Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Marnus Labuschagne never looked comfortable against Harmer and he edged a regulation off-spinner to slip to give Harmer two wickets in one over.
Horrible showing from Labuschagne. Australia needed more from him.
AUS 2-58
One ball, one wicket.
Spinner Simon Harmer came on and gave Head a spinning half-volley, which Head chopped into his stumps.
Head was flying. Harmer was warming up. Now Head is gone.
Big opportunity lost for Head and Australia as Marnus Labuschagne runs out.
AUS 1-58
Travis Head continues to play his shots through the off-side against Coetzee and Mulder.
Head found yet another boundary in the last over while another full-blooded shot was stopped in the outfield by a sweeping fielder.
Renshaw remains resolute although will take runs when chances arise but Head is lifting his tempo a little as conditions are perfect.
He also kept out a gem of a yorker on the last ball of the over. Mulder is dangerous, so is Head.
AUS 0-56 from 15 overs with Head 39, Renshaw 17
The dangerous Wiaan Mulder is onto bowl for the Proteas and he could be a danger man for Australia after he took some vital wickets with full, attacking lengths during the second Test.
Mulder hit the stumps multiple times in that match and while today’s conditions are not as helpful as earlier matches, he will still zero in on the stumps and ask some tough questions of Head and Renshaw.
The Aussies handled him well enough in the first over but they will know to be very careful around his bowling.
AUS 0-42 with Renshaw on 17 and Head on 25 from 13 overs.
Matt Renshaw was struck in the fleshy part of his arm by Rabada at the end of the ninth over.
He made a joke of it and was moving his arms around in between overs but that one will leave a bruise one would think.
Gerald Coetzee has come on for Jansen wearing a white headband – Head welcomed him by hitting him for four through the off-side.
Head almost chopped the ball onto his stumps the next ball – Coetzee is bowling a sharp speed but his line is still a little erractic but it is his first match of the series.
AUS 0-37 with Renshaw on 17, Head on 20 from 10 overs.
As we saw on day one, the first session appears to be a good time to bat as long as you don’t take any silly risks.
Head and Renshaw have been understandably watchful in the first half hour but they have hit four boundaries.
Graeme Smith is a little concerned that the Proteas have been “a touch short this morning”.
It will be interesting to see if Rabada, in particular, makes any immediate adjustments to his line or not.
AUS 0-26 with Renshaw on 13, Head on 13 from seven overs.
South African left-armer Marco Jansen has snapped straight into a superb line this morning and he beat Renshaw with an outswinger in the second over.
But the Aussies have done well to leave quite a few balls so far, but leaving will be fraught with Jansen as he is getting very close to the off-stump.
Australian great Matthew Hayden has also stuck up for Head, he texted commentator Graeme Smith to say they had got Head’s average as an opener wrong (42 instead of 48), when referencing it earlier in the broadcast.
“Thanks for keeping us in check,” Smith said with a chuckle.
AUS 0-15 (Renshaw 13, Head 2) from four overs.
Matt Renshaw drove a wide full toss for four and otherwise kept out of trouble againt Rabada, who wasn’t happy with his line in that first over.
Renshaw will keep batting into the second over as he took a late single.
AUS 0-5 with Renshaw on 5, Head yet to face a ball.
As expected, Travis Head and Matt Renshaw are opening the batting and they are walking out to the trademark bright sunshine in Cape Town.
There doesn’t seem to be a cloud in the sky and there is certainly no “table cloth” on Table Mountain which looks vivid this morning.
Renshaw will face Rabada to open the day.
Cape Town: Australia’s coach Andrew McDonald presaged this match by speaking about how Steve Smith’s remarkable Test career would deserve prolonged celebration whenever he retired.
But there was no sense of celebration among Pat Cummins’ team about how abruptly Smith withdrew himself from the team for its return to Newlands for the first time since the 2018 ball-tampering scandal. The episode will hasten discussions about how much longer the 37-year-old has left in the baggy green cap.
Mitchell Starc stuck pointedly to matter-of-fact words about Smith’s neck niggle after the game, while a selection of furrowed brows and raised eyebrows from others made it clear that the series of events this week and on match morning had not gone down particularly well.
“Didn’t know anything about it until well, I sort of knew something was going on yesterday when I was trying to get my laundry at the hotel and I couldn’t get in the room,” Starc said. “But I didn’t know he wasn’t playing until I went out to warm up today.
“He’s obviously been battling that neck since last week. I think I don’t actually know what happened with that, and I haven’t asked. He seems upbeat enough, but I don’t know what treatment or what he’s had done with it so far.”
