South Africa vs. Australia, 1st Test | Head gives Australia an edge over South Africa on Day 1
Travis Head beat the conditions by scoring 78 runs at a rate of one run per ball. This brought Australia within seven runs of South Africa’s first innings on the first day of the series.
Travis Head played 78 runs at a run per ball despite the dire conditions of the pitch. This brought Australia to within seven runs of South Africa’s first innings on the first day of the three-test series, when 15 wickets fell.
Head’s unbeaten innings, which included 13 fours and a six, and his 117-run partnership with Steve Smith (38), which helped Pat Cummins’ gamble of bowling first after he won the toss, were both good reasons why he should have done so. It was also crucial in getting Australia to 145-5 at the end of the first day, seven runs behind South Africa with five wickets still in hand.
The weather and ground were perfect for bowling early, and both teams well used the green, grassy pitch at the Gabba. In the first 60 overs, 13 wickets fell as Australia bowled out South Africa for 152 and then fell to 27-3 in response.
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Australia’s Mitchell Starc (3-41) and Nathan Lyon (3-14) each took three wickets to set the tone for the bowlers. However, South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada (2-50) took out David Warner for a golden duck on the first ball of the home team’s innings.
In the 9th over, South Africa all-rounder Marco Jansen (1-15) got Marnus Labuschagne (11) to edge to Dean Elgar in the slips. Then, in the 10th over, Anrich Nortje (2-37) got Usman Khawaja (11) to edge to third slip with his second ball of the match, a delivery that lifted sharply.
Head then joined Smith at the crease, and the fourth-wicket pair had the most significant partnership of the day, beating the 98-run stand between Kyle Verreynne (64) and Temba Bavuma (38), which saved and then extended South Africa’s first innings.
In the two overs before stumps, the Australians lost two wickets. Seven minutes before stumps, Nortje bowled Smith, and Rabada caught the night watchman Scott Boland behind with the last ball of Day 1.
That cricket outing was great! As Head explained in a TV interview, “. “Losing the last two wickets was disappointing, but we gave it our all. It wasn’t a cakewalk, so I say that’s something to be proud of. The first few hours of the day must be spent enjoying the outdoors.”
Head said that the pitch was “very, very difficult.”
South Africa “played bowling very well. We tried to stay as optimistic as we could.” “There’s a lot there,” he said, “and a little bit of up and down.”
When Australia and South Africa play, there’s always a lot of tension, and this is a match between the two best teams in the World Test Championship.
It’s also the first test series between the two countries since the ball-tampering scandal known as “Sandpapergate” happened in South Africa in 2018. Before the first test, the ball-tampering scandal was the main topic of conversation.
Cummins tried to change how people talked about Australia’s bowling attack by taking a risk and bowling first at the Gabba after winning the toss. He was the first Australian captain to do that since Stephen Waugh won an innings for Australia against the West Indies in 2000, 22 years ago.
It had an immediate effect. In the fifth over, Starc got rid of South Africa’s captain Elgar by giving wicketkeeper Alex Carey a leg-side catch. Cummins and Boland then took three wickets in 11 balls, leaving South Africa at 27-4.
The fifth-wicket pair stopped the flow of runs until Starc got rid of Bavuma. Then, off-spinner Lyon took three wickets to speed up another slide.
Lyon got 3-14 in 8 overs, which was a problem for the lower order. Starc got 3-41 in 14 overs, and Head’s sharp catch at the short leg kept him from getting his 300th test wicket. Front-line bowlers Cummins (2-25) and Boland (2-28) took two wickets.
South Africa will start Day 2 to get the last five wickets in the first innings before the pitch settles down, making it easier to bat.
Verreynne said, “I think we’re probably still a little behind in the game, but those two wickets at the end could help us catch up a little.” “There’s a little bit of a chance for us now. It would have been nice to get a couple more when we had them (27-3), but I think these two at the end give us a little of hope.”