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.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Damn, you are funny, Don. When are you touring?
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
You got your wish. Was Marsh ill this morning? It's a bit odd that Smith didn't try him again after he'd bowled so well the night before. Tremendous stuff from ABdV.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Except that Philander scored 36 and Maharaj made 30, in partnerships with de Villiers of 84 and 58 respectively.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
There are not many sights in test cricket than watching ABdV in full flight. This innings was just what this series needed and the congratulations and applause given to AB, by the Australian players, at the end of the South African innings should be noted. More respect like this and less of the BS gamesmanship of last week please.
Bobbo7
Guest
Too true. Australia the most guilty these days. Warner and Smith are very good players but their averages are inflated by very flat pitches at home.
Kurt S
Roar Pro
Philander looked comfortable in those last overs on day 2. AB made it to the non striker's end on the first ball of the last over. He seemed confident his partner was up to the task of keeping the last 5 balls out. I hope SA make a good lead as the pitch looks like it will deteriorate.. it could set up for Australia to create a smallish yet difficult run chase in the 4th innings.
DavSA
Guest
Pitches like this one allow the cream of batsmen to rise to the top. The likes of Warner , Smith ( while at the crease ) and ABDV make batting look easy when all others are struggling. We saw the same with Kohli in the previous SA/India series. The plethora of roads being prepared in world cricket these days are making average batsmen look good and good batsmen look great .
Fox
Roar Guru
A spellbinding test but a 80-100 run lead could be telling on this pitch.
DavSA
Guest
But can Philander stay with him long enough . ABDV should bat a little higher up the order . I am afraid Amla looks a shadow of what we are used to. A 70 run lead on this pitch will be significant. I hope we see better crowds today. The overall support from the SA cricketing public for these tests has been very disappointing. Port Elizabeth is also a holiday destination as is Durban and the scheduling of these matches out of season has impacted significantly. I thought though that the Aussie bowling was top drawer . They gave very ,very little away and were pretty unlucky not to have knocked over SA . Elgar in particular had the batting edge gods on his side.
Don Freo
Guest
It's more likely, Ronan, that he will get out trying. It's not as if the Aussie attack is sub-standard.
Don Freo
Guest
Doing what? Mattyb and I are Roar mates...usually on the same page.
train without a terminus
Guest
Oh Don, tsk tsk tsk... I thought you'd stopped doing this.
Wayne
Roar Guru
F Press F to pay respects
Jameswm
Guest
Or in my case hopefully the Aussies dismiss them quickly and score 400
Bobbo7
Guest
ABD is such a class act. To average over 50 playing a lot of cricket on SA pitches is no mean feat.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
That pitch was way better for batting yesterday than it was on day one. Smith's decision to bat first may well end up as a mistake given it exposed Australia to by far the most bowler-friendly conditions of the Test to date.
bonnie
Guest
Ronan I was lucky enough to be at the SCG when South Africa played the West Indies during the World Cup in 2015. AB was motoring along and then exploded against the Windies captain Holder. 30+ runs off one over where AB creamed the ball all over the SCG. Holder came back two overs later to finish the innings and AB destroyed him again. Like myself there was a lot of neutral supporters in the Trumper stand and we were just completely blown away and were disappointed the innings had finished. It was supreme batting by AB. He is unlikely to match that under current conditions but he is very real threat as you point out
Tanmoy Kar
Guest
DeVilliers needed to bat quickly otherwise his partners would had fallen in front of him before reaching 243.
DAveJ
Guest
Impressive effort by our bowlers given there was so much less seam movement than day 1. Though Lyon again wasn’t at his best in the morning session, given the amount of spin on offer. Good to see he snared de Kock later on, though I’m a bit worried about how our guys will deal with Maharaj after the first Test. Nice to see M Marsh taking a couple with reverse. Our bowlers still haven’t got de Villiers out in the series, have they?. We need him to make a mistake soon!
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
With a hard new ball to smack around, AB could take the game away from Australia in the 1st session today - they need to finish off his partners quickly.