Source : the age
Oh dear.
Same old story. Another 6.5 overs and the covers are back on. Not the worst result for South Africa given the way Scott Boland (2-5 off 3.2 overs) is sending them down.
South Africa 2-20 off 12.2 overs
Bavuma gets off the mark with a thick edge off Boland, playing out in front of his body. A half-chance for Australia, but the ball flies through the slips and was never really a catching opportunity.
The remarkable thing about Boland’s two wickets was the movement off the seam. The first was a classic off-cutter that jagged back into Markram. The next went the other way off the pitch and caught Bedingham’s edge. Borderline unplayable, both deliveries. Bedingham was probably unlucky to get any bat on his.
Pat Cummins comes into the attack for the first time today.
South Africa 2-18
Scott Boland shows why he was chosen here. His trajectory and wrist work allows the seam to grab the pitch and get movement both ways. First, he pitches up to Markram and gets sharp nip back, enough to hit the stumps via a thin inside edge.
Next ball, in a similar spot to Bedingham that commits him to play, seams away and takes the outside edge through to Carey.
Bavuma averts the hat-trick by getting an inside edge on one that was otherwise also snaking towards the stumps.
Scenes in Gqeberha!
Boland finds the outside edge of David Bedingham who is on his way for a golden duck. Caught behind by Alex Carey. A classic delivery around that fifth or sixth stump line that Bedingham feels the need to play at. A nervous shot from a new batsman wanting to feel bat on ball.
Boland has 2-0 from 11 balls. Marvellous stuff.
South Africa in major strife at 2-12.
The hat-trick ball … inside edge onto the pad of Temba Bavuma. Sheesh. All happening.
Middle stump out of the ground.
Scott Boland has his first Test scalp on South African soil.
A ripper of a delivery from the Victorian that nips back off the seam, takes the inside edge and crashes into middle stump.
Markram is on his way for 11 off 28 balls, and Boland has struck in his second over.
Head selector George Bailey would be pretty chuffed with that one after the controversial (somewhat) decision to leave Nathan Lyon out of the XI.
South Africa 1-12 after 8.4 overs
Interesting to see Ackerman coming well out of his crease in an attempt to nullify Boland. Next ball, a wild swing and a miss outside off stump. He’ll back himself to put the bad ball away, but that was a pretty loose shot (that he missed).
A maiden to start for the ever-reliable Victorian in his first Test over on South African soil.
South Africa 0-12
Hazlewood is back into the swing of things in his third over.
Here are the revised session times:
Second session: 1:20pm to 3:40pm (10:20pm to 12:40am AEDT)
Third session: 4pm to 6pm (1:00am to 3:00am AEDT) with an extra half an hour if needed.
South Africa 0-11 off six overs
The cricket world keeps expecting Australia’s Test team to act their age, and the players keep saying: “Not yet.”
Mitchell Starc’s hairline is the only part of him that looks as old as 36. Patrick Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, injury-free in Durban, bowled with the pace and freshness of men in their early 20s – or better, in their case, given how much of their early 20s they spent rehabbing.
Steve Smith, at 37, may refine his particular personal routines and conclude his restless search for perfection, but only in the distant future.
Young Matt Renshaw, a stripling of 30, saved the day at Kingsmead; a potential 10-year career lies ahead.
History says a team can’t thrive when none of its personnel is younger than 30 – unprecedented – or when its average age, 34.59, is higher than most of its batting averages.
Australia need 58 runs off the final nine overs in their women’s T20 international against New Zealand.
After reducing the Kiwis to 2-162 from 20 overs, Georgia Voll was removed for a second ball duck just days after her unbeaten 131 against Bangladesh in an ODI.
But Beth Mooney (38 from 25) and Ellyse Perry (52 off 30) have put Australia in a strong position.
Wareham and Gardner at the crease with Australia 3-105.
