Green’s Boxing Day brilliance puts Australia in control

Cameron Green might have trousered more than $3 million from last week's Indian Premier League auction, but there's little doubt he will cherish the faux goldleaf used to paint names on the MCG honour board just as highly after today's five-wicket bag.

Green's 5-27 on day one of the second NRMA Insurance Test against South Africa not only represented his first such haul in Test company, it came on the day cricket remembered the late Shane Warne who was the most recent Australia men's player to compete that feat on Boxing Day.

It also allowed Australia to take a firm grip on the three-match series, with the Proteas suffering another couple of epic batting collapses to be dismissed for 189 with 45 already removed from that deficit for the loss of Usman Khawaja's wicket.

Opener David Warner will resume tomorrow unbeaten on 32 from 51 balls faced, and hunting his first Test century in almost three years to crown his 100th appearance in the Baggy Green Cap.

Image Id: 50EA764F36DB4FA8A5567241DE38825B Image Caption: Warner with his children ahead of his 100th Test for Australia // cricket.com.au

Green's return doesn't quite match Scott Boland's 6-7 in England's second innings at the same ground last summer, but given the allrounder is yet to post a century in his 18-match Australia tenure dating back to 2020, it's the first time his name will be stencilled on an honour roll at a Test venue.

He can also claim to have triggered the top and lower-order collapses that would have seen South Africa skittled for an embarrassingly low total if not for a sixth-wicket stand of 112 between wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne (52) and bowling allrounder Marco Jansen (59).

And that might not have eventuated had Khwaja not turfed a straightforward chance from Jansen (on 37) off the bowling of Cummins who finished the innings wicketless.

Either side of that batting pair's spirited and occasionally entrepreneurial union, South Africa lost 9-21 from a combined total of barely 12 overs to be rolled for less than 200 for the seventh consecutive innings in Tests.

Verreynne (playing his 13th Test) and Jansen (in his ninth) withstood the full brunt of Australia's bowling, with the latter being peppered with brutish short balls from Mitchell Starc and Cummins before completing his maiden Test half-century.

To reach that milestone, Jansen lifted Nathan Lyon to long-on where Starc injured the middle finger on his left (bowling) hand in trying to complete a diving catch, and was forced to spend half an hour off the field which meant Green took an even more important role in Australia's bowling plans.

It proved a golden lining, as the 23-year-old returned to the attack to remove both Verreynne (caught at slip) and then Jansen (keeper Alex Carey's 50th Test catch) in consecutive overs amid a spell that brought him a Boland-esque 4-7 from 12 mesmeric deliveries.

It was the visitors' second batting haemorrhage of another bowler-dominated day.

Having surrendered 3-2 in the space of 19 deliveries immediately prior to lunch, the loss of Khaya Zondo shortly after resumption saw the top half of their batting back in the sheds for the combined aggregate of 67 runs.

Zondo – his team's top scorer in the second innings at the Gabba with an unbeaten 36 out of a paltry 99 – slapped a drive to the left of extra cover only for Marnus Labuschagne to launch into a dive that would have done Argentina goalie Emiliano Martinez proud.

Labuschagne's full-length snare was his second game-changing moment in the field, having completed a crucial run out of South Africa's skipper and most experienced batter Dean Elgar shortly before lunch.

Elgar had enjoyed his share of good fortune during a 110-minute stay, but squandered all of it by calling for an ill-judged single after enduring a torrid time against Starc.

In his haste to get to the safety of the non-striker's end, Elgar – who in 141 prior Test innings had never been run out – sorely under-estimated the speed at which Labuschagne might reach the ball, as well as the fielder's ability to slide, recover his feet, take aim and throw down the stumps.

The fact Elgar was almost half a metre short of his ground provided graphic proof of how badly his judgement was askew, and was shown to be even worse when his batting partner Temba Bavuma faced up to the next ball.

Having seen his skipper needlessly sacrifice himself, Bavuma decided to follow the example by pushing hard at a ball from Starc that decked away from him and feathered a catch to Carey on the stroke of lunch.

From a respectable 1-56 from almost 20 overs, South Africa ended that first session 4-58 to make Cummins' decision at the coin toss seem inspired.

Image Id: F213843C6B774F8C8CB1D0AB0C3D9FD2 Image Caption: A nod to Shane Warne’s Test cap number on the MCG turf // cricket.com.au

He had similarly sent in England a year earlier to set up a thumping win, making him the first Australia skipper to insert opposition in consecutive MCG Tests since Allan Border in 1987 (New Zealand) and West Indies (1988).

Cummins' rationale was that, unlike the controversial Gabba pitch that was clearly going to benefit bowlers for the duration of the first Test, the MCG strip was not going to get any tougher to bat on than day one, so he was therefore keen to "have a proper crack at it".

But for all the early menace posed by the new ball zipping off the mottled surface, Australia weren't able to secure an early breakthrough.

Cummins could only blame himself for that failure, having fumbled a return chance bunted back him to Elgar (on seven) in the day's second over when he was perhaps surprised by the gentleness with which the offering floated above his head.

Elgar's opening partner Sarel Elwee also enjoyed a narrow escape on five when his attempted pull shot from a Cummins short ball evaded Carey, but his luck ran out not long after hometown hero Boland was summoned to the crease.

Boland's remarkable rise to cult hero status after making his Test debut a year earlier was summed up by the roar that echoed through the MCG when he first fielded a ball in the opening over, but even that paled alongside the reception he received when called upon to bowl.

And in keeping with the reputation he forged in his unforgettable Ashes arrival, it took him just 10 deliveries to snare a scalp when Erwee pushed hard forward and edged low to third slip.

Elgar continued to ride his luck, fending a ball from Boland hard into the pitch from where it rolled slowly back on to his off stump but with insufficient force to light a zing bail let alone knock the non-illuminating version from its perch.

Then, having reached 19, the Proteas captain sliced a drive off Green's first over that flew to the left of Lyon at backward point who, despite timing his dive perfectly, was unable to hold the sharp chance in his left claw.

But it did not take much longer for Australia's newest multi-million dollar men's cricketer to make his presence felt and, in the process, Green triggered a stunning top-order collapse that revived memories of South Africa's dual batting failures at the Gabba a week earlier.

The catalyst was Green's removal of number three batter Theunis de Bruyn who had been brought into the starting XI in place of Rassie van der Dussen, but never quite came to grips with the pace and bounce of the MCG pitch.

The ball prior to his demise, de Bruyn seemed shocked by the bounce Green was able to extract as a back-of-a-length delivery soared through at shoulder level so it seemed wholly irresponsible to launch an attempted pull at the next.

There was no element of surprise to most watching when the ambitious stroke brought a top edge that climbed high into Melbourne's cloudless blue sky before landing in Carey's gloves.

It meant Elgar and his next-most senior batter Bavuma were faced with a searching 15-minute stint prior to lunch and their capacity to survive would dictate whether Cummins' decision to bowl first was vindicated.

The fact both perished to self-inflicted wounds in that time spoke loudly of their team's top-order batting frailties, and again put pressure on the visitors' inexperienced allrounders to rescue a badly listing ship.

Men's NRMA Insurance Test Series v South Africa

First Test: Australia won by six wickets

Dec 26-30: Second Test, MCG, 10.30am AEDT

Jan 4-8: Third Test, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Lance Morris, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner

South Africa squad: Dean Elgar (c), Temba Bavuma, Gerald Coetzee, Theunis de Bruyn, Sarel Eree, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Heinrich Klaasen, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams, Khaya Zondo

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