'It felt a bit easy': Proteas rue letting Aussies off the hook

South Africa allrounder Wiaan Mulder feels the Proteas made life too easy for Matt Renshaw in Durban, and they should have been smarter with their fields.

Renshaw's 190 on Saturday was a masterclass in batting with the tail, as he spent the final four hours of Australia's innings controlling the strike.

In a remarkable period of play across the end of day one and almost all of day two, the tourists recovered from 6-124 and then 8-230 to reach 390 and take command of the Test, with South Africa 1-27 at stumps on Saturday.

Renshaw was on 69 when No.10 Nathan Lyon (27 from 92) walked to the middle, before the pair's 134-run partnership was Australia's highest for the ninth wicket since 1894.

Crucial in that was the way Renshaw maintained the strike, regularly turning down runs before taking singles late in the over as Proteas captain Temba Bavuma kept his fielders back.

It allowed Renshaw to at one stage face the first ball of 13 straight overs, shielding Lyon and facing almost 70 per cent of the balls in the last two wickets.

"It just seemed like he got off strike so easily when he wanted to," said Mulder, who took 4-88 after sharing the new ball on day one.

"His approach was so different from the first four balls to the last two balls (of an over), which made it difficult to keep him on strike. 

"But maybe that's where we could have been smarter with the field.

"Sometimes it felt a bit easy for me ... Maybe that's something to think about, especially as the game progresses.

"If a batter is in and he's batting with a tail maybe we should make it a little bit harder for him to get off strike."

The other benefit of Australia's fightback through Renshaw, Pat Cummins (43 from 98) and Lyon was the overs put into South Africa's quicks, with the Proteas taking six hours and requiring 95.2 overs to claim the final four wickets.

Renshaw viewed that as important as scoring runs, with South Africa's two spinners largely ineffective and minimal gaps between Tests in this series; the second match begins next Sunday in Gqeberha, although regular Proteas spearhead Kagiso Rabada is in the frame to return from injury.

Anrich Nortje (2-88) bowled 28 overs in his first first-class game since March 2023, while Mulder (27) and Marco Jansen (31) also had considerable workloads.

"Whether you'll see Anrich in the second Test, I'm not sure," Mulder said. "Someone like him who bowls express pace, you don't necessarily want him to be playing all the test matches and bowling 27 or 30 overs in an innings.

"That's not (from) the selection panel or anything like that, I'm just saying what I'm thinking. 

"If we bat well (the workload) doesn't play such a big role (in managing quicks). As soon as you go over 20 overs that miles in the legs does impact you at some stage. But it's the first Test, so most of our bowlers are fresh."

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