From Daily Maverick · Yanga Sibembe · · 2m
Nortje's return gives Proteas edge in first Test
South Africa's fast bowler Anrich Nortje took two wickets on his return after three years away, helping reduce Australia to 187-6 on day one at Durban.
In brief
South Africa's fast bowler Anrich Nortje took two wickets on his return after three years away, helping reduce Australia to 187-6 on day one at Durban. Anrich Nortje took two wickets in his first Test for South Africa in over three years, helping the Proteas reduce Australia to 187-6 on day one at Kingsmead in Durban…
Nortje returns after three years
/file/attachments/orphans/Cricket-Test1report5_737867.jpg)
Fast bowler Anrich Nortje played his first Test for South Africa in over three years, stepping in after Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi were unavailable for the first Test at Kingsmead in Durban.
Nortje bowls at 145 kilometres per hour
/file/attachments/orphans/Cricket-Test1report3_506206.jpg)
Nortje blended in as if he had never left, zipping it in at speeds of around one hundred forty-five kilometres per hour despite his match rustiness in the game's longest format.
Australia reduced to 24 for two early
/file/attachments/orphans/Cricket-Test1report7_748114.jpg)
South Africa's Marco Jansen and Wiaan Mulder opened the bowling and quickly reduced Australia to twenty-four for two after dismissing openers Travis Head and Nic Maddinson.
Maddinson dismissed for a duck
/file/attachments/orphans/Cricket-Test1report1_840333.jpg)
Nic Maddinson, the thirty-five-year-old Australian batter, was dismissed for a duck in his first Test appearance for Australia in a decade, having not registered a single run from thirty-three balls.
Nortje claims two key wickets
/file/attachments/orphans/Cricket-Test1report6_205763.jpg)
Nortje claimed the scalps of Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey and seventh man Beau Webster, both in the second over, reducing Australia to one hundred twenty-four for six.
Smith and Labuschagne dismissed
/file/attachments/orphans/Cricket-Test1report10_662655.jpg)
Wiaan Mulder trapped South Africa-born Marnus Labuschagne leg before wicket for thirty-seven runs just before lunch, then Steve Smith was dismissed for twenty-five off fifty-three balls just after lunch.
Cummins and Renshaw fight back
Captain Pat Cummins and Matt Renshaw mounted a fightback, putting together an unbeaten sixty-three-run stand to drag Australia to one hundred eighty-seven for six when bad light stopped play.
Proteas aim to finish Australia off
When play resumes on Saturday, South Africa will be desperate to snap the Cummins-Renshaw partnership and quickly skittle the rest of Australia's batting lineup to secure a strong first-innings advantage.
Here's the gist
Anrich Nortje took two wickets in his first Test for South Africa in over three years, helping the Proteas reduce Australia to 187-6 on day one at Kingsmead in Durban.
