The bowlers had a field day during day one of the highly anticipated Test between Australia and South Africa in Brisbane on Saturday with Mitchell Starc left stranded on 299 wickets and David Warner’s career left hanging in the balance.
The Aussies ran riot at the Gabba, bowling the South Africans out for 152 from just 48 overs. The Proteas tried to return serve, at one stage having the Australians at 3/23, but Steve Smith and Travis Head steered the home side back on track, with the Aussies finishing the day 5/145.
Starc and Nathan Lyon led the charge for the Aussies with the ball, while Scott Boland was just 2-5 after his first over. Lyon finished the day with 3-14 off just eight overs, with Starc grabbing 3-41 off 14 overs. But the fast bowler would have loved just one more, finishing the innings agonisingly short on 299.
Marco Jansen finished with 1-15 fro the visitors, and Anrich Nortje 2-37.
It was an all-out Aussie attack in the first hour of the day, with the visitors finding themselves in a woeful spot of just 4/27. Their wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne tried to steady the ship, forming a solid 98-run partnership with Temba Bavuma. But the Australian bowlers found their groove again by the end of the innings.
“I think it was a brilliant day of Test cricket,” Lyon said. “You got arguably the two best bowling attacks in world cricket going at each other so you can expect wickets on day one with a little bit of moisture in the wicket.
“I’m pretty happy with where we are, I thought Travis was absolutely exceptional to go out there and play his game.”
It may have been all smiles for the Aussie bowlers, but it certainly wasn’t that way for the batters early on. Already under a mountain of pressure to keep his spot, Warner had an innings he would like to quickly forget, out for a golden duck after a sensational one-handed catch from Khaya Zonda at short leg.
This latest failure means he hasn’t scored a Test century since January 2020.
The South Africans kept their hopes alive when Marnus Labuschange was caught for just 11, and then Usman Khawaja followed him back into the air conditioning for the same number of runs.
That’s when Head and Smith took over.
At the start of the day, Aussie captain Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to bowl – the first to ever do that at the Gabba in 22 years – much to the delight of those in the stands. It proved the right decision.
There were emotional scenes from the Gabba when players, officials and the 29,306 crowd were joined by members of the Queensland police to pay their respects and share a moment of silence for the two fallen officers during the devastating siege in Queensland earlier in the week. Both teams wore black armbands in solidarity with the tragic event.
South African skipper Dean Elgar admitted before the match that the “batting has been a little under par” from his team. The visitors looked to start the day’s play on the right foot, but it didn’t take long for it all to crumble.
Starc drew first blood early on in the day, taking the first wicket in just the fifth over. The Aussie fast bowler drew Elgar in and forced him to play down the leg side, sending the ball straight into the gloves of Alex Carey and sending him back to the pavilion for just three runs.
“That’s extra bounce that, that’s really flown. 140km/h has flicked the glove down the left side,” said Channel Seven commentator Ricky Ponting.
Cummins was next to get his name on the scorecard in just the ninth over, taking the wicket of Rassie van der Dussen for just five runs.
The celebrations continued just five balls later when Scott Boland took his first wicket of the day. Sarel Erwee was dismissed for 10 thanks to a sensational catch by Cameron Green in the gully.
During the drinks break, Starc summed up the feeling of the Aussies perfectly on the Fox cricket coverage.
“Getting three wickets in the first hour, that’s a good start!” said Starc.
And just as soon as the water bottles were put back in the esky, Boland was at it again. This time taking the wicket of new batter Khaya Zondo, who just never got a chance to settle in. He was sent walking for a duck from just two balls after the green light was given on an LBW.
After the South Africans sunk to a disastrous 4/27, Kyle Verreynne did his best to stem the bleeding and before long he brought up a 50-run partnership with Temba Bavuma, with the scoreboard reading 4/80 at lunch.
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The Aussie crowd held their breath when Cummins hit the deck after rolling his ankle during a delivery in the second over after lunch. Thankfully the skipper was quick to his feet and carried on with his over as if nothing had happened.
The visitors surpassed 100 runs in the 29th over with Verreynne bringing up his 50 shortly after. It looked like an actual game was forming instead of a whitewash.
But just as it seemed like Bavuma was on track to make his half-century, Starc made the breakthrough. A perfect delivery knocking over the stumps and Bavuma was bowled for 38 runs.
As Ponting keeps proving over the summer his ability to pick a play before it happens, he was once again on the money with the newest batter Marco Jansen.
“Good build-up of pressure on Jansen here,” said Ponting. “Two from 16 balls. It is a good build-up. They’ve got mid-on three quarters of the way back, they are tempting in with a build-up of pressure to hit over the top.”
On the very next ball, Jansen lost his cool with just two runs on the board when he tried to go big off Lyon and Green collected the high catch running backwards.
Just like Ponting said.
“The pressure was building, he wanted it Lyon,” said Ponting after the wicket.
Shortly after Starc edged closer to his 300th test wicket, claiming number 299 thanks to Steve Smith in the slips. Keshav Maharaj was out for two runs from just six balls.
Then the Aussies finally got the wicket they were after when Smith was back in the action and caught Verreynne off Lyon in the 41st over. He had put on a solid 64 runs but not enough to get the South Africans out of trouble.
Starc thought he had hit his magic milestone when Kagiso Rabada sent the ball straight into the hands of Head at short leg but he spilled it on the second grab.
“He had it, he lost it!” cried Channel Seven commentator Matthew Hayden. “Didn’t quite get the money but good effort.”
His next chance was left in the hands of the DRS, when Cummins sent up a review on the call of not out for Rabada. It wasn’t meant to be, and Starc remained stuck on 299.
Lyon was the next wicket-taker when Anrich was caught behind by Head for a duck. He almost finished off the rest of the side with an LBW on Rabada, but DRS denied the wicket after seeing it had hit the batter’s glove.
It was Cummins who took the last South African wicket in just the 48th over of the day, thanks to Green catching Ngidi in the gully.
After a dominating performance with the ball, it was a shocking start from the Aussies with the bat, when Warner was sent packing with a golden duck. He tried to block a quick ball that had picked up some extra bounce, the ball took the inside edge and was caught by a leaping one-handed Zondo at short leg
“He’s taken! First ball! It’s is a golden duck for David Warner!” exclaimed Fox commentator Adam Gilchrist.
When Marnus Labuschange was sent packing after Jansen delivered a beautifully angled ball across him that was caught by the South African skipper, the Aussies found themselves just 2/19. Khawaja followed after being perfectly bowled by substitute Anrich Nortje and the hosts were at a loss at 3/23.
Head raced to his 50, and the Aussies were well in control. By stumps he and Smith had forged a 121-run partnership, and the earlier scare at the start of the innings was a distant memory.
But Smith was bowled for 36 by a jaffa from Nortje, and nightwatchman Boland added just one before catching an edge and being taken by the keeper. Head finished his impressive innings not out for 72.
And we finished with a game on our hands.
“The initial feeling (after being bowled out cheaply) is probably a bit of disappointment but then you look around in the change room at our four quicks and spinner (Maharaj) and everyone gets a bit excited and thinks 150-odd on the board might be enough with what we have got in the changeroom,” Verreynne said.
“That is the approach we are looking to take. Obviously as batters we need to be better, but with the bowling line-up we have there is a belief our bowlers can do the job.”
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