South Africas white-ball squads are about to enter the second half of one of the more challenging itineraries in recent years with the first of three one-day internationals against England on Tuesday, just six days after arriving from northern Queensland in Australia.
The majority of the players in England started their journey from Mackay at 6:00am last Monday before flying to Brisbane and onwards to either Sydney or Perth depending on which group they were in. The Sydney fliers had a refuelling stop enroute to London while the Perth contingent had the privilege of experiencing one of the longest commercial flights in the world to Heathrow, a mere 17-hours in the air.
Not that any of them will be complaining when the first one-day international starts at Headingley in Leeds on Tuesday when they will have the opportunity to build on the momentum of a fifth consecutive series win against Australia 2-1 achieved in Cairns and Mackay before floundering to a record 276-run defeat in the final game when collective attention might have been understandably focussed on the 28-hour journey the following day.