Australian middle-order batter Matt Renshaw stole the show on the second day of the series opener.
Matt Renshaw celebrates his century for Australia in Durban on Saturday. Picture: Gerhard Duraan/Gallo Images
Putting up an impressive fight, Australia hit back on day two of the second Test against South Africa at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban on Saturday.
After the Baggy Greens compiled 390 all out in their first innings, the Proteas reached 27/1 at the close of play, trailing the tourists by 363 runs with nine wickets in hand.
Renshaw delivers masterclass
With the tourists having resumed their first innings at 187/6 in the morning session, they needed something special to keep them in the hunt, and Matt Renshaw responded in spectacular fashion.
Renshaw stuck his heels in, contributing a career-best 190 off 397 balls after spending nearly eight hours at the crease overnight, guiding his team to 390 all out shortly after the tea break.
And he was well supported by Pat Cummins (43 off 98) and Nathan Lyon (27 off 92) who helped keep the Australians ticking over while Renshaw dug deep in what could turn out to be a match-saving innings.
The 134-run partnership between Renshaw and Lyon was the highest by an Australian pairing for the ninth wicket in a Test match.
Mulder and Jansen strike
Though it was spinner Simon Harmer who eventually removed Renshaw, seamers Wiaan Mulder and Marco Jansen toiled away long enough to get the two key strikes required to break frustrating partnerships.
Mulder removed Cummins when the skipper got an edge to Aiden Markram at second slip in the morning session. And Jansen dismissed Lyon when he had him trapped lbw eight overs before tea.
They were also the most successful Proteas bowlers of the innings, with Mulder taking 4/68 and Jansen grabbing 3/68.
Where is everyone?
Sights of a relatively empty stadium have placed a cloud over the opening Test of the highly anticipated series.
Crowds in attendance, and those watching on TV, were treated to the sort of back-and-forth fight over the first two days that one would expect from a five-day match between the world’s top two sides.
While Kingsmead can hold 25,000 spectators, however, it seemed people in Durban were more interested in taking advantage of the warm weather conditions by spending the last two days at the beach down the road.
The exact number of ticket sales were not yet available on Saturday, but according to a report on Cricinfo the day before the match, just over 15,500 of 50,000 available tickets for the first two days had been sold.
