Staff Reporter.
An unbeaten partnership between Kyle Verreynne and Marco Jansen steadied the Proteas ship on 114-5 at tea on day one of the second test against Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Resuming after lunch on 58-4, the Proteas only lost one wicket in the session as Khaya Zondo departed thanks to a stunning catch by Marnus Labuschagne.
Zondo tried to drive Mitchell Starc, but the ball popped up and Labuschagne took a diving catch to dismiss the batter for 5.
With the tourists reeling on 67-5, an unbeaten 77-run partnership formed between Verreynne and Jansen that kept South Africa in the game.
Verreynne was in magnificent touch, remaining on 40 off 56 balls. However, it was Jansen who bided his time and made 38 not out with six fours to his name so far.
Earlier on, opener Sarel Erwee gritted it out for his 18 before he edged behind to third slip off the bowling of Scott Boland.
Theunis de Bruyn. playing his first test since 2019, showed some promising signs in the middle but was undone by Cameron Green.
De Bruyn attempted to pull but instead got a top edge and was comfortably caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey for 12 off 31 balls.
A mini-collapse soon developed mere moments before lunch as skipper Dean Elgar, who had just surpassed 5 000 career test runs, fell short of his crease.
Elgar had looked solid in the middle before a brilliant direct throw ran him out from Marnus Labuschagne.
Elgar pushed the ball to mid-off and set off, but the SA-born Labuschagne was one step ahead, turning and throwing the wickets directly to dismiss the Proteas captain for a well-played 26 off 68 balls (hitting two fours).
Things went from bad to worse for the tourists as Temba Bavuma fell for a golden duck off the bowling of Mitchell Starc.
Following Elgar’s dismissal, Starc got Bavuma to edge behind to keeper Carey, who dived to take a catch and end a disastrous over for South Africa.
AUSTRALIA: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
SOUTH AFRICA: Dean Elgar (capt), Sarel Erwee, Theunis de Bruyn, Temba Bavuma, Khaya Zondo, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi.