Australia’s two most experienced batters, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, are in the middle, and the duo would hope to see out the tough phase and help the visitors to post a respectable total in the first innings.
Australia 30/2 in 12.2 overs.
Nic Maddinson’s painful stay in the middle ends, and he walks back for a 33-ball duck! Marco Jansen bowls a good length delivery, and Maddinson goes for the cut, only to manage an under-edge onto the stumps. This is now turning into a solid opening four for the Proteas.
Australia 24/2 in 11th over
The first wicket for the Proteas is here. Wiaan Mulder bowled an in-swinger on the leg-stump and Head falls into the trap. He gets a faint tickle and has to walk back after scoring 9 off 19 balls. The umpire didn’t raise his finger but Verreynne managed to convince Bavuma to go for the review and South Africa are rewarded. What a breakthrough!
Wiaan Mulder drifts onto the pads, and Head just flicks the ball away for a four! Finally, some respite after a string of dot deliveries. Meanwhile, Maddinson is yet to get off the mark.
Australia 17/0
Neither Wiaan Mulder nor Marco Jansen is giving anything away, and the runs have been hard to come by for both Travis Head and Nic Maddinson! The latter has played 22 balls but is yet to get off the mark.
Australia 12/0 in 6 overs.
Wiaan Mulder wraps Maddinson onto the pads and goes into a big appeal. However, Richard Kettleborough quickly turns it down, and there’s no review from South Africa. The replays show that there was no inside edge, but one reckons that the ball did a little too much and was going down leg.
Oh well, well! The replays show three reds; had South Africa reviewed, they would have got their first wicket! Maddinson is a lucky chap to still be out there.
Australia 9/0 in 4 overs.
Wiaan Mulder too drifts onto the pads. The ball is just too straight, and Head just glides it towards the fine leg region and is rewarded with a boundary. Poor start from the Proteas!
Australia 8/0 in 1.2 overs.
Marco Jansen drifts onto the pads, and a late swing takes it past the keeper! Four leg byes and Australia are up and running in Durban! The replays show that the ball somehow managed to get the touch of Maddinson’s thigh pad, evading a diving Verreynne behind the stumps.
Australia 4/0
Travis Head and Nic Maddinson are the two openers for Australia. There’s a lot at stake for the latter as he’s making a comeback to the Test squad despite not playing a first-class match for more than a year. Marco Jansen with the new ball for the Proteas. And with this, the game begins!
It’s time for the national anthems! Australia up first, and it will be followed by South Africa! Let’s go! The match is set to begin.
The South African players are making their way to the middle! The match is just less than 10 minutes from getting underway. However, the crowd hasn’t turned up at the venue! Just a few people are sitting in the stands, and the majority of them are Australian supporters. Let’s just hope that the fans turn up in numbers for this high-profile series.
Ahead of the series opener in Durban, Matthew Hayden had criticised Nic Maddinson’s inclusion in the squad, calling out the selectors for “promoting the greatest pile of mediocrity”. However, the Australian management went ahead and included the left-hander in the playing XI.
When asked about Maddinson at the toss, Cummins said, “I think he’s really settled where his games are. He’s shown good form. No Australian has had a lot of cricket in the last six months, but I feel like he’s really well-placed.”
Maddinson’s last Test appearance came way back in 2016, and he also didn’t play a single Sheffield Shield game in the last season. A true trial by fire awaits the left-hander, who is making a comeback to the Australian setup after 10 years.
Australia captain Pat Cummins wins the toss, opts to bat first in Durban. No Cameron Green and Cooper Connolly as the visitors decide to give Nic Maddinson a go in the series opener. Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon are all part of the playing XI. Beau Webster is playing as the all-rounder.
South Africa had announced their playing XI yesterday with Kagiso Rabada missing out as he’s yet to fully recover from his injury. The hosts are going in with two spinners – Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer.
Shaun Pollock and Vernon Philander feel the pitch will play well for the batters, highlighting an unknown factor in the contest as it is being played in October. There aren’t many Tests played in October in South Africa.
Philander loves the green tinge on the surface, saying the moisture is set to assist the pacers early on. However, both Philander and Pollock reckon that the captain who wins the toss will surely look to bat first as the pitch is expected to break up as the game progresses.
We are just 10 minutes away from the toss! The flip of the coin will be crucial, and whoever wins the toss should look to bat first and hope to put a big score on the board.
This is the first time in this WTC cycle that South Africa are playing a three-match Test series. In the last cycle, when the Proteas won the Test Mace by beating Australia in the final, South Africa didn’t play a single three-match series, and there was much criticism of how the team made it to the final.
However, the next two months will be the litmus Test for Temba Bavuma and co as they take on Australia and England.
This is the first time Australia have toured South Africa for a Test series since the infamous Sandpaper Gate. Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were all handed bans for the ball tampering saga. The series quickly unravelled, and Tim Paine had to be made captain for the final Test.
It has also come to light that Usman Khawaja will make some revelations about the entire saga in his upcoming autobiography; however, Pat Cummins is not sweating over it, saying the former Australian opening batter can tell his side of the story.
The 1st Test between South Africa and Australia will be available for live streaming on Fancode app and website. On TV, the series opener will be broadcast live on the EuroSport channel.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the 1st Test between South Africa and Australia. The three-match series will get underway at Kingsmead, Durban on Friday. The contest is expected to be a true-blue spectacle!