{"id":884830,"date":"2026-09-08T20:14:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T20:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/884830\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T20:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T20:14:18","slug":"it-was-just-so-over-the-top-why-hazlewood-isnt-expecting-repeat-of-2018-on-south-africa-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/884830\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It was just so over the top\u2019: Why Hazlewood isn\u2019t expecting repeat of 2018 on South Africa return"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tom<\/p>\n

September 9, 2026 \u2014 6:00am<\/p>\n

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Australian cricket stars Josh Hazlewood and Alex Carey are confident the behaviour of South African crowds will not be an issue next month but insist they are ready for whatever is thrown their way on Australia\u2019s first Test tour of the country since the infamous \u201cSandpapergate\u201d series of 2018.<\/a><\/p>\n

The drama-plagued tour eight years ago was marred by the ball-tampering scandal involving Cameron Bancroft, who took sandpaper onto the field and admitted he had used it on the ball.<\/a> The incident resulted in Bancroft, captain Steve Smith and David Warner being banned from the game.<\/p>\n

\"CameronCameron Bancroft and Steve Smith face the media in Cape Town 2018.Getty Images<\/p>\n

TV cameras will follow Australia on their return to South Africa after Amazon Prime confirmed another season of The Test will document the men\u2019s team over the next 12 months during a whirlwind international schedule.<\/p>\n

The popular documentary, which has run for three seasons, will be produced by Cricket Australia and Whooshka Media and released in 2027 after Australia\u2019s tilt at Ashes glory in the UK next year.<\/p>\n

It shapes as a fascinating return to the country for Pat Cummins\u2019 men, with the first Test due to start in Durban on October 9 \u2013 and the cameras will be there to capture it all. If only, you cannot help but think, they had been inside Australia\u2019s dressing room in Newlands in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, Cape Town is the third Test,\u201d Hazlewood said. \u201cWe are going to be two Tests into the series and three one-dayers [down], so we\u2019re going to be there for a while before that last frontier. The teams have changed a lot over the last eight years. It\u2019s a long time ago. Honestly, I think it\u2019ll be fine.<\/p>\n

\"TravisTravis Head, Nathan Lyon, Alex Carey and Josh Hazlewood in Sydney ahead of their tour to South Africa. Scott Ehler\/Amazon Prime<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t see it going like that [in 2018]. I haven\u2019t seen a series go like that since. It was just so over the top, almost from ball one. I don\u2019t know whether it was two teams at boiling point who had been on the road for a long time and were mentally drained and fatigued.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hazlewood said South African crowds, along with those in New Zealand, tended to target individual players more than their counterparts elsewehere.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia and India are mass crowds and mass noise. You might have a whole side in Birmingham singing a song about you or whatever,\u201d Hazlewood said. \u201cBut I think New Zealand and South Africa are probably more one-on-one targeting. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s worse or better, but it\u2019s more individualised. It\u2019s pretty easy to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carey is no stranger to being heckled after his infamous stumping of Jonny Bairstow<\/a> during the 2023 Ashes.<\/p>\n

\"SteveSteve Smith addresses the media at Sydney Airport after arriving back from the sandpaper scandal in South Africa in 2018. Janie Barrett<\/p>\n

The Australian wicketkeeper was not on the 2018 tour \u2013 he made his Test debut against England in December 2021 \u2013 but feels well-equipped to handle whatever South African crowds throw at the team.<\/p>\n

It helps, Hazlewood pointed out with a laugh, that Carey spends most of his time safely stationed near the pitch rather than on the boundary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned not to worry about it,\u201d Carey said. \u201cIn sport, there is always going to be a level of rivalry and someone is going to be a villain and a hero. Nation to nation, someone is going to cop it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boys on the boundary line cop it regularly when they head overseas. It\u2019s part of sport I guess and [it\u2019s about] not letting it affect us. I don\u2019t think it really has.<\/p>\n

\"JoshJosh Hazlewood during the 2018 Test series between Australia and South Africa. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what South Africa is going to be like. We\u2019ve been there twice for ODI series [since 2018]. There\u2019s that normal level of country versus country banter. We\u2019ll wait and see but from my point, learn to embrace it and laugh it off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith, who served a 12-month ban alongside Warner for his role in the scandal, has already returned to South Africa for white-ball cricket but is preparing to play his first Test there since 2018.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The 37-year-old was named on Monday in Australia\u2019s 16-man squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw him come back at Edgbaston that time [in the 2019 Ashes] after 12 months out and get 100 in both innings, so he has that in him,\u201d Hazlewood said. \u201cHe always wants to do well. Look out if he has that sort of feeling again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a nice time to do a doco. Hopefully we play ball for the doco and win a few games and get the right results and make it a good season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think [Kagiso] Rabada is a big one whether he is in or out [with his hamstring injury]. He\u2019s a massive player for them as well, so that\u2019ll play a part.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"TomTom Decent<\/a> is the chief sports writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 9, 2026 \u2014 6:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":884831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-884830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}