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The real season begins now

England and Pakistan will object (as might Sri Lanka and the West Indies) but in my view the 2015-16 season begins in earnest on Thursday. South Africa and New Zealand are currently the most watchable when it comes to Test match cricket and Australia and India are next on the list. So for all four to be in action at the same time with little overlap in timezones is joyous (if sleepless) news for fans like myself. Further down the road there is England's visit to South Africa and Australia's return trip to Kiwiland to look forward to as well.

There's already a number of things happening either for the first time or after a long gap. India and South Africa have not played a four Test series since 1992 and never that many in India. India are playing a home Test for the first time in nearly two years.The Kiwis rarely get to play three away Tests against the top teams (in fact they haven't in nearly five years). England, surprisingly haven't played in South Africa in nearly five years, and even more surprisingly, haven't lost in South Africa in 15 years. And then of course there is the small matter of a pink ball and a day/night Test match.

First things first though, with the Gabba and Mohali beckoning in less than 48 hours. They may be separated by over 10,000 km but the sub-text in both series will be fairly similar. The South Africans have been far and away the best touring team in many years and (it bears repeating) have not lost a series overseas since 2006. New Zealand are not close to that pedigree but they are unbeaten home or away for two years now. Both sets of tourists have the more experienced and settled sides, and were it not for home advantage for their opponents would start as clear favourites. As such, the venues for the two series will (if the pitches play as they normally do) provide the tourists an even chance. Brisbane and Perth should be to the liking of Boult and Southee, as should Mohali and Bangalore for Steyn, Philander, and Morkel. Nagpur in addition was the scene of Steyn's best performance ever arguably the last time the Springboks toured India. The real key for both Amla and McCullum's teams though will be the runs they manage to rack up through the likes of Amla himself, ABD, du Plessis, Williamson, and Taylor. Score 375+ consistently and they will be in pole position to dictate terms in games. And in addition to the guys named earlier, I think the team's left handed openers, Dean Elgar and Tom Latham, and their two offspinners, Simon Harmer and Mark Craig will be the key men to watch out for.

For the home teams, its an opportunity for two young captains to set about establishing their reigns and forging teams that can last for the next several years. Smith and Kohli are the same age (just short of 27), have played a similar number of games (33 vs. 37), have captained in just a handful of games (2 vs. 6), and have the same number of Test match hundreds (11 each). The teams they lead are completely different though with Australia's strength being their bowling that will look to cover for a potentially fragile batting line-up. Leaving out one of Siddle or Hazlewood (as Smith is likely to have to do) is a tough ask and how Kohli would wish he could pick up the guy left out as one of his attack. Smith on the other hand would gladly take the likes of Pujara, Rohit Sharma, or KL Rahul, at least one of who will be left out of the Indian XI.

Both Australia and India also have a number of players either establishing themselves in the line-ups or making comebacks and what better conditions to do so than at home against challenging opponents. My players to watch for will be Burns, Mitchell Marsh, and Starc for Australia, and Vijay, Rahane, and Jadeja for India. Aside of course from the two captains and the two main strike bowlers, Johnson and Ashwin.

So plenty to play for, not least lots of ranking points given how closely teams are bunched together behind South Africa. As always, I will stick my neck out and predict scorelines. Identical ones in this case with India and New Zealand edging it 2-1 each. Showtime!

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