Aussies nicely poised after day in spotlight

The scorecard: South Africa 9-259 dec (du Plessis 118no, Hazlewood 4-68) lead Australia 0-14 by 244 runs

The toss: South Africa, who chose to bat – a sixth straight coin toss defeat for Steve Smith

The day in a tweet: Faf’s century lifted the Proteas as the Aussies quicks, led by Hazlewood, did the damage with the pink ball

The debuts Steve Smith confirmed on match eve that Queensland’s Matthew Renshaw, Victoria’s Peter Handscomb and NSW’s Nic Maddinson would debut in a new-look Australia top six. Forty-five minutes before the toss, the players, support staff and families of the three debutants gathered on the field in front of the Sir Edwin Smith Stand, huddled in a circle in preparation for the special moment. After a brief message from Smith, former Australia players Chris Rogers, Simon Katich and Ian Healy presented Handscomb, Maddinson and Renshaw with a fresh Baggy Green each, respectively. The three ex-players spoke with passion about representing their country at the game’s highest level when addressing the new members of the Test brotherhood, who beamed with pride as they let every syllable sink in. The Aussie trio weren’t the only ones playing their maiden Test match, with left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi making his debut in place of left-arm orthodox spinner Keshav Maharaj.

The sweet century In what has been a tumultuous week, to put it lightly, South Africa captain Faf du Plessis responded in the best possible way – with his sixth Test century. Greeted by howls and boos as he made his way to the middle at the fall of the third South African wicket, the heat of the battle might well have been a welcome relief after he was accused and found guilty of ball tampering during the second Test in Hobart. While that story still has a few chapters to be written, du Plessis entered the record books as the first captain to score a day-night Test century. And what’s more, he did it easy. As wickets fell around him at not-so-regular intervals, du Plessis drove, cut, swept and pulled his way to triple-figures, looking unfazed against pace, spin and the pink ball. He struck 17 fours in his 164-ball knock of 118, and left the field undefeated after a sharp piece of captaincy.

The declaration Du Plessis caught Australia on the hop by declaring at 9-259 with 14 overs remaining, but perhaps more importantly, the Proteas skipper did it after David Warner had been off the field receiving treatment for an injured shoulder. Warner was off the field for a total of 21 minutes, but had only been back on for 15. That extra six minutes made him ineligible to immediately bat and forced Smith to make a change to the already experimental batting order. Partnering Renshaw was his Queensland captain and regular No.3 Usman Khawaja, with the pair showing the resilience their captain had demanded by remaining unbroken at stumps.

The Hoff Having claimed nine wickets in a man-of-the-match performance in the inaugural day-night Test match last summer, Josh Hazlewood was full of confidence with the pink ball on Thursday. The tall right-armer removed batting bunny Hashim Amla for the fourth time in the series, and then went to claim the wickets of JP Duminy, Quinton de Kock and Vernon Philander to finish with figures of 4-68 from 22 overs. Hazlewood now has 13 wickets in the day-night Tests, the most by any bowler in the early stages of twilight Test cricket. 

The reprieve Mitchell Starc bent the pink Kookaburra new ball from off to leg to trap Proteas opening batsman Stephen Cook lbw for the first wicket of the third Test. And then he didn’t. As Cook trudged off with four runs next to his name, standing umpire Nigel Llong asked for a look at the font foot no ball and lo and behold, replays showed Starc had overstepped. If only by a fraction. Cook added a further 36 runs before Starc had his man again, this time caught at second slip for 40, with the quick’s front foot well behind the popping crease. 

The bunny For the fourth time in as many innings this series, Josh Hazlewood removed Hashim Amla. It started in Perth when the Australian found both the outside and inside edge to dismiss the South African for 0 and 1 – his worst single Test output in a decade. In Hobart, Amla slashed hard at a wide half-volley but was caught behind by former ‘keeper Peter Nevill. On day one, again it was Amla edging, this time to debutant Matthew Renshaw, who took a good low catch to his right for his first moment in Test match cricket.

The end of the drought It took 661 deliveries but Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon finally had a first-class wicket. Lyon claimed a wicket with his last ball of his 10th over in South Africa’s first innings in the first Test in Perth. He then went wicketless in the second innings at the WACA Ground, the Proteas only innings in Hobart and his entire Sheffield Shield match for NSW against Victoria at the SCG last week. With 110 fruitless first-class overs behind him, Lyon broke the drought thanks to some nifty glovework from Wade, who caught South Africa speedster Kagiso Rabada napping to have him stumped. To add to the drama, the Zing Bails lit up as Wade whipped them off before the third umpire confirmed the unwanted streak was over.

The stat For the first time in Test history, batsmen No.2-4 were all dismissed for 5. Never happened before. How about that?

The wash-up Australia will have the best of the batting conditions on day two with their full complement of wickets after Renshaw and Khawaja survived a dozen testing overs under lights. The pitch played pretty well throughout the day, with something in it for the quicks while if a batsman can get in, as du Plessis did, there are runs to be scored. It will be interesting to see how David Warner plays with a shoulder concern, presumably at first-drop, a positon he’s batted in only once back in 2013. Overall, a terrific day of Test cricket with some fight shown by the new-look Australians. 

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