Qantas Tour of South Africa, First Test
SA vs AUS
Aussies hold 189-run lead at stumps on day two thanks to Marsh's 96 and Starc's 5-34
Nine years ago Mitchell Johnson ripped apart South Africa with violent runs and wickets and now his successor Mitch Starc is following in his footsteps.
On day two in Durban, Starc’s whirlwind 35 from 25 balls snatched the momentum off the Proteas and powered Australia to 351 before he harnessed the mysterious art of reverse swing to take 5-34 and skittle the hosts for 162.
Sizzling Starc skittles Proteas with five-fa
Starc’s blitz with the bat came off the back of Mitch Marsh’s stoic 96, the allrounder who fell one agonising shot away from a third Test century, while Nathan Lyon sparked the rout with the ball when he picked up two South African wickets in the eighth over.
As Starc blew away the home side, AB de Villiers watched motionless at the other end unbeaten on 71, powerless to stop the rot as his team collapsed around him.
Despite play being cut short by 14 overs on day one due to bad light, play on Friday resumed at the scheduled time of 10am as brilliant sunshine broke through to cover the players as well as the sparse Kingsmead crowd.
Heartbreak as Marsh falls four short of Test ton No.3
After six fruitless overs with the old reverse-swinging ball were negotiated by Marsh and Tim Paine, du Plessis ordered the second new rock and threw it to his young spearhead Kagiso Rabada, who needed only four balls to find the edge and remove the Australian wicketkeeper for 25.
Rabada was expressionless when he captured the wicket of Usman Khawaja almost 24 hours earlier but when Quinton de Kock swallowed Paine the express paceman let out a mighty celebration, flexed his muscles and was rushed by his teammates.
The next ball, Pat Cummins’ first, left Rabada aghast as the batsman shouldered arms to a delivery that angled in with the seam and missed off-stump by what can only be measured in atoms.
Cummins, promoted ahead of Starc for the first time in Tests, batted for 51 minutes, soaked up 38 balls and hit one scoring shot for three before he was beaten by a straight-break from Maharaj that uprooted middle stump.