Mitchell Starc rips through South Africa as Australia take firm hold of first Test

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Australia ended Day Two with a lead of 189 runs, with their second innings yet to begin, as a blistering-all round display from Mitchell Starc gave them the ascendancy in the first Test against South Africa.

To begin with, the second day followed the pattern of an attritional first, as Australia attempted, with limited success, to block out the second new ball. Wicket-keeper Tim Paine was removed by a good ball from Kagiso Rabada, which moved away just enough to take the edge on its way to the keeper, and though Pat Cummins deadbatted well, he became becalmed, eventually falling to left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, bowled through the gate by one which didn’t turn.

At that point the morning had seen 25 runs added in 17 overs for the loss of two wickets, with no boundaries, and at 251/7, Australia might have folded for under 300.

Instead, Mitchell Starc entered and showed the benefits of taking a few risks, hitting three boundaries from his first five balls, the first off the edge, the second off the glove, and the third stroked gorgeously through cover.

Starc continued to play his shots before falling on the stroke of Lunch, bowled playing down the wrong line by left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, some revenge for having conceded two sixes to the No. 9. But the damage had been done, and Starc’s 35 from 25 balls – his highest Test score in over a year – changed the momentum of the contest.

After the interval the other Mitchell, Marsh, took up the attack, scoring 36 from 26 post-lunch balls before falling on 96 as he attempted to reach three figures in style, the gangly Morne Morkel reaching at mid-on to pluck an across-the-line heave from above his head.

It was a superb innings from Marsh, who came into the series in form, having struck two centuries in the recent Ashes series against England. He was secure in defence and decisive in attack, and he deserved a hundred. The excellent Maharaj wrapped up proceedings in the following over, claiming a fourth five-wicket haul in his first 17 Tests.

Maharaj wasn’t the only spinner to have his say. Nathan Lyon was introduced in the eighth over, and immediately paid back the faith of his captain, striking with his second and fifth balls, Dean Elgar popping back a return catch and Hashim Amla snaffled bat-pad at short leg.

Opener Aiden Markram battled manfully – his 32 ended up as the second-highest score of the innings – before fending the last ball before tea to short-leg, after which Mitchell Starc took over, first claiming Faf du Plessis and Theunis de Bruyn, who both edged balls which pitched on off and straightened to the keeper.

Quinton de Kock struck a breezy 20, but South Africa needed much more, and his dismissal, bowled playing back by Nathan Lyon, precipitated a collapse of 12/5 as South Africa slid to 160 all out.

Starc, as he so often is, was far too good for the tail with the old ball, bowling full and obtaining copious reverse-swing to finish with excellent figures of 5/34.

All the while, AB de Villiers was at the other end, looking like a batsman in a different league to his teammates. There was little of the pyrotechnics that marks his scintillating white-ball play – just firm defence and the sweetest of timing, with his on-driving in particular a treat to watch.

There are rumours that this might be his last-ever Test series. On the evidence of this knock, he has plenty left to give. There is also plenty left to do if South Africa are to claw their way back into this Test match.