South Africa had already been touring Australia for a month , but did not win any of their four first-class matches , and lost the Test series 0 – 2 . Before that , they had been playing 14 successive ODIs , with their last series being a 2 – 2 draw in India . Sri Lanka were touring New Zealand immediately before this series , completing a tour that should have been played in 2004 – 05 but was postponed because of the Asian tsunami ; they lost three ODIs and won only one . Their last ODI series before that was a 1 – 6 loss in India . At the start of the series , they were seventh on the ICC ODI Championship table ; South Africa were second , 17 points behind leaders Australia and 12 points ahead of Sri Lanka
Asian tsunami
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
2005–06 VB Series