Cricket: how South Africa let Australia back into the game
The South Africans had dismissed six Australian batters for 124 runs. Matt Renshaw's resistance, followed by South Africa's struggles with the bat, changed the course of the first Test. The series resumes on 18 October in Gqeberha.
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Kingsmead, Durban, during South Africa v Australia in April 2009. Archive photo: Marc Forrest, CC BY 2.0.
South Africa had Australia in trouble: 124 runs on the board, six batters already out. An innings is a team's turn at the crease, during which it scores runs. At that stage of the first innings, the hosts could hope to contain their opponents. Yet on the fifth and final day, this Tuesday 13 October, they left Kingsmead beaten by 214 runs. The turning point of this first Test lies between those two pictures: a chance to take control, then an Australian fightback the South Africans could not break.
The defeat matters all the more because the two sides are meeting again after South Africa won the World Test Championship final at Lord's in 2025. The reigning champions now trail 1–0 in this three-match home series. They have two games left to hit back.
Renshaw turned a shaky start into an Australian lead
Matt Renshaw scored 190 of Australia's 390 runs in the first innings. He did not simply score heavily: he extended an innings that was threatening to end on a low total. By staying at the crease with the bowlers Pat Cummins and then Nathan Lyon, who came in after the specialist batters, he allowed his side to add 86 and 134 runs respectively before the next dismissal.
South Africa's reply ended on 284. Instead of capitalising on their good start with the ball, the South Africans found themselves 106 runs behind after each side's first innings.
In a Test, each team has two innings in which to score runs. The lead gained in the first weighs on what follows. Australia added 314 in the second, then chose to declare with six batters out. That decision left them time to dismiss their opponents. To win, South Africa now had to reach 421 in their final innings.
Too little support for a lone stand on the final day
Aiden Markram held out for a long time: 75 off 237 balls. With Wiaan Mulder, he delayed the first dismissal of the day for almost two hours. But wicketkeeper Alex Carey ended their partnership by catching the ball edged by Mulder off Josh Hazlewood's bowling. Three balls later, Kyle Verreynne was also out, this time to a delivery from Renshaw.
Hazlewood then hastened the end of the match. In that final passage, South Africa added only five runs to the total, for four wickets. The Australian bowler finished the innings with six wickets for 49. The South Africans ended their last innings on 206.
In Durban, South Africa's problem is therefore not limited to the steep target on the last day. The team failed to finish the job after the first six Australian wickets, then did not build enough lasting partnerships with the bat. Markram stood firm, but it was not enough to close the gap.
The second Test begins on 18 October at St George's Park in Gqeberha. To level the series, the South Africans will need to turn their good spells with the ball into shorter opposition innings, and their early signs of resistance with the bat into runs shared among more players.
Photo: Marc Forrest, Kingsmead, April 2009 — CC BY 2.0, cropped, SNA logo added.
