Add Category
Updated
After all the hype and the build-up, all the talk of fast pitches and faster bowling, of attacks blowing batsmen away, Australia's prize fight against South Africa started with something better.
An old-fashioned tussle. A balanced contest. A day of Test cricket that left neither side with supremacy, only South Africa with a slight edge, as five Australian wickets went down with 225 runs on the board, on a Durban pitch where patience was paramount.
The comparative slowness of the surface was instructive. South Africa had turned out dynamite tracks for three recent Tests against India, and if there was anything deliberate about those surfaces, then someone underestimated the new era of India's pace brigade.
Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Ishant Sharma took 47 wickets at 20 runs apiece, and very nearly cost South Africa the series with the kind of short-pitched barrage more associated with their hosts.
Which is not to say conditions at Durban were altered. This, after all, is the slow turning pitch where visiting spinners like Rangana Herath and Mushtaq Ahmed have twirled through South African sides.
So the pitch probably wasn't curated to neuter the feted Australian attack of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Pat Cummins. But perhaps the selection of venue was. After this, the teams play at traditionally slow Port Elizabeth.
Lack of pace, in any sense, has never hampered Vernon Philander. The seamer nicked off both Australian openers at opposite ends of the first session after Australia chose to bat.
Photo:
Warner has had to transition from limited overs cricket with little rest. (AP: Themba Hadebe)
Cameron Bancroft shuffled across and poked to the wicketkeeper on 5, while David Warner batted solidly through the session for 51, but edged to slip with one minute to lunch while trying to block out the final balls.
It was still a fair return for Warner, who had been captaining Australia's Twenty20 side in New Zealand a week earlier. Within a few days he had to fly across the world, get over jet lag, and switch formats.
"I did everything I could to play as well as I could today, and put a lot of time and effort in training yesterday," he told ABC Grandstand at stumps.
"I was disappointed to get out after getting a half century, but that's the game, that's what happens, and you've just got to get on with it. Hopefully the guys can do a good job tomorrow."
Nor was Kagiso Rabada's threat muted by the lack of pace, for he provides his own, interspersing Philander's wickets by seaming a ball viciously across the left-handed Usman Khawaja to draw an outside edge for 14.
With those three gone, captain Steve Smith came out counter-punching after the break, being especially harsh on Morne Morkel. There was no consideration for the tall fast bowler who announced a couple of days ago he will retire from international cricket after this series.
With Smith's parry and thrust, and Shaun Marsh's watchful defence, it looked like a continuation of Australia's Ashes approach would see a recovery from 3 for 95. That was before Keshav Maharaj bobbed up as the threat.
South Africa's left-arm spinner had already got one ball to rip outrageously in the first session, turning a metre or more across Warner from well outside his off stump to hit his back leg.
Asked whether he thought he was in trouble, Warner said: "I did because I took a different guard. I didn't think the ball was going to turn.
"I sort of batted on middle and leg, and it hit right on the rough, right on the footmark that Vern made. That was a good delivery, and I'll thank my lucky stars."
South Africa reviewed the not-out decision, and predictive tracking showed the ball turning far enough to miss leg stump by a mile. Barely another turned all day, but the anomaly may have played a part in two later dismissals.
Smith was the key, having attacked Maharaj successfully by skipping down the pitch to the ball. But while Smith doesn't exactly have batting weaknesses, he is building a history of getting out playing cut shots at left-arm spinners. Think of that man Herath again.
This time, Maharaj's bounce and lack of turn did Smith, whose top edge ricocheted off the keeper's gloves to AB de Villiers at slip.
Then Marsh defended an innocuous ball accounting for turn, but it held its line and took his outside edge to the same position.
Mitchell Marsh and Tim Paine batted out the overs as the light faded, adding 48 before play was called off before the scheduled close. There will be no early starts on subsequent days, with Cricket South Africa perversely attempting to combat bad light by adding overs at the day's end.
With 225 on the board, Australia could be wrapped up on the second day for a sub-par total, or could push on above 300 for a score that would be imposing in the conditions. But there is plenty yet to do.
"You don't want to lose three wickets in the first session on the first day, especially winning the toss," Warner said. "The way they bowled was great, they were up and about, set good fields, and asked questions."
"It's quite dry, a bit two-paced, probably a wicket that you don't feel like you're in. Obviously the ball shifting [reverse swinging] after 20-odd overs on the first day is incredible. It's going to be a low, slow grind towards the back end."
Australia's Ashes triumph was built on exactly this style of patience and resilience. A new series will require more of the same.
Topics: cricket, sport, south-africa
First posted