Stumps
Starc finishes with figures of 16.3-2-72-6. Even by the standards of South Africa v Australia, that was a blistering, tumultous day’s play between the two best teams in the world. Conveniently, it breaks into four parts.
203/1 First 44 overs
29/5 Next 13 overs
93/0 Last 23 overs
4/4 Last 2.3 overs
WICKET! South Africa 329 all out (Rabada LBW b Starc 0)
Mitchell Starc is a champion. You knew this, but my goodness this is some spell of bowling. Rabada is trapped in front by another beautiful full-length delivery, this one swinging away from the left-hander to smash the pad in front of middle and leg. Starc has obliterated the lower order with the second new ball, taking four wickets for no runs in six deliveries.
“I’m just brainstorming here,” says Paul O’Neill, “but do you think a series like this could run to five Tests at some stage in the future?”
Mate, why don’t you bugger off to TikTok? (Actually, here’s a question – if you could pick one SA v Aus series to go to five Tests, what would it be? My first thought is the second series in 1993-94, given how close and crotchety those series were.)
WICKET! South Africa 329-9 (Coetzee b Starc 0)
Five wickets for Starc! A big inswinger hits Gerald Coetzee on the pad and ricochets onto the stumps. This is sensational clutch bowling from Starc, who is on a hat-trick after striking with the last ball of his previous over. What a day of Test cricket!
82nd over: South Africa 329-8 (Harmer 0, Coetzee 0) Cummins, hunting his first Test wicket in 50 overs, shares the new ball. Nothing happens in that over, but…
81st over: South Africa 328-8 (Harmer 0, Coetzee 0) That’s so good from Mitchell Starc. It’s one thing to take two wickets in an over; it’s another to take out both set batters in the first over with the second new ball.
WICKET! South Africa 328-8 (Jansen b Starc 52)
Pick that out! Jansen is bowled by a gorgeous inswinging yorker from Starc, who has taken two wickets in an over for the second time today. It curved in to smooch the bottom of off stump as Jansen tried to jab his bat down. He played beautifully but had almost no chance with that.
WICKET! South Africa 327-7 (Rickelton LBW b Starc 42)
Another lurch on this topsy-turvy day of Test cricket. Rickelton is undressed by a full delivery from Starc hat swings late to trap him plumb in front. He tried to clip it to leg, missed by a mile and didn’t even discuss a review with Marco Jansen. That’s the end of a quietly vital innings.
80th over: South Africa 325-6 (Rickelton 41, Jansen 51) After another accurate over from Nathan Lyon, and with just under half an hour remaining, the new ball is available. Mitchell Starc will take it.
79th over: South Africa 324-6 (Rickelton 40, Jansen 51) Jansen pushes Connolly sensibly to long on for a single before turning a couple past fine leg later in the over. His ball-striking has always been spectacular, but today he has looked like a batter who is starting to realise just how good he could be.
And the ball-striking is still spectacular. He carts a long hop from Connolly over midwicket for four to reach a fabulous fifty from 66 balls. He’s leading from No8.
78th over: South Africa 315-6 (Rickelton 38, Jansen 44) Lyon rests on his haunches when Jansen thick-edges a defensive stroke to safety on leg side. Lyon has been good today: 22-1-70-2.
77th over: South Africa 313-6 (Rickelton 37, Jansen 43) The match is meandering towards the second new ball. It’s been a day of three thirds:
203/1 First 44 overs
29/5 Next 13 overs
81/0 Last 20 overs
76th over: South Africa 308-6 (Rickelton 35, Jansen 40) “Cummins may be trying to vary the batters’ expectations with such frequent changes, much as a bowler likes to vary each ball of an over,” says John Starbuck. “He’s thinking like a bowler-captain although in not allowing the batters to settle, he isn’t allowing his bowlers either.”
75th over: South Africa 306-6 (Rickelton 34, Jansen 39) Four from Connolly’s over. Australia are trying to get to the new ball as quickly as possible. They should get 20-25 minutes with it tonight.
74th over: South Africa 302-6 (Rickelton 33, Jansen 36) Lyon replaces Renshaw and bowls a maiden to Rickelton.
73rd over: South Africa 302-6 (Rickelton 33, Jansen 36) Connolly switches ends to replace Hazlewood. Has Pat Cummins always made this many bowling changes or has it developed over time? It seems a lot, even to an ADHDer.
The impassive Jansen clouts a full ball through midwicket for four to bring up South Africa’s 300. He is some player, surely the best Test allrounder in the world.
72nd over: South Africa 297-6 (Rickelton 32, Jansen 32) Pat Cummins loves a bowling change; the latest is Matt Renshaw for Cooper Connolly. Renshaw’s second ball is a full toss that Rickelton drives lazily through mid-on for four.
“I’m interested to see how Rickelton does here,” writes Eddy Nason. “He was one of the standouts in the Hundred (so kill me, I only have access to so much cricket highlights in Canada), and it would be great fun to see him teeing off against the Aussies.”
So far he’s played an anti-Hundred innings, sensible to the point of being old-fashioned. In red-ball cricket he looks a lot more comfortable at No6.
71st over: South Africa 292-6 (Rickelton 27, Jansen 32) After 20 Tests, Marco Jansen averaged a handy 20.42 with the bat. Four games later his average is pushing 27 after a fine run of scores, all against India or Australia: 93, 26, 35, 85, 32*.
A quiet over from Hazlewood. There’s just under an hour’s play remaining, so Australia will get their hands on the second new ball before the close.
70th over: South Africa 291-6 (Rickelton 26, Jansen 32) Lyon off, Connolly on. His third ball, well wide of Rickelton’s off stump, doesn’t bounce at all and nutmegs Carey before scooting away for four byes. That’s not a great sight on day one, especially if you chose to bowl first.
69th over: South Africa 285-6 (Rickelton 25, Jansen 31) Jansen lashes through the covers for four, not once but twice. Few, if any, lower-order batters in world cricket hit the ball so cleanly. The second boundary brings up a calm counter-attacking fifty partnership with Rickelton.
68th over: South Africa 276-6 (Rickelton 25, Jansen 22) South Africa are so good at scoring lower-order runs. Since their return to Test cricket in 1992, they average 93 for the last four wickets – the highest of any team bar Ireland, whose sample size is small.
A couple of singles take this particular seventh-wicket partnership to 44. That may not seem a lot but it’s worth plenty after South Africa collapsed from 203/1 to 232/6.
67th over: South Africa 273-6 (Rickelton 23, Jansen 21) Hazlewood does come in, but his first ball is a touch wide and Rickelton cuts it sweetly for four. Apparently Cummins, who was replaced by Hazlewood, has bowled almost 50 overs since his last wicket – the longest drought of his Test career. Time for drinks.
“I’m already getting queasy premonitions of Marco Jansen’s first Test hundred in December after coming in at 120-6 and swatting England’s bumper theory to all parts while a bemused Joe Root shakes his head sadly,” says Phil Harrison. “He’s that kind of player.”
He is, and that’s not mean pejoratively. He would walk into a world Test XI.
66th over: South Africa 269-6 (Rickelton 19, Jansen 21) A full back from Lyon is flicked crisply through midwicket for four by Rickelton, who is playing a responsible innings. It might be worth Australia going back to Hazlewood, who sorted Rickelton out with the minimum of fuss in the first Test.
65th over: South Africa 262-6 (Rickelton 13, Jansen 20) Cummins tries some rough stuff from around the wicket. Jansen takes it on and belts a terrific pull through midwicket for four. He has skipped to 20 from 25 balls and is again proving a problem for Australia.
64th over: South Africa 256-6 (Rickelton 13, Jansen 14) Jansen waves Lyon to long on for a single. Rickelton is the senior batter but Jansen, who can be so dangerous, feels like the big wicket.
Lyon yells in vain for LBW when Rickelton offers no stroke to a ball round round the wicket. Missing off.
63rd over: South Africa 255-6 (Rickelton 13, Jansen 13) Cummins has changed ends to replace Starc. The lights have been switched on, which is never bad news for a quick bowler. Rickelton misses a loose hook stroke before clattering a boundary between extra cover and mid-off. Nicely played.
62nd over: South Africa 250-6 (Rickelton 9, Jansen 12) That, dear reader, was the last ball of the over.
Rickelton is not out! There was an inside edge so Rickelton survives. An excellent decision from Richard Kettleborough, who is umpiring his 100th Test.
Australia review for LBW against Rickelton! Nathan Lyon comes on for Pat Cummins. Rickelton touches a loose ball past short fine leg for his first boundary – but then there’s a big shout for LBW when Rickelton plays defensively down the wrong line. This looks exceedingly close.
61st over: South Africa 245-6 (Rickelton 5, Jansen 11) “This is a funny old series and no mistake,” writes Felix Wood. “Is that three SA batters out hooking and one to a rookie part-time spinner? That seems careless to say the least.”
Felix, I find your email triggering.
60.3 overs: South Africa 244-6 (Rickelton 5, Jansen 10) Jansen stands tall to larrup Starc square on the off side for four. Later in the over, Rickelton takes a painful blow on the bottom hand as he tries to ride a lifter. It has drawn blood and there’s a break in play while he receives treatment.
60th over: South Africa 238-6 (Rickelton 4, Jansen 5) Australia continue to hammer the middle of the pitch, and Jansen cuts a short ball from Cummins through backward point for his first boundary. The game and series are deliciously poised after a remarkable fightback from Australia, who were in all sorts at 203 for 1.
59th over: South Africa 233-6 (Rickelton 4, Jansen 1) Marco Jansen is a dangerous player, but Australia will fancy their chances of tempting him into something injudicious. He edges a back-foot drive through the vacant slip cordon for a single – Australia have nobody catching behind the wicket apart from Carey.
58th over: South Africa 232-6 (Rickelton 4, Jansen 0) Pace from both ends now, with Cummins replacing Connolly. He also rams everything in short, with the field set accordingly, and it’s a maiden to Rickelton.
57th over: South Africa 232-6 (Rickelton 4, Jansen 0) Starc didn’t realise Mulder had top-edged that hook. But he did and Starc has bowled a double-wicket maiden.
As good as Australia have been, South Africa’s batting has left an abundancy to be desired.
WICKET! South Africa 232-6 (Mulder c Carey b Starc 0)
Australia are rampant! Mulder top-edges a hook through to Carey and is on his way for a two-ball duck. South Africa have lost five for 29 in 12.1 overs, and now, almost unbelievably, Australia are on top.
WICKET! South Africa 232-5 (Bedingham c Hazlewood b Starc 50)
That’s why David Bedingham has a Test average of 36. He has given his wicket away and Australia are right back in the game. Bedingham, who was hit in the breadbasket by the previous delivery from Starc, top-edged a hook that was outstandingly caught by Hazlewood on the fine leg boundary. He took the catch just inside the toblerone, threw the ball up before he fell backwards and then jumped back onto the field to complete the catch.
56th over: South Africa 232-4 (Bedingham 50, Rickelton 4) Madon, that’s a jaffa from Connolly. It curved onto middle stump, spat past Bedingham’s defensive stroke and missed the off stump by a whisker.
Bedingham responds with a back cut for three to bring a high-class fifty, his fifth in Tests, from 78 balls. His Test average of 36 is a bald-faced lie; he’s a terrific batter.
55th over: South Africa 228-4 (Bedingham 47, Rickelton 3) Mitchell Starc starts a new spell with no slips and an imaginary target halfway down the pitch. Bedingham pulls smoothly for a single. There’s a more orthodox field for Rickelton, who cuts a single of his own to deep point.
“Deeply Dippy?” sniffs Roland Marshall. “Damn you, Smyth! I’d just about forgotten about the existence of that filth, but you just had to bring it back front and centre.”
Which is where it should be. For some poor souls, that song was a rite of passage.
54th over: South Africa 226-4 (Bedingham 46, Rickelton 2) Connolly continues after tea, with Labuschagne at slip providing the soundtrack. He oohs and aahs after every delivery, even when Bedingham sweeps firmly behind square for four. Bedingham looks such a good player, and this would be a helluva day to convert one of his many starts. He has reached 30 on 15 occasions in Tests but has only one century.
“My recollection of that Richards innings at Durban in 1970 is that Ali Bacher ran himself out in the last over before lunch trying to get Barry on strike so he could go for it,” writes Nick Robb. “It was Barry’s second Test, not his first which was what Mark Nicholas said on commentary. With Bacher gone, Richards and Pollock proceeded to put on 102 in the first hour after lunch, Barry then departing for 140. Ian Chappell said to Stackpole during their partnership ‘Now we’re in real trouble – whatever Richards makes, that bastard will double.’ He was wrong: Graeme fell short after making 274.”
The evening session David Beginham, Ryan Rickelton and 11 Australian gentlemen walk out after tea. Big session, this, one that could decide the series.
