Filed under AUSvSA MCG JAN 09

Since West Indies in the mid of 1990s, no cricket team could come to Australia and beat home team in a test series.

10 months & 15 years later ~ South Africa distroyed Aussie invincibility to win first two tests and hence the test series. since then, on this 2008-09 tour, visitors have gone on to lose following 3rd test & also the twin twenty20 Internationals at Melbourne and at Gabba

Commonwealth Bank 5 ODI series starts tomorrow, and if Proteas lose this too, 5-0 or even 4-1, they probably will nullify all the glory they achieved in first to games on the tour. Australia, on other hand, have beaten teams with all-Nil results before & they'll leave no stone unturned for a big win in this CB series, which will certainly restore confidence in themselves as a young & emerging team.

This one day international between Australia vs South Africa at Melbourne ground on Friday (16 January 2009) will be 68th overall with 36 wins for Australia and 28 for South Africa with as many as 3 tied games.. of which, one was played in Melbourne but at Telstra Dome (indoor cricket stadium in Australia) on 18th August in 2000.

Note : This match will be played at Melbourne Cricket ground where Australia have never beaten South Africa. 5 Aus v SA ODIs at MCG and all won by visitors!

Michael Clarke, who did not feature in twin twenty20 games cause of a thumb injury, has been declared fit.

Preview : Visitors look for hitters : Home team hungry to hurt.

Scorecard : Australia vs South Africa, 1st ODI, Melbourne : 16 January 2009

1st ODI : JP Duminy & Albie Morkel pull off thriller for visitors