AB’S brilliance puts Proteas ahead
PORTELIZABETH: Australia fought back on the second day of the second Test but could not stop AB de Villiers taking South Africa into a slender first innings lead at St George’s Park on Saturday.
South Africa were 263 for seven at close, a lead of 20 runs after Australia were bowled out for 243 in their first innings.
There was a flurry of wickets after tea but De Villiers counterattacked to hit 74 not out off 81 balls with easily the most aggressive batting of an otherwise slow day.
Australia were able to take only one wicket before tea, that of nightwatchman Kagiso Rabada, as Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla ground out half-centuries.
But the scoring was painfully slow and Australia were right back in the game when both batsmen were dismissed in the first two overs after tea, followed by two more batsmen being dismissed cheaply.
REVERSE SWING
The Australian bowlers made effective use of reverse swing, firstly to restrict the scoring and then as a weapon in all four wickets. Amla was bowled by a fast, reverse swinging yorker from Mitchell Starc for 56 four balls after tea and Elgar was caught behind off Josh Hazlewood for 57 in the next over. Like Amla, Elgar fell to a full delivery which swung late.
Medium-pacer Mitchell Marsh trapped South African captain Faf du Plessis and Theunis de Bruyn leg before wicket, again with full, swinging deliveries.
De Villiers and Quinton de Kock put on 44 for the seventh wicket before De Kock was dismissed by off-spinner Nathan Lyon. While other batsmen had struggled to gain any momentum to the South African innings, De Villiers looked at ease and played strokes to all parts of the ground.
AB de Villiers 74*, D Elgar 57, H Amla 56, M Marsh 2/26) PORTELIZABETH: South Africa seamer Kagiso Rabada risks missing the remainder of the series against Australia after being charged with a Level Two offence by the International Cricket Council (ICC) following the shoulder contact he made with rival captain Steve Smith.
Rabada trapped Smith leg before wicket on the opening day on Friday and appeared to brush against the batsman in his celebration as the Australian walked down the pitch.
The hearing will be heard by match referee Jeff Crowe, with Rabada set to contest the charge.
The bowler already has five demerit points and three more would earn him two suspension points that would result in a two-test ban and rule him out for the rest of the four-match series.
Rabada picked up three demerit points 12 months ago when he was adjudged to have led with the shoulder into Sri Lankan Niroshan Dickwella in an ODI, before picking up one demerit point each for swearing at England’s Ben Stokes and Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan, the latest offence just last month.
Demerit points remain on a players’ record for a period of two years. If Rabada is found guilty of the Level Two offence, it carries a minimum sanction of three points.