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Australia and South Africa are locked in a gripping match at Port Elizabeth after an attritional day of cricket yesterday left honours roughly even in the second Test.
On a day marked by several shifts in momentum, South Africa controlled the first two sessions, Australia rebounded ferociously after tea, and then the Proteas finished strongly thanks to a sparkling knock by AB de Villiers (74 not out from 81 balls).
With reverse swing a major factor and the pitch offering sharp spin, this looks likely to be a low-scoring Test. South Africa finished yesterday on 7/263, a lead of 20 runs, but will know batting last is likely to be very difficult.
The Proteas must have headed to bed last night ruing a missed opportunity to grind Australia into the ground. At 2/155 just after tea yesterday South Africa looked to be in a dominant position, just 88 runs in arrears. What that scoreline didn’t reflect, however, was the manner in which Australia’s attack blanketed South African batsmen Dean Elgar (57 from 197 balls) and Hashim Amla (56 from 148 balls) during the second session.
(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
South Africa did not lose a wicket during that session but found themselves stuck in the mud, scoring just 43 runs from 26 overs in what were the best batting conditions of the match. By the time the final session started the ball had begun to reverse swing and, as a result, Australia’s quicks became a far more challenging proposition.
It was that sideways movement which did for first Amla and then Elgar, who received wonderful deliveries from Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood respectively in successive overs.
Those breakthroughs exposed South Africa’s middle order to reverse swing. All-rounder Mitchell Marsh duly exploited this movement to deliver his most valuable Test spell in more than two years. The last time Marsh made a sizeable impact with the ball was in New Zealand in February 2016 when he dismissed stroke-makers Brendon McCullum and Corey Anderson in quick succession as Australia won the first Test.
On that occasion too it was his ability to get the old ball to swerve through the air that was instrumental. Yesterday Marsh picked a massive moment to get back into the swing of things, trapping LBW both of South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis and batsman Theunis de Bruyn to leave the Proteas in peril at 6/183.
(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Not only did Marsh earn generous swing, he also offered the batsmen few scoring opportunities and maintained good pace, nudging the 140-kilometre-per-hour mark at times.
After a sprightly counter-attack by De Villiers and Quinton de Kock, Australian spinner Nathan Lyon built on the good work of Marsh by castling the Proteas keeper with a stunning delivery. Lyon got the ball to drift in sharply towards De Kock’s pads before it exploded off the pitch and hit the top of off stump.
Yet neither the tantalising flight of Lyon nor the reverse swing of Australia’s quicks could disturb De Villiers, who again batted serenely. On a pitch on which every other batsman in this Test bar David Warner has laboured, De Villiers made run-scoring appear elementary.
The Proteas superstar looms large over this Test as South Africa start today with the chance to build a crucial first innings lead.