Australia took full control of the first Test against South Africa in Durban, dismissing the hosts for 162 after posting 351 in their first innings for a lead of 189.
Left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc showed why he is considered the most lethal bowler the world, picking up 5-34 in 10.4 overs of extreme pace. Off-spinner Nathan Lyon played his part by picking up 3-50 on a helpful surface as the Australian bowlers gave nothing away.
All-rounder Mitchell Marsh was the star performer with the bat, falling short of a well-deserved century by just four runs as Australia’s tail added 100 runs after the visitors were reduced to 251-7 on Friday. Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj was the stand-out performer for the hosts with 5-123 from 33.4 overs.
AB de Villiers once again held the innings together with a composed 71 not out, as he did in the Test series against India.
Here we take a look at the good and the bad from the second day’s play in Durban.
David Warner, Steve Smith hit 50s in attritional Day 1 of first Test against South Africa
THE GOOD
STARC TOO HOT TO HANDLE
Mitchell Starc proved he can be deadly on any surface. On a Durban pitch that barely had any life in it for the quicker bowlers, Starc demolished the Proteas with extreme pace directed at the stumps. He got the wicket of captain Faf du Plessis, bowling from round the wicket and getting the nick behind before finishing off the tail using reverse swing to get Vernon Philander caught behind, Kagiso Rabada plumb lbw with a reverse swinging full ball and uprooting the stumps of Morne Morkel. Absolutely top class.
It's like watching Wasim Akram - reverse-swing at over 140kph by the excellent Mitchell Starc #SAvAUS #Cricket pic.twitter.com/hLu62PIHCC
— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) March 2, 2018
SPINNERS HAVE THEIR SAY
The four-Test series between South Africa and Australia was supposed to be all about fast bowlers as six of the quickest pacers in the world are in action. But the spinners made an impact as well, by taking eight of the 20 wickets to fall so far. First it was Maharaj who bowled the bulk of the overs (33.4 out of 110.4) and took the most wickets, 5-123, for the Proteas. Then Lyon got even more purchase out of the surface to get the crucial wickets of Dean Elgar (caught and bowled), Hashim Amla (bat pad to short leg) and Quinton de Kock (bowled through the gate).
THE BAD
PROTEAS RELY HEAVILY ON AB
The South Africans needed their top order to hold fort but their inconsistency during the India series extended to the Australia series as well. De Villiers (71) and Aiden Markram (32) were the only batsmen who looked even remotely confident against an unrelenting Aussie attack. The likes of Elgar (7) and Amla (0) don’t have big innings under their belt this year while De Kock has lost his touch with the bat. It looks like all the Aussies now need to do is keep AB quiet and the rest will follow.
De Villiers remained unbeaten on 71.
THE PITCH
The wickets in South Africa have been very ordinary in 2018. The pitches during the Test and ODI series against India either helped spinners a lot or posed a danger to batsmen as it offered too much help to the quicks (Johannesburg and Cape Town).
The surface for the first Test in Durban has almost no zip for the quicks with spinners bowling with a fairly new ball. Fast bowlers relied on reverse swing to make an impact but that meant waiting for the ball to get old. Sounds more like the subcontinent than South Africa.
Not a lot of people in Durban for a marquee series. Hopefully over the weekend
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 1, 2018
