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Johannesburg - The Proteas will play England and Australia in back-to-back away series matches in 2012 for the recently introduced ICC World Test Championship.
The South African cricket side have good memories of their last away meetings to both countries where then-captain Graeme Smith's team went on to claim historic first Test series triumphs in 2008.
The Proteas play England in three Tests between July and September of that year in their first assignment of the new Future Tours Programme (FTP) that covers the period from 2012 to 2020.
The programme was approved at this week's International Cricket Council (ICC) executive board meeting.
One of the features of the FTP is that October of each year will be kept free from international commitments to accommodate the Champions' League Twenty20 (CLT20), a competition that features domestic T20 champions.
This will be the only break between the end of the England tour and the start of the Australian tour which runs from November to the middle of December, also consisting of three Test matches.
Australia tours South Africa during the 2013/14 summer, while England (four Tests, five ODIs and one or two T20s) and Australia again (five ODIs and three T20s) visit in the 2015/16 season.
In addition, the Proteas will also host New Zealand and Pakistan in the lead-up to the Test Championship play-offs that will be decided in England in May and June of 2013.
"There is much for our loyal fans to look forward to in terms of international competition for the foreseeable future," said Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola.
"The Test series in 2012 are going to be vital in addition to the away tours to England and Australia.
"We are also splitting up our future home and away tours against Australia into separate Test match and ODI engagements. This effectively means that we will play Australia every summer, either home or away, over a four-year period."
This summer sees the Proteas play India in three Tests and seven One Day Internationals.
