Australia to tour South Africa for T20, ODI series

CAPE TOWN, May 05 (Reuters): Australia travel to South Africa for an eight-match white-ball tour this year, including three Twenty20 matches and five one-day internationals (ODIs) in preparation for the 50-over World Cup in India, officials confirmed on Friday.

The T20 fixtures will all be played at Kingsmead in the coastal city of Durban between August 30 and September 3. The tour then moves to the Highveld for the five-match ODI series over September 7-17. The first two games will be in Bloemfontein, followed by matches in Potchefstroom, Pretoria and Johannesburg.

It is the first white-ball tour to the country by Australia since 2020 and follows South Africa's withdrawal from an ODI series in Australia last January, when they prioritised the launch of their domestic T20 league.

Having forfeited that series, South Africa have yet to seal their place at the World Cup in October but will do so if Ireland fail to complete a clean-sweep of their three-match series against Bangladesh, which starts in Chelmsford next week.

If the Irish do book their place at the expense of South Africa, the latter will suffer the embarrassment of having to go through the final round of qualifiers in Zimbabwe next month.