODI capitulation at the hands of two of them could be further ammunition to find a sidekick for Nathan Lyon.
And Cooper Connolly believes the turning surface that accounted for him and four other members of Australia’s top seven could elevate his case to feature when their three-Test tour begins on South Africa’s east coast in a fortnight.
Connolly bowled only one over in the first ODI as Australia instead bolstered their pace stocks, handing Jack Edwards an ODI debut in anticipation of heavy recent rain juicing up the Kingsmead pitch.
The Proteas, albeit left with little choice given a series of injuries to their best pacemen, read it better by giving Keshav Maharaj an orthodox foil in Bjorn Fortuin. The pair took 6-54 from 17.2 overs and were the two most economical bowlers in the match.
Maharaj, whose winter fitness kick is said to have helped him lose as many as nine kilograms, is a Durban-born veteran who has been playing at Kingsmead since he was a teenager. Along with Fortuin, the 36-year-old enjoyed the benefits of bowling after the pitch’s early moisture had been baked out by the afternoon sun.
Leg-spinner Adam Zampa earlier took 2-50 after Mitch Marsh chose to bowl first on a humid morning.
“We spoke about it pre-game – obviously when they played two spinners we thought it might spin,” Connolly told reporters after Australia’s 67-run defeat. “They’re two very good spinners. Maharaj has played a lot of cricket, so understands how the game works.
“We were scoring quite freely off the quicks and I think it’s understanding the game and situation. We’ve got off to a flyer, so we probably didn’t need to probably attack them as much as we did. But I think we’ll take a lot of learnings out of facing them.”
Maharaj and Fortuin’s returns will have been noted by Australian selectors, who were already weighing up whether Lyon’s off-breaks provide enough spin coverage in the first Test and potentially the second in Gqeberha on a new drop-in pitch.
Australia have picked a specialist left-arm spinner in Matthew Kuhnemann in their 16-man Test squad after he formed a devastating combination with Lyon in Sri Lanka last year.
Picking him, however, would likely mean leaving out both Josh Hazlewood and Scott Boland. Connolly shapes as a simpler fit, either at the expense of Marnus Labuschagne or Beau Webster, allowing Australia to still pick three fast bowlers.
“There has been some recent history where there have been spinning conditions,” coach Andrew McDonald told cricket.com.au about Durban and Gqeberha recently. “We feel as though we’ve got good coverage.
“If we got caught in a two-spinner conversation, we’d probably want one going the either way (to Lyon’s off-breaks). That’s where Matty Kuhnemann got the nod.”
Durban was once considered a seamer’s paradise but has increasingly favoured slower bowlers over recent years.
Maharaj and Simon Harmer, the spinning duo who bowled the Proteas to a famous series win in India last year, took all 10 Bangladesh wickets in 19 overs on a late day-four, early day-five wicket in a 2022 Test at the ground.
Four of the top eight wicket-takers in first-class cricket at Kingsmead over the past decade have been left-arm spinners, in which time Maharaj has been the leading Test wicket taker at the venue.
Much of that cricket has been played later in the South African summer, with Durban never having hosted a Test in October. Over the past two domestic seasons, there have been four first-class games played there in October and November, with all but one ending in either batter-dominated or rain-affected draws.
But the other one, which began in late October 2024 between the local side KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins and Western Province, saw 25 of 38 wickets fall to finger spin.
A further factor in this equation could be South Africa’s pace-bowling injury crisis, which looks set to rob them of Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi, at least for the start of the series.
That may well prove ample incentive for the hosts to prepare a Durban dust bowl to suit Maharaj and potentially Harmer too. The counter-argument there is Mitchell Starc’s nine wickets at the venue on a dry surface that allowed reverse swing back in 2018. Preparing such a pitch is also easier said than done given the coastal city’s reputation for rain at this time of year.
“There’s still a couple of weeks to the first Test … but obviously it’s nice to see a wicket turning,” said Connolly. “It helps me, I guess, put my best foot forward to playing in that team. But we’ve still got two one-dayers to go.”
Qantas tour of South Africa 2026
All matches to be broadcast exclusively in Australia on Kayo and Fox Cricket
First ODI: South Africa beat Australia by 67 runs
Second ODI: September 27, Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, 6pm AEST (10am local)
Third ODI: September 30, JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom, 9:30pm AEST (D/N, 1:30pm local)
South Africa ODI squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Bjorn Fortuin, Duan Jansen, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Nqobani Mokoena, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs
Australia ODI squad: Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Marsh, Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Joel Davies, Jack Edwards, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Oliver Peake, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa
