Five moments that mattered: day one

Faf’s flipping good start

South Africa’s day got off to an ideal start when visiting skipper Steve Smith called incorrectly at the coin toss, leaving a relieved Faf du Plessis to confidently elect to bat first under clear, sunny skies at Newlands, while predicting spin and reverse swing to come into play later in the Test.

The hosts delivered on the two potential changes floated by du Plessis on Test eve, with towering quick Morne Morkel coming back in for Lungi Ngidi (toe) and pocket rocket Temba Bavuma replacing Theunis de Bruyn in the middle order.

Elgar gets a life

Before a ball had been bowled in the series, Australia’s fielding coach Brad Haddin stressed the importance of his charges holding all chances that came their way against the star-studded South Africa batting lineup.

But the tourists were left to rue a crucial fielding blemish when Nathan Lyon put down a simple chance just behind point from a Dean Elgar cut shot when the opener was on 53.

The partnership with AB de Villiers was worth just nine runs at the time and the pair would go on to share a 128-run stand, while Elgar finished the day unbeaten on 121 as the rock amid the home side’s late collapse.

Dean Elgar scored a hundred

The left-hander brought up his 11th Test ton – and his second against Australia – in style with a boundary through mid-wicket before unleashing an exuberant celebration as the Newlands crowd rose to their feet.

Elgar has now scored more Test runs than any player in the world since the start of the 2017 calendar year, posting his sixth hundred in that timeframe to equal superstar duo Steve Smith and Virat Kohli.

AB’s dismissal out of nowhere

As Elgar and de Villiers seemingly did as they pleased out in the middle, Australia quick Pat Cummins returned to the attack after tea and, to his amazement, collected the major scalp of ABdV with a skied drive straight to David Warner at mid-off.

Cummins seemed as stunned as anyone watching at the ground or around the world, while de Villiers admitted after play that it looked like a “soft dismissal” with his typically swashbuckling knock ending on 64.

Cometh the moment, Cummins the man

While the de Villiers breakthrough was crucial, it was the middle-order collapse it sparked that would have the largest impact on the day’s play.

The key wicket of South Africa’s batting dynamo was the start of a 38-ball spell by Cummins that yielded the game-changing figures of 4-7, featuring the wickets of de Villiers, du Plessis, Bavuma and de Kock.

From a position of dominance at 2-220 in the final session, Cummins left the hosts reeling at 6-242 before they limped to stumps with Elgar standing resolute with an unbeaten hundred to his name.

Qantas tour of South Africa

South Africa squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen, Quinton de Kock, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, AB de Villiers.

Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Jhye Richardson, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc.

Warm-up match: Australia beat South Africa A by five wickets. Report, highlights

First Test Australia won by 118 runs. Scorecard

Second Test South Africa won by six wickets. Scorecard

Third Test Newlands, Cape Town, March 22-26. Live coverage

Fourth Test Wanderers, Johannesburg, March 30-April 3. Live coverage