It took some work but Australia wrapped up the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground before tea on day four, by an innings and 182 runs, taking nine South African wickets to restrict the tourists to 204 all out. The result breaks South Africa’s streak of three series wins on Australian soil, and made it two from two for Australia this summer after beating the West Indies.
David Warner won the Johnny Mullagh Medal for best on ground after his double century on the match’s hottest day, while Mitchell Starc was influential despite bowling with an injured hand.
Against an undermanned attack, the result spoke both of Australia’s tenacity and South Africa’s batting frailty. Cameron Green did not take the field, having broken a finger while batting. Starc had injured the middle finger on his bowling hand while fielding in the first innings, and had to protect it throughout. Nathan Lyon took a heavy fall fielding at backward point and had to leave for treatment. But South Africa could not force Australia to overbowl Patrick Cummins and Scott Boland, folding inside 69 overs.
Their batting problems were summed up by Temba Bavuma’s day, the vice-captain providing the stiffest resistance with his innings of 65, but sacrificing two partners along the way. Khaya Zondo honoured his call after Bavuma dropped a ball at the feet of Travis Head at cover, gone to a direct hit for one run. Spinner Keshav Maharaj was batting well when he called for a third. Bavuma bizarrely turned for the run with his back to his partner, stopped while looking at deep cover, then looked up to find Maharaj in his pocket. Had Bavuma kept going he might have made it, but Maharaj lost too much time turning back, with Starc receiving Labuschagne’s long throw and pinging down the striker’s stumps.
Things started predictably after South Africa began the day 371 runs behind while Australia had an innings to spare. Sarel Erwee and Theunis de Bruyn nearly got through the first ten overs, but with a ceiling of about 20 runs at present, Erwee was smashed on the toe by a Starc yorker on 21, while de Bruyn was a slip-cordon liability with edges dropping short or flying over before Boland jumped one at his gloves on 29 to provide Steve Smith’s 150th Test catch. After the pre-lunch Zondo barbecue it was 65 for four.
Bavuma responded to his mistake admirably, playing positive shots and continuing to run hard, the same way that wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne has consistently played this series. They put on 65 either side of the lunch break, Verreynne reverse-sweeping Lyon and crunching a pull shot against Starc while Bavuma preferred conventional sweeps and cover punches.
Boland though knows how to use the MCG pitch. The perfect length, full enough to bring the stumps into play, some inward jag off the seam, and he beat Verreynne’s inside edge to hit him in front of middle stump on 33. Lyon returned from his injury break to hit Marco Jansen on the back leg for five, and the Maharaj run-out quenched the spark in Bavuma at last, as he hacked across the line to send a high catch to midwicket.
Rabada played similarly to give Lyon a third, before the last pair of Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi had some fun slogging 27, an unlikely end sparing South Africa the ignominy of making less than 200 for eight innings in a row. Not that it made this performance any less abject than those preceding it. The ironic cheers as the scoreboard ticked over said a lot, as did the fact that Steve Smith’s occasional leg-breaks finished the match when Ngidi missed one that drifted nicely and turned past his bat.
There will be changes for the Sydney Test, with Green and presumably Starc to miss – although Starc, with 18 overs, bowled more than anybody in the final innings of the match. His figures of 1 for 62 don’t reflect his effort or impact, while Cummins kept the pressure on all day for 1 for 20. Boland’s 2 for 49 was a less dramatic return than his Ashes outing last year, but his wickets were important, while Lyon played his part with 3 for 58.
For South Africa, changes are unlikely to help, while memories of those dominant touring teams of years past are fading fast.
