Twitter Reactions: Starc and Warner get going, Australia rule day 1

By Ankit Mishra

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4 Min Read

Australia
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Josh Hazlewood of Australia. (Photo by Gary Day/Getty Images)

Not many things went South African skipper Faf du Plessis’ way at Perth except of course the toss. He called the right side and was pretty certain they wanted to bat first given the WACA surface looked like a good batting track from the outside. But they were off to a really bad start, the credit for which goes to Australia’s pace ace Mitchell Starc who drew blood in the very first over as he had Stephen Cook caught by Mitchell Marsh for a duck at gully on the fifth ball of the opening over of the Test match.

Things looked worst when the other fast bowler Josh Hazlewood also struck and had Hashim Amla caught by skipper Steve Smith even before he could open his account. Dean Elgar didn’t last long either and Hazlewood had his second victim. Du Plessis was out in the middle sooner than he would have expected and tried to get things back in control with JP Duminy.

But redemption wasn’t to be as easy, as the third Aussie pacer Peter Siddle joined the party with the wicket of Duminy. Starc in his second spell now removed the South African skipper to send back half their side back to the pavilion with less than 100 runs on the board. There were signs of worry and unrest in the Protea dressing room but two young Test cricketers Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma then got together and pulled their team out of the marsh (not Shaun or Mitchell).

Both of them scored half centuries and added 71 runs together but just when things started to look a bit settled for them off-spinner Nathan Lyon had Bavuma caught by the elder Marsh brother. De Kock stayed and tried to get together a partnership with the lower order and managed to take the team total beyond the 200-run mark. He was eventually dismissed for 87 as the ninth wicket by Hazlewood and in no time Mitchell Starc cleaned up Dale Steyn to finish with a four-wicket haul and bowl out South Africa for 242.

Also read- AUS v SA, 1st Test Day 1 Review: Proteas capitulate as David Warner cashes in

In their reply, Australia were off to a flying start as David Warner raced his way to yet another Test half century. The openers went to stumps unbeaten while Warner had 73 to his name Shaun Marsh was batting at the other end on 29 having faced 67 deliveries five more than Warner.

Here is how Twitter reacted during the course of the day:

https://twitter.com/Cricketracker/status/794023034508210176

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