Australia v South Africa: third Test, day two – live | Cricket

Century! Usman Khawaja 100 from 207 balls

74th over: Australia 239-2 (Khawaja 94, Smith 47) Harmer has Smith tentative for a couple of deliveries, hovering on the front foot, and then Smith has had enough. Wants to put pressure back on. Gets down low to sweep a good ball off his stumps behind backward square for four, then gets a poor ball in response, too short and easy to pull away. Again a couple of boundaries in an over for Smith, who is charging along.

73rd over: Australia 231-2 (Khawaja 94, Smith 39) Harmer to Khawaja, who keeps his cool for four balls and then knocks one into the covers. He’s been in no rush all day, played the odd big shot when he has felt like it, sailed on serenely otherwise.

72nd over: Australia 228-2 (Khawaja 92, Smith 38) Maharaj has now been dragged, unsurprisingly. Rabada returns. New ball due in nine overs, so this is not what South Africa would have planned. He starts with an overstep, no-ball called. Then short, pulled by Khawaja for one. Ditto for Smith, boundary rider back at square leg. That’s another no-ball. Khawaja defends, then glanced one. Smith forces off the back foot for two. Runs flowing, seven from that over.

71st over: Australia 221-2 (Khawaja 90, Smith 35) Khawaja into the 90s with a single. Trying different things is Harmer, firing one through at 94 kph to try to surprise Smith and hit him on the pads. Smith is equal to it.

70th over: Australia 220-2 (Khawaja 89, Smith 35) Whack goes Smith! Off the spinner this time, Maharaj going for his second six of the innings as Smith leans back and heaves over midwicket. Then charges the next ball and flicks it for four! Airborne again, more elegant in execution, bouncing inside the rope. Another couple of runs glanced to fine leg. A dozen off the over.

69th over: Australia 208-2 (Khawaja 89, Smith 23) Harmer to Khawaja, gives it flight, shifts his pace from 85 kph to 89, keeping him guessing. Strays in line allowing Khawaja a single to backward square leg. Lots of loop to Smith, who drives one.

68th over: Australia 206-2 (Khawaja 88, Smith 22) Khawaja playing Maharaj comfortably now, happy to advance and whip him over midwicket for a couple. Then pulls out the reverse for another run.

67th over: Australia 203-2 (Khawaja 85, Smith 22) At last, here is Harmer. Five overs in the innings so far, while Maharaj has played the whole series without taking a wicket and was still preferred today. And first ball there’s nearly a wicket: Smith plays on the bounce to short leg, steps out with momentum, and Zondo throws down the stumps. Smith has to whip his bat back to save himself. Escapes strike with a nudge to midwicket. Then Harmer gets a ball to spit and turn at Khawaja, who rears back as he drops it down. He resorts to a strange standing paddle sweep to get a run. Things happening already.

66th over: Australia 201-2 (Khawaja 84, Smith 21) A couple more singles from Maharaj, bringing up Australia’s 200 as the drinks break arrives. Khawaja creeping up on this hundred like a lion stalking an antelope.

65th over: Australia 199-2 (Khawaja 83, Smith 20) That will feel better for Smith. Gets a half-volley admittedly from Jansen, but opens his grip and cover-drives it for four. As if in celebration, he leans back to a shorter ball and smushes it over midwicket for another boundary! Fifty partnership up. I’m sure that Smith anticipated that short ball. He had his stance open and still before the ball had even been bowled, ready to climb in.

64th over: Australia 191-2 (Khawaja 83, Smith 12) Maharaj carrying on, three singles as they settle into a rhythm against him.

63rd over: Australia 188-2 (Khawaja 82, Smith 10) Jansen seems hard to read, even for Khawaja. Getting some movement through the air, and coming from that incredible height when his arm is right up above his head, literally ten feet tall. Gets the ball moving down the leg side, into the pads, all sorts. Khawaja gets a couple of streaky runs via a thick grounded edge.

62nd over: Australia 186-2 (Khawaja 80, Smith 10) Same deal with Maharaj, who is left on after the six. First ball single, five Smith dots.

61st over: Australia 185-2 (Khawaja 79, Smith 10) Indicative that Khawaja, batting freely, can take a single first ball from Jansen, glancing. Smith gets stuck for the rest of the over. A marooned five.

60th over: Australia 184-2 (Khawaja 78, Smith 10) Taking down the spinners! Labuschagne did it yesterday with the sweep, Khawaja does it today with a booming lofted drive over cover! What a shot. Six runs from Maharaj, first ball of the over. Then takes the single, like a boss.

59th over: Australia 177-2 (Khawaja 71, Smith 10) Jansen to Smith, the left-armer around the wicket getting the ball angling in. Cramping Smith for room, and he responds by getting up on his toes and defending with a straight bat. Squeezes out a yorker last ball, no run from the over.

58th over: Australia 177-2 (Khawaja 71, Smith 10) One of the great Elgar mysteries resumes: Maharaj gets a bowl ahead of Harmer, even though Khawaja is on strike. And his first ball is a full toss for Khawaja to drive through the covers. Protection out there, so what was a boundary yesterday is two runs today. Then a skimming drive stopped by Elgar at short cover. Khawaja responds with a move down the wicket, driving to the leg side. Smith drives under the bowler for one run.

As ever, Hypocaust has the stats on women’s cricket.

57th over: Australia 173-2 (Khawaja 68, Smith 9) Marco Jansen with his first over of the morning. Gets Khawaja playing, first of all. Bavuma makes a great stop at cover, off the rough area of the wicket square that is all dark brown chunky dirt, no grass on it at all. A couple on the pads though, and Khawaja can flick two and then one to deep backward square.

56th over: Australia 170-2 (Khawaja 65, Smith 9) Stepping waaay across, Smith, and playing a late dab to backward point from a ball on about an eighth stump line. Same shot closer to the stumps next ball, into the ground, again no score. He hasn’t looked fluent yet. Probably still hard to time shots on this surface. Last ball of the over, he swings Rabada across the line to deep midwicket for four. Not a short ball, not a pull shot. A kind of slapped drive, on the up. Outrageous shot. It’s also perversely the kind of shot that means that Smith is struggling. When he lashes out like that, it’s when he’s not sure what to do. Think Lord’s or the Gabba in 2019.

55th over: Australia 166-2 (Khawaja 65, Smith 5) A big attempted drive from Smith, and a thick edge back into his pads. Does nail the pull shot, but straight into the stomach of square leg on the bounce. At the hip, there’s that leg-slip ball again, flicked into the gap for one. Nortje still operating in the lower 140 kph range, plenty of speed.

54th over: Australia 164-2 (Khawaja 64, Smith 4) Rabada to Khawaja, finds some bounce from somewhere on this sleepy track, going over the top of the cut shot. Then gets tangled trying to turn one to leg, edging into the pad. Again off the pad, this time down to fine leg for three extras, a great bit of effort from Nortje running across saves one. A sharp backhanded flick as his body headed towards the rope. Leg byes the only score from the over, so technically it’s a maiden for the bowler’s figures.

53rd over: Australia 161-2 (Khawaja 64, Smith 4) A midwicket run for Khawaja, which sees Nortje bowl to Smith for the first time this morning. Got him out a couple of times this series. Outside off stump to the right-hander. Leaves a couple, under-edges an attempted cut shot into the ground near his stumps, then Nortje tries the big yorker at the ankles but it goes wide past the heels instead.

52nd over: Australia 160-2 (Khawaja 63, Smith 4) The single means that Rabada gets a look at Khawaja for the first time this morning. Not for long. A touch short and Khawaja pulls from about waist height, picking up three. To Smith, it’s a great line, tempting him to play just outside off, moving away. Wider the next ball but Smith is moving across. The TV is just now picking up on this. And the movement across works for Smith this time, getting a ball that would have been awkwardly on his hip, but instead is outside the line of his body and he’s able to glance his first four runs. Where’s your leg slip at, Elgar?

51st over: Australia 153-2 (Khawaja 60, Smith 0) Nortje keeps working on that line outside off to Khawaja, most of the time, but when he goes straighter he gets clipped through midwicket for four and for one.

We’re going to get back underway.

The telly just ran a nicely timed package about Usman Khawaja’s twin tons at this ground a year ago. “I think people could relate to what I’ve been through,” he said, paraphrased, about being dropped and coming back so many times. “Getting a hundred and then walking off the ground with the whole crowd chanting my name, that’s something that I never thought would ever happen to me. It’s the most special moment of my cricket career.”

And we’re off for rain.

50th over: Australia 148-2 (Khawaja 55, Smith 0) Good line and length from Rabada, testing out Smith at the top of off stump. And this is curious, Smith is moving across his stumps every ball. He had taken this out of his game as of earlier in the year, from Sri Lanka to the West Indies series, and done well, but now he’s at it again, and even tries a pull shot to a ball that isn’t short enough, and is lucky to miss it. No run from the over.

There was an unveiling at the SCG this morning. One of Australia’s greats, captured in her follow-through.

49th over: Australia 148-2 (Khawaja 55, Smith 0) Anrich Nortje from the other end, right-arm around the wicket to Khawaja. Two slips and a gully, as he angles in twice at the off and middle stumps, getting Khawaja playing forward. A shorter one down the leg side, clips the thigh pad and Verreyne’s appeal for a catch behind the wicket is not supported by anyone else. Nortje gets one to swing away a touch, Khawaja partly slicing the defensive shot. I suspect that’s the gameplan with this line around the wicket – move it away and find an edge. No run from the over.

48th over: Australia 148-2 (Khawaja 55, Smith 0) We’re away. Khawaja nudges a single quickly. Steve Smith finally gets to face his first ball, after being denied by conditions last night. Kagiso Rabada with the Kookaburra, and he starts pretty well, pitching up and having Smith step across the stumps to defend.

Simon Harmer was on screen and was asked about his catch yesterday – he was diplomatic, said he’s sure he took it cleanly but the third umpire only has limited tools to work with.

And an email in from Aditya on that subject, specifically the fact that the soft signal on field isn’t actually binding on the third umpire’s decision anymore. So there is no decision to overturn, the third umpire makes their own new decision. The soft signal is really a ceremonial hangover, something vestigial, like the appendix.

“I learnt about the new changes yesterday. Given that, now it’s dependent on having decent camera angles and replays, and I’m no expert but it didn’t look like there was any zoomed-in camera angle on that catch that was conclusive. The only one that was conclusive was the zoomed-out front-on one. I strongly believe there’s no point zooming in for these catches, the whole thing looks so pixelated and blurred when they do that.”

There’s certainly no perfect way to make those decisions. There just has to be consistency. Either everything that looks a bit iffy or touches a blade of grass is not out, or we apply a general cricketing intelligence that says if a catcher has their fingers under the ball, then they’re catching it regardless of whether there’s an incidental brush with the ground in the same motion. I think you could argue the case for either interpretation, but it can’t be a pick n’ mix of both.

You can email [email protected] about anything that takes your fancy through the day. Twitter was patchy yesterday but @GeoffLemonSport might work today.

Matthew Renshaw was running about during the warm-ups, so he seems to be feeling ok. A couple of quick wickets and he’ll be in the middle. Have to say that he’s had an interesting Test career so far. In as a kid after the team purge in 2016, having his own purges while batting in India 2017, out of the side after Bangladesh, flown in to Johannesburg straight after a Shield final when the sandpaper suspensions landed, due to stay in the team in Dubai 2018 but getting concussion during a fielding warm-up, having to wait until now while making lots of domestic runs, then getting recalled on the day he gets covid. Born under a strange sign.

Australia went like a cautious steak order yesterday – medium well. Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja made half-centuries. Khawaja is still there. 147 for 2 is a healthy start. South Africa could still get right back in it if they can get a couple early and apply pressure, especially with spin given the pitch turned yesterday. Lots of left-handers in the Australian order, and we’re yet to see how the Renshaw covid situation has developed.

For more detail on yesterday, here’s our report.

Preamble

Geoff Lemon