Australia v South Africa, 3rd Test Day 2: 5 Talking Points

Although Australia lost a few wickets in a bit of a hurry towards the close of the second Day’s play at Adelaide, the day well and truly belonged to Usman Khawaja who batted perhaps the entire length of the day. Perhaps, this was also the day wherein the Australians forgot their ongoing woes to impress with some exemplary batting acumen. As for the South African bowlers, they were made to toil rather hard as the likes of Steve Smith and Peter Handscomb impressed with some terrific batsmanship as the day progressed.

The pink ball also seemingly was no problem as far as the Aussies were concerned while Vernon Philander and Kyle Abbott failed to make the ball do much in terms of swing. Tabraiz Shamsi, the South African spinner for the match also went wicketless on the day, something that he certainly is not used to. Mitchell Starc also played a useful hand with the bat as he remained unbeaten at the close of play with Australia ahead by a healthy lead.

1. Australians lose Warner and Renshaw early

The previous day had seen Usman Khawaja make his way out to open the innings with debutant Matthew Renshaw. It was a surprise for one and all that David Warner had opted to stay behind in the haven of the dressing room whilst he received treatment for what went on through the session which just happened to be a matter of a few 10 overs for Australia at the close of play. This also saw players such as Josh Hazelwood and others lash out at skipper Faf du Plessis for the same.

However, the morning session eventually saw Matt Renshaw and David Warner lose their wickets. Both wickets were picked up by Kyle Abbott and ironically, both wickets were caught at slip to similar deliveries. Both catches were also claimed by Dean Elgar at the slip cordon. This was impressive, to say the least especially given the infancy of the innings the Australians were in at the time.

2. Smith and Khawaja begin the revival

What followed the fall of these two wickets was a brief revival led by the skipper Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja. The duo initially began their crusade by playing the South African bowling with the respect it deserved. The fact of the matter also remained that they were looking at the overall perspective of the encounter, something that would go on to help the Aussies dig themselves out of the hole they had gotten themselves into.

While Usman Khawaja was making waves with his amazing batting, it was Steve Smith who was making the bat do the talking with an impressive 59 from 113 deliveries, something that saw him bat into the lunch interval. The duo stitched a partnership of 137-runs before Steve Smith was run-out by Vernon Philander.

3. Usman Khawaja completes ton against all odds

Left-handed batsman Usman Khawaja had been hauled up by his predecessor Matthew Hayden earlier in the month prior to the start of the series for his inconsistency with the bat. ‘Shut up and score runs’ were the words that came out of Hayden’s mouth as the 30-year old southpaw went about his way of doing the same. Following the run-out of skipper Steve Smith, Khawaja began to bat with some tremendous responsibility he had shown in recent times. He would go on to add 99 runs with debutant Peter Handscomb and also remained unbeaten at the close of play on 138.

4. Peter Handscomb makes debut count

As many as three debutants were handed the Baggy Green cap at the start of the match at Adelaide with batsman Peter Handscomb being one of those players. However, there was something special about the innings played by the youngster as the previous partnership had seen Smith and Khawaja add in excess of 130 runs. Handscomb showed initial signs of being a player with a whole lot of nerves, but, the fact of the matter remained that he shrugged off these nerves to make an impression on the selectors who were clearly ready to crack the whip. He began to smack the ball to different parts including a few flashy cover drives, something that he plays incredibly well. He managed 54 off 79 deliveries before being cleaned up by Kyle Abbott.

5. Proteas conclude night with a flurry of wickets

The South African spinners went wicketless in the 32 overs they were handed on the day, meaning that most of the workload was on the Proteas pace trio of Vernon Philander, Kyle Abbott, and Kagiso Rabada. Among these bowlers, only Kyle Abbott was marginally successful as he impressed with some tremendous and accurate bowling. In 25 overs, Abbott managed figures of 3/38 including 11 maiden overs bowled. However, following the dismissal of Peter Handscomb, it was the removal of Nic Maddinson and Matthew Wade that once again opened the floodgates for the Proteas, something that was eventually quenched by Mitchell Starc who batted for almost 50 deliveries.