Josh Hazlewood bagged his best Test figures of 6/49 in the second innings, and Matt Renshaw scored 272 runs in the match and returned with two wickets to help Australia beat South Africa by 214 runs in the first Test in Durban.
The win also accounted for Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma’s first defeat as the Test captain after 12 matches in charge. Even though Aiden Markram’s gritty outing, which lasted 237 balls for his 75, and contributions from David Bedingham (46), Marco Jansen (35) and Wiaan Mulder (29) kept South Africa afloat in the chase, Australia drew first blood on the fifth and final day in this three-match Test series.
Chasing a massive 421 on a spicy Durban pitch, Hazlewood first removed opener Ryan Rickelton on two before Bedingham and Markram stitched a 66-run stand for the second wicket to stabilise South Africa’s chase. Hazlewood broke the stand before Renshaw dismissed Bavuma on one, and captain Pat Cummins accounted for Tristan Stubbs (1) soon after to leave South Africa reeling at 86 for four at one stage.
Mulder and Markram tried saving South Africa’s sinking ship on the fifth day but couldn’t hang on for longer, as Hazlewood returned to break the fifth-wicket stand and send Mulder packing on 29. Renshaw, who starred with the bat across two innings, including his career-best 190 in the first, picked up his second of the match to push South Africa’s back against the wall.
A 45-run partnership between Markram and Jansen kept them alive until the second session, only for lanky quick Hazlewood to come back and pick his fourth in the second innings. He dismissed Jansen bowled on 35 off 54 balls. Simon Harmer was the next to depart on a duck before Mitchell Starc dismissed Markram to put the final nail in the coffin.
Hazlewood picked up his sixth and final wicket of the innings to wrap up South Africa on 206 in 86.5 overs.
“I think he gets a lot of wraps for how consistent he is, but I think that undersells him a little bit,” Cummins said of Hazlewood. “You can bowl him at any time with a new ball, obviously class, but with the reversing ball he’s got so many skills, can get the speed gun up when he wants to as well. So captain’s dream, I feel like I can bowl him at any stage.”
Cummins praises Renshaw for Durban Test win
Carrying his white-ball form into the Test side, Renshaw revived Australia’s first innings with a brilliant 190, with Cummins and Nathan Lyon providing a helping hand with the bat.
Renshaw carried Australia on his back after they were reduced to 124/6 at one stage on day one, later guiding Australia to 390 in their first innings.
Praising the left-hander and how his innings helped set the tone for Australia, Cummins said, “I think a lot of it was built on what Matty Renshaw did on day one as well. Got through that day, that first day, and then that got us ahead and managed to clinch and hold on to that lead for the rest of it.”