Pat Cummins, the captain of Australia, led a speed bombardment that decimated South Africa before his team chased down a target of 34 runs on Sunday to secure a six-wicket triumph inside of two days on a difficult Gabba field. The match was completed in just one day.
Despite Khaya Zondo’s valiant 36 not out and the fact that Australia finished their first innings leading by 66 runs midway through the first session on Sunday, they were only able to remove the visitors for a score of 99.
Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Steve Smith, and Travis Head were the Australian batsmen who were dismissed by catches behind the wicket as the pursuit continued, however this was followed by the team suffering four cheap wickets at the hands of Kagiso Rabada.
On a day in which there were a total of 19 wickets lost, however, Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green led Australia to victory with the assistance of 15 additional runs, giving their team a 1-0 lead in the three-game series.
“Conundrum of a situation It seems to me that the manner Head and Smith batted (during the first inning) was a big part of why we are in this winning position “remarked Pat Cummins, the captain of the Australian team.
The man of the match Head said the following: “Extremely challenging surface, with ample of room for the bowlers. We were able to observe that the entire time. It’s great to be able to contribute and still come out on top.”
In spite of the win, the Australian selectors will be concerned about Warner’s form following yet another disappointing performance.
Boxing Day will mark Warner’s 100th test match, which will take place in Melbourne. He has not scored a century in nearly three years, and calls for him to be dismissed from the team are growing louder.
Both of the teams entered the series with high-quality bowling assaults, but Australia’s batting has consistently appeared to be the more formidable of the two.
And South Africa’s vulnerabilities at the top of the order were made glaringly obvious on the Gabba surface, which was green.
“With another sixty runs, we might have had a chance to win the game. The bowlers were licking their lips because the ground was so spicy “remarked Dean Elgar, the captain of South Africa’s team.
“In terms of preparation, I don’t think we could do any better. The weather and the field were not in the batters’ favour.”
The first inning ended with South Africa trailing by a score of 27-4, while the second inning ended with them down by a score of 5-3. South Africa was never able to recover from these deficits.
Even though the Australians also had some difficulties, the gap between the two sides was ultimately determined by Head’s brilliant 92 out of 96 balls faced.
South Africa did a good job of limiting Australia to 218, which gave them a lead of 66 runs when they started the day at 145-7.
After their score was 3-2 when lunch was taken, the South African batters never appeared to be up to the challenge of setting Australia a total that would be competitive.
During the middle session, both Temba Bavuma and Zondo attempted to mount a recovery; however, despite their efforts, they continued to lose wickets in clusters to an aggressive Australian bowling assault.
Cummins, who finished with a total of 5-42, was the one who started the rot in the second innings when he caught his South African opponent Dean Elgar lbw for two in the very first over of the match.
After that, Mitchell Starc ended his innings by dismissing Rassie van der Dussen for a duck, which marked the 300th wicket of his career.
Cummins struck again shortly after the resumption of play when Sarel Erwee got a top edge to gully where the two-meter-tall Green jumped high to pull in a wonderful catch. South Africa struggled to get to lunch, but Cummins struck again shortly after the resumption of play.
Bavuma and Zondo endured a gruelling test from Cummins, Starc, and Scott Boland when South Africa was in a precarious position with a score of 5-3, and then they began to gradually reduce the disadvantage they faced.