Renshaw, Cummins fight back, bad light has final say

A rearguard partnership from Matthew Renshaw and Pat Cummins stabilised Australia before bad light ended play early on day one in Durban.

The 63-run stand was the response the tourists needed after Anrich Nortje's double strike left the Aussies in strife at 6-124.

But at 3:22pm, just over an hour into the final session, the umpires decided light had deteriorated too much for play to continue. Renshaw (46no) and Cummins (33no) jogged off merrily at the news while the Proteas seemed far less enthused.

What began as a perfect, clear blue sky slowly faded to grey. The only constant overhead was a police helicopter that continually circled as Durban's city centre, just over a kilometre from the stadium, saw violent anti-immigration protests.

Renshaw found himself in the middle order after Nic Maddinson's surprise recall as opener and looked the most comfortable of the Australian top order.

He swept the spinners and was patient against the quicks, hitting only three boundaries in his 115 balls.

Nortje had his tail, and pace, up when Cummins arrived at the crease, and the Aussie captain looked uncomfortable against the home side's fastest bowler as he pushed into the mid-140kph range. But he survived the two balls until the end of Nortje's spell, which to that point was already six overs long.

It was a very successful return to red-ball cricket for the first time in more than three years for the moustachioed Nortje, who had the Australian batters ducking and weaving and occasionally wearing a ball on the body.

His opening spell brought back memories of Mitchell Johnson's hostile performance at the venue in 2009, which fractured Graeme Smith's finger and split open Jacques Kallis' chin.

While Nortje didn't injure the Aussie batters, he picked up two wickets in his post-lunch spell, maintaining his speed and control in an impressive burst from the southern, Old Fort Road end.

Alex Carey, caught by Aiden Markram at second slip, was Nortje's first Test wicket in 1,317 days. It took him only two balls to get another, with Beau Webster caught behind after a review. The Aussie allrounder looked bemused after a small spike showed up on UltraEdge but the South Africans behind the bat were convinced there was a noise.

Earlier, after Cummins had chosen to bat, there was shock at the toss with Maddinson announced as Travis Head's newest opening partner.

The 34-year-old Maddinson, featuring in his first Test in almost 10 years, endured an excruciating 33-ball, 49-minute stay. He missed balls on his pads and flashed at wide balls before chopping on for a duck.

It was Marco Jansen who dismissed him towards the end of his eight-over opening spell in which he mixed the wayward the unplayable.

There was no raucous reception for Smith in his first Test innings in South Africa since the 2018 Cape Town Test, understandable given most of the sparse crowd were travelling Aussie fans and schoolkids who hadn't been born when 'Sandpapergate' transpired.

It wasn't hard to find some not-so-subtle references to last tour's ball-tampering however; strips of sandpaper were laid out on the grass in front of 'Castle Corner' while a family on the eastern grass bank had a sign offering "free sanding lessons".

Wiaan Mulder took the new ball instead of Nortje and was the hosts' best bowler in the opening session, swinging the ball and challenging both sides of the bat. He bookended the first two hours with the wickets of Head and Marnus Labuschagne.

The South African-born Labuschagne looked full of confidence after his tour-game hundred last week and was distraught after being pinned lbw on the final ball before lunch.

His batting partner Smith seemed convinced of Labuschagne's fate despite asking for a third umpire review, with the former charging off the field before the ball tracking was revealed on the big screen.

Smith had earlier made his intentions against Maharaj clear, going aerial with two straight sixes in the spinner's second over, the first over long on and the second over long off.

But he was out three balls after lunch, fending an awkward Jansen delivery to Mulder at gully, the very ball after copping a ball to the finger.

Play will resume at the same time tomorrow (9:30am local, 6:30pm AEDT) with the session times extended but the belief is there will be more bad light frustrations to come. 

Qantas tour of South Africa 2026

All matches to be broadcast exclusively in Australia on Kayo and Fox Cricket

First Test: October 9-13, Kingsmead Stadium, Durban, 6:30pm AEDT (9:30am local)

Second Test: October 18-22, St George's Park, Gqeberha, 7pm AEDT (10am local)

Third Test: October 27-31, Newlands, Cape Town, 7:30pm AEDT (10:30am local)

South Africa's first Test squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortje, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Sam Harper, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (second Test onwards), Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nic Maddinson, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster