South Africa was in free fall during the first Test against Australia after a bowl-first call at the Gabba led to the quicks, chiefly Scott Boland, dominating again.
Pat Cummins won the toss, opting to take the gamble on bowling first on a very green wicket — and the decision has been paying dividends thus far with four wickets falling inside one hour of play.
South Africa rallied before lunch, reaching 4-84 with Temba Bavuma (21) Kyle Varreynne (35) providing some resistance.
“The fightback is on,” Isa Guha said in commentary at the lunch break.
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New ball bowlers Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins had started poorly in the first three overs with few questions being asked of the openers, while the captain leaked eight byes from his first two balls.
“They’ve bowled about 18 balls and I think they’ve got about one in the right area,” Mark Waugh said. “They’d be disappointed the Australians so far with what they’ve dished up.”
It mattered little, however, with Elgar out for three, strangling a Starc delivery down leg side in the third over
“That’s a bonus,” Allan Border said. “You wouldn’t call that really good bowling … you always feel a bit unlucky as a batsman. A bit of a bonus for the Aussies there but they’ll take it.”
The Australians’ radars, however, got in tune shortly after with Starc, Cummins and Scott making early in-roads into the middle order.
Cummins found the outside edge of Rassie van der Dussen for five in the 10th over with a ball that just squared-up off a length.
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“That was McGrath-like,” Kerry O’Keeffe said on Fox Cricket. “The ball didn’t do too much, but it was the trajectory.”
After a menacing first over, Boland then struck too with his second over with Sarel Erwee’s (10) outside edge flying to Cameron Green at gully.
Just two balls later, it was all happening again with Boland trapping Khaya Zondo in front for a duck. Zondo reviewed but ball-tracking showed the ball narrowly clipping the top off the bails.
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Australia XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
South Africa XI: Dean Elgar (c), Sarel Erwee, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Khaya Zondo, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi
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The Gabba groundskeepers have produced a green demon of a wicket with plenty of colour and long, live grass on the deck for day one.
The pitch is so green that Mark Waugh described it as a “lawn bowling green”.
Cummins conceded it could be a risky decision, saying that the colour “might be a bit misleading”.
Nonetheless, he added: “It feels a bit hard, sometimes here it just gets better and better so no matter what happens here today, hopefully it gets better to bat on as it goes on.”
“A very thick layer of green, live grass on the pitch,” Mike Hussey said in his Fox Cricket pitch report. “Really good conditions for bowling. It’s thick. It’s probably going to be a bit on the slow side to start with on day one.
“There will be plenty of length for the fast bowlers, the length is going to be their most improtant thing.
“It certainly has a lot of moisture underneath it to try and hold it together over the next few days, but the thing that stands out the most is how thick that grass is.”
Meanwhile, ESPNCricinfo’s Andrew McGlashan called it the “greenest looking Gabba Test pitch I’ve seen in my memory”.
“Looks like the Sheffield Shield pitches Queensland often produce,” he wrote.
Earlier, Australian cricket legend Mike Hussey sais he believes the “challenge” of South Africa’s famed bowling attack will help David Warner “rise again”.
Australia and South Africa will meet in a Test match for the first time since the infamous Sandpapergate series in 2018 which led to lengthy bans for Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft for their involvement in a ball-tampering scandal.
It was one of several chapters in the heated historic rivalry between the two nations and there’s set to be plenty more fireworks during the Proteas’ three-Test tour in Australia.
Warner, a notoriously feisty character himself, will look to let his cricket do the talking over the coming months and leave his off-field frustrations in the rear-view mirror.
And Hussey has backed the opener to “come out and be positive” from the get-go against the South African attack, but noted he “hasn’t quite looked the same David Warner as we’re used to” amid several external distractions.
“I think something like the challenge of the South African bowling will help him rise again,” Hussey told Fox Sports’ The Follow-On Podcast.
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“He’s a guy that loves a contest, he loves a challenge. I’d like to see him come out and really assert his dominance and be aggressive. Come out and be positive – that’s when he plays his best cricket. And he might just do that against this South African attack, because they’re going to come hard at him and that’s sometimes when he plays his best.
“I just feel as though there’s obviously a lot of external distractions going on with David Warner at the moment. All this stuff that’s been played out off the field – I don’t care how mentally strong you are, it does just take your focus off your preparation a little bit and out of your comfort zone.
“When you’re really playing well, you’re just clear-minded, relaxed, calm and in control. But with all this stuff bubbling away in the background, it’s got to be a huge distraction for him – and I think it’s showing. He’s been a little bit unlucky with some of the dismissals, but he hasn’t quite looked the same David Warner as we’re used to.
“It’s no slight on him by saying that he probably has been affected by it a little bit.”