After making headlines for all odd reasons past week, South Africa’s stand-in skipper Faf Du Plessis silenced his critics with an unbeaten 118 against Australia on the first day of the day & night Test at Adelaide. South Africa surprisingly declared on 259/9 and gave Australia 12 overs to bat on until stumps.
Opting to bat first after winning the toss for the third time in a row, South Africa did not make the best of the starts. Mitchell Starc started the proceedings for hosts as he removed Dean Elger early after an lbw decision against Stephen Cook was overturned because of a front foot no-ball.
In no time, Hashim Amla was sent packing by Hazlewood, who has already dismissed him thrice in the series. First match’s centurion JP Duminy too walked back early on five as the visitors were reduced to 44/3 in less than 15 overs.
Faf du Plessis, who was earlier alleged to have tampered the ball during the Hobart Test did not receive the best of the ovations when he came onto bat. After getting booed by the crowd, not only him but the commentators sitting in the box seemed too spirited with such a reaction. Nevertheless, the right-handed batsman then anchored the innings with Temba Bavuma, who after tea lost his wicket to Jackson Bird.
The captain was scoring runs at a good pace but couldn’t build up a partnership as wickets kept on falling at the other end regularly. Right after Kyle Abbot was adjudged of Bird’s delivery, Faf completed his sixth Test hundred and second at the Adelaide Oval after scoring one on his debut on the same ground in 2012.
There could not have been a better way of overcoming the distress caused off-field than scoring a century. Even Australian legend Ian Chappell applauded his ton, calling it as the ‘Hundred of some character’.
While the last batting pair of Faf du Plessis and debutant Tabraiz Shamsi were knocking some balls out in the gaps, came in a surprise declaration from the captain itself. Proteas ended their first innings on a total of 259/9.
Australia then came onto bat but David Warner was seen missing. Later, the reason found out was the southpaw was out of the field for more than 8 mins due to a sore shoulder and thus was not allowed to come and bat.
To fill his position came in the one of the three debutants, Matt Renshaw and Usman Khawaja. The pair scored just 14 runs in the 12 overs escaping some brilliant bowling from the South Africans.
At Stumps On Day 1:
South Africa – 259/9; Faf du Plessis 118*(164), Stephen Cook 40(99), Josh Hazlewood 4/68.
Australia – 14/0; Matt Renshaw 8*(34), Usman Khawaja 3*(39)