Test contest The largest non-Ashes audience ever to attend a non-Ashes match at the Gabba was 29,306 fans, giving cricket a boost for the southern summer. Australia removed South Africa for 152 just before the tea break, slumped to 27 for three in reply, staged an astounding counterattack from Travis Head and Steve Smith, then lost Smith and nightwatchman Scott Boland to reach stumps at 145 for five, still behind by seven runs.
Head repeated his Ashes century from the previous year with a casual 78 not out off 77 balls in the last session. Smith had gotten off to a good start, driving his opening ball through the cover for four runs and making exquisite straight drives.
In six overs together before the third-session drinks break, the two took stock, and in eight overs after the break, they scored 69 runs. With a six-over backward square leg off Lungi Ngidi, Head reached 50 at a rate of more than one run per ball. It was perplexing for a South African assault that had been dominant and suddenly began bowling erratically, giving him width to exploit.
The session had begun with a bang, with Kagiso Rabada renewing his 2018 war with David Warner by delivering a short ball at his ribs. The opening bat fended the ball above the head of the short leg, where Khaya Zondo took a one-handed catch. It was only Warner’s second golden duck in 181 career innings, and the first to start an inning.
Marnus Labuschagne defeated Rabada and Ngidi but was bowled by the first delivery from the tall left-arm swing bowler Marco Jansen, which Dean Elgar caught at slip.
A delivery from Anrich Nortje’s pure pace caused Usman Khawaja’s bat to fly from his shoulder to the gully. Soon after, Head approached the cordon but stopped short of Elgar.
It was the only close call during his innings, after which he proceeded to destroy the bowling. Together, he and Smith added 113 runs in 23 overs, threatening to fully take control of the game.
However, Nortje rebounded for a final burst, jagging the ball extravagantly off the seam to cut through Smith’s bat and remove the middle stump. Smith was out for 36. Boland batted until the final over before nicking Rabada, bringing the day’s play to a close and sparing Cameron Green a trip to the crease.
It keeps South Africa in the match for the time being, although another hour of Head in the morning would be intolerable. Following the first-inning score of 152, this is more than they could have asked for.
Gabba grounds can be significantly more conducive to batting than they appear, but as a captain of fast bowlers, Patrick Cummins was pleased to send in the visitors. A green field, some cloud cover, and the opportunity to test their frail batting while delaying their powerful bowling all pointed to this conclusion.
Elgar was dismissed early by Mitchell Starc’s leg-side delivery to wicketkeeper Alex Carey. As soon as Cummins rectified his radar issues, he dismissed Rassie van der Dussen by hitting the ideal line and length to draw a nick.
Then, as has become his trademark, Boland took several wickets in a single over, lowering his career bowling average to 9.65 after having Sarel Erwee caught in the gully and then smashing Zondo’s pad in front of the middle stump.
At 27-4, a 98-run partnership between Temba Bavuma and wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne rescued the team. Verreynne counterattacked with abandon, tugging Green for four and cutting him for six in the same over to get things started, and regularly hitting the boundary with cuts and glides through the cordon. He made 64, while Bavuma played the supporting hand with 38 by tapping singles.
After lunch, Starc broke the union by latching onto Bavuma’s leg stump with his defensive inside edge. Then it was Nathan Lyon’s chance to bowl, and he took three wickets in 15 balls without conceding a run. There was tremendous spin and bounce, resulting in four byes and assisting Lyon in catching Nortje off the glove.
Smith’s slip catch to dismiss Verreynne was his 52nd off Lyon, surpassing Shane Warne and Mark Taylor as Australia’s most productive bowler-outfielder duo.
Smith also caught Keshav Maharaj for Starc’s 299th Test wicket, but when Starc had Rabada edge to short leg, Head juggled and dropped the catch. Cummins cleaned up Ngidi, resulting in the loss of the final six wickets for 27 runs. South Africa understood that it required a unique strategy to recover from this setback.
They have produced exactly half of it thus far. Based on the Head’s performance, the second morning should be as exciting as the first.
