Originally, the tour was scheduled to take place in March 2021,[4][5] and three Test matches were slated to be played.[6] Those matches would have formed part of the 2019–2021 ICC World Test Championship tournament.[7] However, that tour was postponed in February 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8]
Background
In December 2020, South Africa's One Day International (ODI) series against England was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[9] As a result, both cricket boards were looking at contingency plans for the Test series, including the possibility of playing the matches in Perth or the United Arab Emirates.[10] An initial provisional start date for the tour of 18 February 2021 meant a tight turnaround from the end of South Africa's tour of Pakistan,[11] although an update in January suggested the tour would begin in March 2021.[12]
On 27 January 2021, Cricket Australia (CA) named their squad for the tour, ahead of any confirmation of the dates of the fixtures.[13][14] However, on 2 February 2021, Cricket Australia announced that the tour had been postponed due to the pandemic.[15] As a result of the tour being postponed, New Zealand qualified for the final of the 2019–2021 ICC World Test Championship.[16] In October 2021, Cricket Australia said that they were looking at a window in 2023 to play the white-ball matches.[17]
On 18 August 2023, Australia's Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc were ruled out of tour due to injuries.[22]Ashton Turner replaced Smith in the T20I squad, whereas Marnus Labuschagne and Spencer Johnson replaced Smith and Starc respectively in the ODI squad.[23] On the same day, Mitchell Marsh replaced Pat Cummins as Australia's ODI captain for the tour,[24] with Cummins' participation in doubt as he was returning from a wrist injury.[25] Initially, Glenn Maxwell was set to miss the ODI series to return home for the birth of his first child.[26] However, he was also ruled out of the T20I series due to an injury and was replaced by Matthew Wade in the Australia's T20I squad.[27][28] On the day of first T20I, Tanveer Sangha was added to Australia's T20I Squad, after Adam Zampa couldn't play due to illness.[29] On 31 August 2023, Tim David was added to Australia's ODI squad.[30]
On 10 September 2023, Michael Neser was added to Australia's ODI squad.
[31]
Note: during the isolation of South Africa from international cricket between 1970 and 1991, there were seven unofficial tours (italicised below) by various teams, collectively known as the South African rebel tours.
