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Cape Town - When the T20 series between the Proteas and Australia begins at the Wanderers on Friday night, it will see David Warner and Steve Smith play their first matches in South Africa since the infamous all tampering scandal at Newlands in 2018.
The pair, banned for a year by Cricket Australia after the incident, have put what happened in that third Cape Town Test well behind them and both have returned to form in recent months.
While they can expect to be greeted by some hostile receptions from South African crowds over the course of the tour, which includes three T20s and three ODIs, Warner and Smith remain two of Australia's most valuable batting assets.
This tour will also see the reunion of Warner with Proteas skipper Quinton de Kock after the pair clashed on the Kingsmead staircase during the first Test at Kingsmead in 2018.
De Kock had been batting for the entire session with the Aussies sledging him the whole way through, and when the sides had left the field he launched a few choice words in Warner's direction that prompted an altercation that was captured on CCTV footage.
Warner, when asked about meeting De Kock again, said he expected the two would conduct themselves respectfully.
"Obviously we'll cross paths playing against each other. But I don’t have his number and I speak to a few of the South African guys but I've never played in the same team as him or anything like that," Warner said as quoted by The Guardian ahead of the opening T20.
"Obviously it's a little bit different. I'm sure if I see him on the field and that, we'll just treat each other how we normally would as respectful opponents."
