SA vs AUS, 2nd Test, Day 1 Review: Rabada rattles the visitors; South Africa hold a slender advantage

What a fiery contest this is promising to be! Australia and South Africa have always provided some cracking encounters in the past and they might be pulling off another one in Port Elizabeth. It all started with a blitzkrieg from David Warner’s willow and ended with one of the finest bowling spells from Kagiso Rabada.

Australia, who currently possess a 1-0 lead in the series, won the toss and elected to bat first. Cameron Bancroft and David Warner gave them the ideal start. Both players looked solid in the middle, especially Warner, who was coming into this game with the De Kock fiasco still running fresh in his mind.

Well, he seems to have taken his anger on the ball and he did so quite brilliantly. He kept scoring boundaries at regular intervals and the scoring rate was above 4 in the first session. The duo added 98 runs for the first wicket with Warner just completing his fifty. The game started to tilt the hosts’ way when Cameron Bancroft’s wicket put an end to the first session.

Vernon Philander was the man who provided the crucial breakthrough and the doors were open for the Proteas to fight back into the game. Rabada and Lungisani Ngidi chipped in with two crucial wickets in a short span of time, sending back the dangerous southpaws David Warner and Usman Khawaja to the pavilion.

Rabada dethrones Smith and company

It was one heck of a bowling performance from Kagiso Rabada, who made the Aussies go frantic with his pace and channels. Shaun Marsh and Steve Smith steadied the ship for a while after losing the wickets of Khawaja and Warner in quick succession. The duo added 43 runs for the 4th wicket and batted together for over 15 overs.

But Rabada was just about loosening up and ran riot. He sent Smith back firstly, who wasted a review opting to check with the third umpire for the LBW. He was caught plumb in front of the stumps and it really was a poor decision from the skipper.

It was Rabada’s next over that changed the phase of the game completely. Shaun Marsh followed the suit and once again, it was Rabada who trapped him in front of the stumps. Incidentally, in the same over where picked up the wicket of the elder Marsh brother, he sent the other one back for a duck. The last ball of that over saw Pat Cummins walk back, which pushed them to 170/7 after staying in a decent position at 161/3.

Tim Paine was the lone warrior for the Aussies, who held his ground and kept his composure amidst all the chaos. Rabada on the other end, made the tailenders dance on the crease with his pace. Lungisani Ngidi chipped in with a few wickets as well, which just added to the Australian misery.

Tim Paine’s valiant effort of 36 in 68 balls gave them an extra 15-25 runs. They got bowled out for 243 runs in 71.3 overs with Ngidi finishing the innings off with the wicket of Paine. Despite restricting them to a total under 250, the Proteas had a big ask to fulfil.

Markram departs; Rabada fires with the bat as well!

With just 12 overs remaining in the day’s play, batting was always going to get a little tricky. Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram faced the new ball music quite brilliantly for the first few overs, but Markram eventually departed. Kagiso Rabada walked in as the night watchman and the fast bowler spanked 4 quick boundaries towards the end of the day’s play.

South Africa finished day 1 at 39 losing one wicket. They need a big partnership and should touch the 200 mark without losing more than 5 or 6 wickets. As it stands, that is the only way they can stay alive in the series.

Brief Scores

Australia first innings: 243 all out in 71.3 overs (David Warnr 63; Kagiso Rabada 5/96, Lungisani Ngidi 3/51)

South Africa first innings: 39/1 in 12 overs (Kagiso Rabada 17*; Pat Cummins 1/9)