Australia v South Africa, 3rd Test, Day 1 Review: Faf du Plessis hits century to rescue the Proteas

Faf Du Plessis shunned the booing crowd and came out with a shining knock of 118 to play the lead role for South Africa on the first day of the 3rd Test at the Adelaide Oval. The scenes which acted as a prelude to South Africa’s inaugural ‘Pink ball’ were headline grabbing. The ‘Lollygate, ‘airport scuffle’ and the trolls took the centre stage and there was little talk about the historic game which the Proteas were set to play. But, skipper Faf du Plessis came out strong and produced a one-man show to overshadow all the events which were associated with the game before it began.

It was an exciting day of Test cricket. The Pink ball played its role to perfection. Starc and Hazlewood looked dangerous and South Africa looked to be crumbling. But, then comes Du Plessis and hits an unbeaten 118 before declaring the South African innings at 259/9.

What happened at the start was anticipated. The pink ball made the visitors struggle as Hazlewood and Starc benefitted from it and did the maximum degree of damage to the South African batting order. The slip cordon and wicket keeper Mathew Wade also had a busy day, snapping 8 catches coming from behind the wickets.

Jackson Bird, who was making his return to the team after last playing February, bowled as the first change bowler, struggled to find rhythm and leaked runs initially.

The South African top order featuring Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla and JP Duminy all fell cheaply and departed for 5, leaving South Africa struggling at 44/3. Australia picked their first wicket in the first over when Elgar edged one behind to Khawaja at third slip. Hazlewood then and added the important wicket of Amla in the 13th over and later struck again in his following over with the wicket of JP Duminy.

But, respite came in the form of skipper Du Plessis and Stephen Cook who rebuild the innings with a steady 51 runs stand for the fourth wicket. Unfortunately, this was the only worthy partnership South Africa had today.

Stephen Cook had an interesting piece of history behind his appearance today. The right hander faced the first ball in a pink ball Test for South Africa. What makes this more special is that his father, Jimmy Cook, co-incidentally was the also first Proteas cricketer to face the white ball for South Africa 25 years ago and also the first South African to face the red ball in international cricket 22 years ago. It is an important part of history as it came after South Africa comeback to international cricket after the gloom-ridden days of apartheid.

But, keeping all the historical aspects aside, junior Cook failed to produce a special knock to celebrate this occasion and lost his wicket just after settling down against the fast bowlers. After all the hard work, Cook nudged an away swinger off Starc to the first slip and being his downfall. Steve Smith, standing at the receiving end, did not err and safely grabbed to bring South Africa four down.

Cook was lucky in the morning session, when he was given lbw off a no ball. He was trapped plumb in front by Starc but escaped to the bowler’s error. This enabled Cook to survive the session before he was quickly removed after the tea break.

Du Plessis then had to pilot the innings alone as he struggled to get a partner. Hazlewood continued to trouble while Nathan Lyon and Bird steadily kept improving and got used to the bounce from the surface.

Bird was repaid for his consistency in the later spells when he Temba Bavuma edged behind for 8. De Kock (24) spent some time with his skipper and stitched 32 runs for the 6th wicket. Hazlewood then struck in back to overs for the second time in the day – first with the wicket of De Kock and then Veron Philander. Tail-enders also could not show any resistance. Kyle Abbott (14) tried to hang around but was trapped LBW by Bird while Rabada became Nathan Lyon’s first wicket.

Du Plessis, meanwhile, completed a memorable century and made the crowd applaud his batsmanship before making a fabulous declaration to and leave a few people stunned.

Australia had 12 overs to survive and debutant Matt Renshaw and Usman Khawaja walked out. Regular opener Warner could not come in as he wasn’t on the field towards the end of that innings. This factor might have probably prompting Du Plessis to make the declaration but more reasonable could be the swing factor with the new ball under the lights. Renshaw, who became the second youngest Australian debutant today, and Khawaja played the remainder of the over without taking any risks  to help Australia end at 14/0 at stumps.

Brief Scores: 

South Africa: 259/9d (Faf du Plessis 118; Josh Hazlewood 4/68)

Australia: 14/0 in 12 overs