BRISBANE: Pat Cummins’ gamble to bowl first reaped rewards in the first session as Australia’s bowlers took four early wickets Saturday before Temba Bavuma and Kyle Verreynne combined in a 57-run stand to lift South Africa to 84-4 at lunch on Day 1 of the three-test series.
Verreynne was on 35 and Bavuma 21 not out at the first break.
Mitchell Starc and Cummins each got an early wicket before Scott Boland picked up two within three deliveries as South Africa slumped to 27-4 in the 11th over after being sent in on a green pitch and under overcast conditions.
It’s the first test series between the two countries since the so-called Sandpapergate scandal in South Africa in 2018 that rocked Australian cricket, and the ball-tampering saga was the main talking point ahead of the first test.
Cummins made an effort to steer that in a different direction by taking the risk of bowling first after winning the toss at the Gabba.
It wasn’t an instant success, with the Australian skipper bowling two down leg side that went for four leg-byes in the second over, his first, as South Africa easily moved to 10 without loss.
But his next over, the fourth, was a maiden.
And Starc cashed in on the build up of pressure when he had South Africa captain Dean Elgar (3) gloving a catch down legside to wicketkeeper Alex Carey on the first ball of the fifth over with the total at 12.
Cummins beat the edge three times in his next couple of overs before he finally got line and length just right to remove Rassie van der Dussen (5), feathering an edge to Carey, to make it 27-2.
Boland hit his stride quickly, taking two wickets in his second over, the 11th of the innings, to remove Sarel Erwee and Khaya Zondo within three deliveries.
He had Erwee (10) brilliantly caught low at gully by Cameron Green and trapped Zondo lbw on the last ball of the over.
Zondo reviewed the decision, but replays showed it would have hit the top of the stumps, and South Africa suddenly was reeling at 27-4.
It could have got dramatically worse for the South Africans in the next over with an ill-advised single from Bavuma that would have resulted in a run-out if the Australian fielder had thrown to the non-striker’s end with Verreynne well out of his ground.
Instead of getting defensive, though, Verreynne counter-attacked with a boundary and a six, cutting Green over the boundary behind point, in the 14th over to start a South African rearguard stand.
Verreynne raised the 50 partnership with an audacious reverse sweep to the boundary off Nathan Lyon just before the lunch break.
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsAzi is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
