SA vs AUS Live Updates 3rd Test : Australia eye a strong start on Day 2 after bowling out South Africa for 329 in the third Test in Cape Town. Mitchell Starc led Australia’s fightback on the opening day after Aiden Markram and Marques Ackermann put on 158 for the opening wicket. Starc took 6/72 after Ackermann (95), Markram (78) and David Bedingham (50) all made valuable contributions in a dominant display by the Proteas top order. Marco Jansen also scored 52 for South Africa, while wicketkeeper Ryan Rickelton chipped in with 42. ( Live Scorecard )
SA vs AUS 3rd Test Live Score Updates
The hosts must cash in – The Proteas will still be reasonably content with 329 on the board, but they will feel they squandered a chance to bat Australia out of the game after putting on 158 for the opening wicket. From 203 for 1, a flurry of loose shots allowed Australia back into the game and left them short of the match-defining total their start promised. Stay tuned as the first ball of Day 2 isn’t far away. Their bowling rescued them from an early mess on Day 1, but their batting is carrying the scars of a series in which it has repeatedly buckled under pressure. In the second Test, they were skittled for 99 in the first innings, a collapse that exposed a top order short on discipline and conviction against South Africa’s seamers. A day that ebbed and flowed – Hello and welcome to Day 2 of the third and final Test in Cape Town. It was, by almost any measure, close to a perfect opening day of Test cricket, with 10 wickets falling and 329 runs of enterprising batting. Australia’s two collapses of resistance, 5/29 and then 4/2, captured a day in which neither side could stay on top for long. DAY 2 … Looking forward to Day 2 – The way the day began, Cummins’ call to bowl first on an unresponsive surface looked like a huge gamble, but by stumps it has turned out to be a masterstroke. The first ball of the second day is scheduled to be bowled at 8.30 am GMT. Late recovery and Starc’s magic – Just as the Proteas appeared to be losing their way, Marco Jansen and Ryan Rickelton steadied things with a counterattacking 95-run partnership. He delivered one of his finest recent spells, obliterating the lower order with surgical precision to claim his 20th five-wicket haul, finishing with six wickets to skittle the Proteas at 329. Markram and Ackerman resumed with the opening stand already worth 140 and the pitch still flat, but the bowling had a different edge. Three quick strikes turned a commanding position into a struggle, with the hosts tumbling from 158/0 to 221/4 and handing the initiative back to Australia. It soon became 232/6 with the pacers deploying the short-ball ploy to perfection, with Bedingham too in the sheds. 3.55 pm GMT – Test cricket, you beauty – What a day of cricket! It swung one way, then the other, but as stumps are called in Cape Town on Day 1, it is the Australians who will be wearing broad smiles. At 203 for 1 in the 44th over, they were ruling the roost, but from there they lost the plot completely and have been bowled out for 329. From 327/6, South Africa have been bowled out for 329. South Africa are now 9 down for 329.
But there’s a lot of stories left to be told in this third and final Test match. South Africa, though, hold the sharper weapon. Rabada and Jansen are running in at full tilt, and a surface with a fair bit in it for the seamers is exactly the stage they want. Australia’s batters are already carrying the weight of the series, so a couple of early wickets could tilt the whole contest South Africa’s way. Batting under the microscope – Now comes the part Australia will have been dreading. With the batting order already jolted by Steve Smith’s absence and a reshuffled personnel, the onus falls heavily on the other senior pros, both of whom are due a big score. Travis Head did register a century in Gqeberha’s second innings, but he will want greater consistency, while Marnus Labuschagne, after a run of scores in the 30s and no century in three years, finds himself under intense scrutiny to deliver in pristine batting conditions. Newlands indeed served up an opening day that felt more like a constant shift in power. Mitchell Starc ripped through South Africa with an astonishing six-for, making full use of the second new ball, while the hosts’ batting group kept finding ways to counterattack. South Africa, though, will be left wondering how they let a position that had Australia on their knees slip away, especially with several dismissals born more of rashness than pressure. … Australia will now return with a spring in their step, knowing they have the platform and momentum to post a strong first-innings total with the bat. That’s that from a fascinating first day of action. Join us then. Cheers! Jansen once again proved his worth as a lower-order batter who can score at pace. He scored a brisk half-century with Rickelton too, scoring vital runs to keep the hosts afloat. But then came Mitchell Starc, searing back with the second new ball. Roared back and how! If the morning belonged to South Africa, the afternoon and evening were the kind of reply Australia needed desperately. The lines were tighter, and the discipline was evident. Lyon was the one who finally broke the opening stand, drawing Ackerman out of his crease for a stumping that ended his hunt for a century. From there the slide had a rhythm of its own. Markram threw his wicket away off a needless pull against Hazlewood, Lyon then conjured an absolute peach to outfox Bavuma, and Connolly removed Breetzke, bagging his first Test wicket. ‘Straya’ left rueing the toss – It was one of the worst bowling sessions from this Australian side in recent memory. Seemingly spooked by Steve Smith’s late withdrawal and Boland’s shocking omission from the XI, Pat Cummins chose to bowl first on a fine morning and a flat pitch, only for his vaunted attack to be taken to the cleaners by Marques Ackerman and Aiden Markram. With no swing, seam or turn on offer, Australia erred with the short ball, width and leg-side lines, while Travis Head’s dropped catch off Mitchell Starc capped a very underwhelming session. And much of that is down to Mitchell Starc, a man who has made a habit of striking at the most crucial moments. Time and again, he has shown why he remains such a massive asset to this Australian setup. What difference can a day make? Plenty, goes the old line. What difference can a few minutes make? Ask South Africa, who have been jolted from a position of dominance to chasing shadows. OUT! LBW! Trapped in front. Mitchell Starc completes the mop-up job with the second new ball. There are few sights better than a fired-up Starc with the new ball in hand. Mitchell spears in a full ball, landing around the leg stump. Rabada brings his bat out in front of the front pad to keep it out. The ball moves away late, and Rabada is undone by the movement through the air. He plays down the wrong line and gets pinged low on the front pad right in front of the stumps. Australia go up in unison, and the finger is raised. Kagiso takes the review, more in hope than anything else. Daylight between the bat and the ball, and the Ball Tracking comes up as three reds, with the ball just about landing in line with the leg stump and going on to crash into the leg pole. A six-for for Starc. Or is it? Looks like it. The umpire raises his finger on an LBW appeal but Rabada sends it upstairs. Looks absolutely plumb, though. Flat line on UltraEdge. Ball Tracking comes up with three reds with the ball projected to crash into the leg stump. A beauty by Starc, but it does not bring about a wicket. The length is pulled back, in and around the off stump. Rabada hangs back to defend but the ball moves away to square him up and whistles past the blade. Starc has the ball aloft as he completes his 20th five-wicket haul in Test cricket. He is on a hat-trick now, as Kagiso Rabada is the last man for South Africa. Cummins is having a word with Starc, buying every second so they can avoid making way out to bat. CASTLED! FIVE WICKETS FOR STARC. 20th five-wicket haul for Starc in Tests, and he is on a hat-trick now. Hooping back in at the pads, full in length. The left-arm seamer has wreaked absolute havoc with the second new ball. Outside off and a bit full in length, Harmer lets it pass. Attacks the stumps with a full ball, does Cummins. Harmer drags his bat in front and blocks it to the off side. On the fourth stump, on a fractionally fuller length, Harmer shoulders arms. Wide! Miles outside off and full, and this one swings the opposite way, leaving the batter and going beyond the guideline. Harmer leaves again. Big booming inswinger on a fuller length, but it slides down leg. Simon misses the flick and Carey dives full length to his left to snare it in his mitts. Nips away with bounce on a fuller length. It is wide outside off and Simon offers no shot.
Coetzee plays all around it and gets hit on the pads before the ball deflects and crashes into the stumps, with the leg pole getting knocked out of the ground. Can Australia bat well enough tomorrow to make their recovery today worth the effort?
