Australia captain Pat Cummins and Matt Renshaw led the fightback against South Africa on day one of the first Test in Durban, as the visitors were reduced to 187-6 before bad light stopped play.
The tourists found themselves at 84-3 at lunch, after South Africa’s pace attack dismissed Travis Head (9), Nic Maddinson (0) and Marnus Labuschagne (37) inside 26 overs.
Steve Smith (25), who returned to play in his first red ball match in South Africa following the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, was struck by a painful blow on the hand, before he was caught next ball by Wiaan Mulder off Marco Jansen.
Alex Carey (14) and Beau Webster (4) were subsequently both dismissed in the space of two deliveries by Anrich Nortje to leave the tourists in trouble on 124-6.
But Cummins (33no) arrived at the crease to partner Renshaw (46no) and lead a resilient fightback with an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 63 with the latter ending the day four runs off his half-century.
Mulder claimed the best figures for South Africa’s bowlers, ending the day 2-31, while left-armer Jansen returned 2-35.
More to follow…
Watch day two of first Test live on Sky Sports from 8am Saturday (first ball 8.30am).
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: skynews.com
