Australian all-rounder Cameron Green has jagged five wickets to obliterate South Africa’s first innings in an emotional and drama-filled opening day at the MCG.
After collapsing to 5-67, the tourists rallied before being blasted out for 189 on Boxing Day – their seventh-straight Test innings under 200.
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Green was sensational with the ball, and his career-best figures come just days after he was bought for a whopping $3.15 million (17.5 crore) by the Mumbai Indians in the IPL auctions.
The 23-year-old finished the day with a sizzling 5-27 with the economy rate of 2.53.
Speaking on Channel 7, cricket writer for The Australian Peter Lalor said Green was the “story of the day” and there was no doubt there would have been “celebrations in Mumbai”.
Lalor said Green had been rated by Australian cricket legend Greg Chappell as the best young batter since Ricky Ponting and also said he was a brilliant fielder.
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“The underbidders (at the IPL auctions) might be thinking they probably should have tipped in a bit more money (for Green),” Lalor said.
Former Australian captain and Seven commentator Ricky Ponting said Green was the “all-round package”.
“Everyone’s been excited about it, whether it be in domestic cricket, white-ball cricket or what we have seen on the Test match arena so far,” Ponting said.
Green took the important wickets of Theunis de Bruyn and in-form wicket-keeper Kyle Verreynne before he cleaned up the tail.
After collapsing to 5-67, the tourists rallied before being blasted out for 189 at the MCG – their seventh-straight Test innings under 200.
Captain Dean Elgar had promised a better showing before the match, saying they went back to the drawing board after losing the first Test in less than two days on the Gabba green top.
But whatever work they did between Brisbane and Melbourne did not pay dividends.
Once boasting arguably the most feared batting line-up in world cricket, South Africa’s current top-order is unrecognisable to the ones that claimed three consecutive Test series wins on Australian soil.
Gone are legends such as AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Graeme Smith and Faf du Plessis and taking their places are batters with minimal international experience.
They lost 3-2 to be 4-58 at lunch on day one of the second Test after losing the toss.
Elgar was run-out for the first time in his Test career after a horrendous mix-up and No.3 de Bruyn, who was promoted into the team for this match, was out for 12 after badly mistiming a pull shot.
While No.7 Marco Jansen (52) was dropped three times, at least he and No.6 Verreynne (59) dug in with their sixth-wicket stand of 103.
But once Verryenne was dismissed by Green, it triggered another collapse where they lost their last four wickets inside four overs.
It follows a calamitous first Test in Brisbane when Australia rolled the Proteas for 152 and 99.
That was the second time they had been bowled out for less than 100 in 2022.
The last time they were all-out for less than 100 twice in the same calendar year was in 1957.
Elgar has made 80 Test appearances, No.4 Temba Bavuma 52, but the other four in the top-six have a combined tally of just 35.
The last time South Africa toured Australia in 2016-17, the Proteas’ line-up included Amla, du Plessis and JP Duminy, who made 44 Test hundreds between them.
Powerful opener Aiden Markram, whose Test average is better than four of the current top-six, missed out on selection for this series after being dropped during the Proteas’ August tour of England.
– with AAP
