South Africa vs Australia 2018: 3 key factors ahead of the Test series

Lower order contributions

Mitchell Marsh has been manning the all-rounder's role

With good fast bowlers on both the sides, the chances of teams losing early wickets against the brand new cherry will be likely on quite a few occasions. Good Test teams over the past have always had good contributions with the bat from the lower order.

With Mitchell Marsh manning the all-rounder's role at No 6, Tim Paine, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins are all capable of scoring some useful runs down the order, and that was one of the key aspects during Australia's successful Ashes campaign down under. Once again, they will look to contribute as they know each and every run will be vital in a tough series.

South Africa will want their wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock to come back to batting form after a slump in the past few months. If he gets going at No 7, he can carry the lower middle-order because of his aggressive stroke play. With the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Vernon Philander and Keshav Maharaj lower down the order, South Africa possess decent batting depth and they would be needed against one of the best Test attacks in the world right now.