- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
It’s South Africa’s Test right now. The Proteas dominated the day’s play, first through their batting thanks to Temba Bavuma, who finished unbeaten and stranded on 95, as well as Quinton de Kock (39) and Keshav Maharaj (45). Then it was the bowlers’ turn. Vernon Philander has been the pick of the attack with 3-17 off 12, while Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj and final-gamer Morne Morkel all have a wicket each.
For Australia, the day report will make for grim reading. Nathan Lyon grabbed a couple of wickets but was treated with disdain by Maharaj, while Chadd Sayers and Josh Hazlewood went wicketless for the day. Pat Cummins was once again the best of the bowlers, picking up the final two wickets to finish with a five-wicket haul.
The less said about the batting, the better. Both openers failed to reach double digits, while Usman Khawaja (53) was the only batsman to really get in. Khawaja was fluent and aggressive from the get-go, but was undone by an excellent catch by de Kock down the leg side while standing up to the stumps. Shaun Marsh (16) was the only other batsman to pass ten but was one of three Australians to fall in the space of six runs late in the day.
South Africa are in the box seat, and on a pitch which is doing a bit it will take a minor miracle (and lots of rain) for Australia, currently trailing by 378 with just four wickets in hand, to escape this Test with anything but a loss.
Australia (6/110) trail South Africa (488) by 378 runs with 4 wickets remaining in the innings.
South Africa look to be in a good position heading into Day 2 of their last Test against Australia, sitting at 6/313 after the first day. Join The Roar for live scores from the second day of the Test, starting from 7pm AEDT.
Amidst dramatic press conferences and ongoing debate about the penalties handed down to Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, believe it or not there is a still a Test cricket match going on in South Africa, featuring an Australian side that is now of course quite a bit understrength.
That said we haven’t gotten a look at how the batting will shape up just yet, as South Africa won the toss and opted to open the match by batting.
Aiden Markram was the hero of the first day of the Test for the home side, putting together a huge knock of 152 runs to anchor what was a strong opening effort from the South Africans.
AB de Villiers also added a strong 69 runs, while the batting will open with Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock at the crease, boasting 25 and 7 runs for the innings so far respectively.
Pat Cummins was Australia’s leading wicket-taker but Chadd Sayers, finally getting his chance, picked up two wickets and Nathan Lyon has one.
In particular, Cummins removing Faf du Plessis for a golden duck and Sayers sending back Kagiso Rabada (caught by Matt Renshaw) for a two-ball duck were big gets for the Australian bowling attack.
That being the case, the Aussies will be reasonably happy with what they’ve achieved so far and if they can clean up the South African tail for a minimal amount will still give themselves a chance of winning this one.
Odds are they’ll bat at some point today and it’s how the side will stand up without Smith or Warner when that happens that will tell us a lot about Australia’s prospects over the next twelve months.
Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from the second Day of the Test, starting from 7pm AEDT.