Australia and South Africa are taking on each other in the on-going World Test Championship. South Africa is touring in Australia for three tests and they have played their first test at Brisbane. Cricket Australia as prepared a green pitch and it became difficult for batsmen to even put bat to ball. Fast bowlers had Batsmen parading and everyone had a problem with the seam movement and bounce. Pat Cummins got 5 wickets in the second innings and South Africa got all-out for 99 in just 37.4 overs. Australia chased down 35 runs by losing 4 wickets.
Australia won the toss on Saturday and put in South Africa to bat first. Mitchell Starc got Dean Elgar out soon and in 48.2 overs, they got bundled out for 152. Mitchell Starc (3/41), Pat Cummins (2/35), Scott Boland (2/28), Nathan Lyon (3/14) did well for Australia. Temba Bavuma (34) and counter-attacking Kyle Verreynne (64) did well for South Africa. Australia started their innings losing David Warner for the first ball to Kagiso Rabada. Marnus Labuschagne (11) fell to Marco Jansen and Usman Khawaja (11) fell to Anrich Nortje.
Steven Smith (36) and Travis Head (92) counter-attacked South Africa pace bowlers. Australia ended the Day one at 145/5. And on the second day, Cameron Green (18), Alex Carey (22), Mitchell Starc (14) helped them cross 200 mark. Australia scored 218 all-out in 50.3 overs in the first innings. Kagiso Rabada (4/76), Marco Jansen (3/32), Anrich Nortje (2/52) and Lungi Ngidi (1/35) did well for South Africa. They have started their second innings with 66-runs deficit. Temba Bavuma (29), Khaya Zondo (36), Keshav Maharaj (16) had great difficulty in batting and South Africa got bowled out for 99 runs in 37.4 overs.
Mitchell Starc (2/26), Scott Boland (2/14), Nathan Lyon (1/17) made it difficult for South Africa batsmen to bat and Pat Cummins got 5 wickets and ended up with 5/42 figures. Kagiso Rabada (4/13) again made it difficult for Australia batsmen to score. Usman Khawaja (2), David Warner (3), Steven Smith (6), Travis Head (0) got out to Kagiso Rabada unable to face him. Australia got 15 runs in wides and in 7.5 overs they scored 35/4 and won the Test. Brisbane Test got over in a day and a half and major cricket experts did not like the pitch.
Virender Sehwag criticized Australia board about the pitch and media about the hypocrisy they show against India, if they play with a spin-friendly pitch. He tweeted, “142 overs and not even lasting 2 days and they have the audacity to lecture on what kind of pitches are needed. Had it happened in India, it would have been labelled end of test cricket, ruining test cricket and what not. The Hypocrisy is mind-boggling . #AUSvSA.”
142 overs and not even lasting 2 days and they have the audacity to lecture on what kind of pitches are needed. Had it happened in India, it would have been labelled end of test cricket, ruining test cricket and what not. The Hypocrisy is mind-boggling . #AUSvSA
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) December 18, 2022
Sydney Thunder got bundled out for 15 runs in BBL 12. Read here.
