Australia was overwhelmingly under pressure heading into the first Test against South Africa and that pressure was somewhat eased when Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bat.
The quality of Australia’s bowling attack was never in question leading into the match, as opposed to the durability. Faced with a South African batting line-up minus one of the world’s best batsman, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood immediately exposed that gaping hole in the Proteas’ top order.
Australia’s fielding standards had recently been called into question by a former great Steve Waugh and they responded to the criticism positively.
A succession of sharp chances generated from a near impeccable line and length by the bowlers were taken and reduced South Africa to three for not many inside the first hour.
South African opening batsman Stephen Cook lasted four deliveries and it was the most unconvincing four deliveries a selector could see. Batsmen who plod and look as indecisive as Cook seldom last long at this level.
After Peter Siddle, Australia’s first change specialist sorely missed in recent times, had grabbed a wicket, South Africa were well on the way to losing the match inside the first session.
Several of the South African batsmen showed little cleverness. The batting lacked power, conviction and the ability to stand and fight and see off the new ball.
For the remainder of the session du Plessis and Temba Bavuma put the South Africans into a position to reach a potential competitive score on a pitch that was not lacking in pace and bounce.
The rot continued after lunch, du Plessis would have regretted the break in concentration as he flayed at a Starc delivery that was much too close to his body and another sharp catch was taken.
It would not surprise to see Starc bowl the first over in a session for the remainder of the summer after he collected wickets in his opening over in the first two sessions.
Quinton de Kock’s arrival to the crease was a breath of fresh air as he showed what South Africa’s top order could have done after lunch in Perth when the pitch flattens out and the ball loses its hardness.
De Kock sees little value in taking time to settle, and he immediately launched into some clever booming shots that had the Australian captain pushing the point fieldsman back to the fence almost immediately.
De Kock’s boldness inspired Bavuma towards a half century and they lifted the scoring rate and pushed South Africa towards redemption.
The introduction of Nathan Lyon in the middle session paid an immediate dividend as Shaun Marsh in close and in midair somehow got his hand under the ball off an inside edge rebounding off Bavuma’s thigh guard.
While the Marsh brothers’ trials and tribulations continue with the bat, there is no such question mark on their fielding as they set what should be the standard for Australia’s summer with two exceptional catches.
Although wickets were falling regularly, de Kock looked more than comfortable amongst the mayhem. He played some breathtaking strokes, none better than an audacious hook over fine legs head off Hazlewood when Smith had set three fielders back to deter the shot and control the scoring.
It was a powerful stand and the counter-attacking nature revived memories of a former Western Australian wicketkeeper who played similar knocks in most familiar circumstances. The South Africans will benefit from moving de Kock up the order if similar collapses become the norm.
At this stage it seemed South Africa would post a total upwards of 300. However, the wickets continued to tumble, and de Kock, realising the tail was not going to hang around, threw his wicket away attempting to lift the scoring.
Australia would be more than satisfied with their day’s effort and could not have drafted a better script to start the summer.
Marsh and Warner negotiated a difficult period as the shadows loomed, sealing a dominant day for the home side.
South Africa will lament the fact they failed to bat the entire day as it could have been advantageous to see how Australia’s underdone bowing attack pulled up in the morning.
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