SA vs AUS, 2nd Test, Day 2, Review: AB de Villiers key as South Africa eye significant lead

The second day of the second Test between South Africa and Australia once again witnessed yet another thrilling action with the visitors coming back into the game. It was AB de Villiers who held the game together for the home side as they just managed to go ahead of Australia’s total in the final half hour of the day. However, with three wickets left the Proteas would be eyeing to extend their lead on the third day which could eventually prove crucial in deciding the game.

The overnight unbeaten pair of Kagiso Rabada and Dean Elgar strode out in the morning as the hosts aimed to make light work of the first innings total posted by the visitors. The former was piling agony on them by scoring some quick runs but played on while facing the bouncer of Pat Cummins on 29. The out of form Hashim Amla then entered and settled his nerves early on. Interestingly, he was given out leg before not once but twice during his decent knock on the day.

But he rode his luck by going DRS on both occasions and was saved. He added 88 runs with Elgar as both brought up their respective half-centuries. But they were guilty of getting bogged down which affected the way they could’ve dominated the day. Australia sucked all the momentum in the post-lunch session by some good bowling as only 43 runs came in 26 overs.

Dramatic final session

The tight second session meant Australia were still in the game with 88 runs in their kitty going into the final session which started perfectly for them. Mitchell Starc bowled an absolute corker of a delivery to shatter the stumps of Amla which gave them the much-needed opening. Meanwhile, the bands in the Stadium created some chaos which led to the umpires stopping the game between the deliveries. Amidst all the disturbances, Elgar lost his concentration and edged a probing delivery from Josh Hazlewood to Tim Paine on 57.

The skipper Faf du Plessis and Theunis de Bruyn also followed soon as South Africa endured a mini-collapse. They slumped from being 155/2 to 183/6. Both wickets were taken by Mitchell Marsh who pinned them in front of the stumps. There were fears of yet another collapse in the hosts’ camp but De Villiers stood firm and counter-attacked smartly. He added 44 runs for the seventh wicket with Quinton de Kock and settled the nerves for his team. Meanwhile, he also completed his half-century and continued his good run of form.

However, Nathan Lyon came and castled De Kock to break the stand which exposed the tail to Starc at the fag end of the day. But the duo of De Villiers and Vernon Philander saw off the threat even as South Africa took a slender of a lead to infuse the confidence in the dressing room. In the end, the former remained unbeaten on 74 as his partner played some shots against the new ball to stay on 14.

South Africa are slightly ahead in this game now after taking the lead and they would love to extend it as much as they can on the third day. On the other hand, Australia would be looking to clean the tail and put up a decent total on the board in their second innings.

Brief Scores

Australia 243 after 71.3 overs (D Warner 63; K Rabada 5/96, L Ngidi 3/51)

South Africa 263/7 after 95 overs (De Villiers 74*, D Elgar 57 , H Amla 56; M Marsh 2/26, P Cummins 2/55)

State of the match: South Africa lead by 20 runs