South African cricket team in Australia in 2005–06
| South Africa in Australia in 2005–06 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
||
| South Africa | Australia | ||
| Dates | 5 December 2005 – 14 February 2006 | ||
| Captains | Graeme Smith | Ricky Ponting | |
| Test series | |||
| Result | Australia won the 3-match series 2–0 | ||
| Most runs | Herschelle Gibbs (251) | Ricky Ponting (515) | |
| Most wickets | André Nel (14) | Shane Warne (14) | |
| Player of the series | Ricky Ponting | ||
| Twenty20 International series | |||
| Results | Australia won the 1-match series 1–0 | ||
| Most runs | Mark Boucher (29) | Damien Martyn (96) | |
| Most wickets | Shaun Pollock, Monde Zondeki and Johan Botha (1) | Nathan Bracken, Mick Lewis, James Hopes and Andrew Symonds (2) | |
| Player of the series | Damien Martyn | ||
The South African cricket team toured Australia for cricket matches during the 2005–06 season. South Africa had already played two One Day International series during this season, beating New Zealand 4–0 at home before travelling to India and drawing the series there 2–2. The team had been playing 14 successive ODIs (tour matches excluded) before arriving in Australia, with their last Test match against West Indies in April and May 2005. South Africa played one first class warm-up match, one three-day warm-up match without first class status, and one one-day match before they embarked on the three-Test series, which began on 16 December and ended on 6 January. They also participated in the 2005–06 VB Series, a three-team one-day tournament, along with Australia and Sri Lanka, where they finished last.
The hosts Australia, meanwhile, came off a win in the Frank Worrell Trophy Test series against West Indies in November, where they won all three matches in the series. They also spent a week in New Zealand playing three ODIs for the Chappell–Hadlee Trophy while South Africa played their first warm-up games; Australia won that trophy after winning two of the three ODIs.
South Africa started with a draw, batting out 126 overs in the fourth innings to draw the match at the WACA, though they finished on a total of five for 287, well short of the winning target of 491. In the second Test match, South Africa trailed by 44 on first innings, but a century from Matthew Hayden took Australia to a lead of 365 before declaring, and Shane Warne took four wickets in the second innings as Australia bowled their way to a 184-run win. South Africa came back to earn a lead of 92 on first innings in the third Test at the SCG, but after 70 fourth-day overs were lost due to rain South Africa declared in the first session of the fifth day to give themselves a chance of victory and a series win. However, Ricky Ponting hit 143 not out to become the first batsman to hit centuries in both innings of his 100th Test, and in the process took Australia past the winning target to secure a 2–0 win.
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