Australia Beat South Africa by 214 Runs in Durban as Hazlewood Takes Career-Best 6-49
Australia beat South Africa by 214 runs on the final day of the first Test at Kingsmead to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, Josh Hazlewood finishing the match with career-best Test figures of 6-49.
Set 421 to win, South Africa were bowled out for 206 shortly after resuming on 102-4. Matt Renshaw, who made 190 and 82 and took two second-innings wickets, was named player of the match.
Renshaw Rescues the First Innings
Australia won the toss and batted, and for much of the opening two days looked to have got it wrong. They were 124-6 with the innings in danger of folding well short of a competitive total, Wiaan Mulder and Marco Jansen having taken four of those wickets between them.
Renshaw then batted for 397 balls. He added 86 for the seventh wicket with Pat Cummins, who made 43, 20 for the eighth with Mitchell Starc, and 134 for the ninth with Nathan Lyon, the largest stand of the innings. Lyon's 27 came from 92 balls in support. A further 26 came with Hazlewood before Renshaw was last out for 190, caught by Aiden Markram off Simon Harmer.
The last four wickets had added 266 runs and taken Australia to 390. Mulder finished with 4-68 and Jansen 3-68.
South Africa's reply was quick but never settled. They were bowled out for 284 in 78 overs without a single batsman reaching fifty, David Bedingham's 49 the closest anyone came. Cummins took 3-54, with Starc, Lyon and Hazlewood sharing six more between them, and Australia led by 106.
A Declaration That Left No Way Out
Australia's second innings was a different exercise entirely. Nic Maddinson made 48 from 38 balls, Renshaw followed his 190 with 82 from 99, and the scoring rate lifted sharply from the grind of the first innings. Beau Webster finished unbeaten on 39 and Cummins hit 32 from 12 balls, including four boundaries, before declaring on 314-6.
That left South Africa 421 to win with a day and a session available, and set Hazlewood and Starc loose on a fourth-innings surface. Anrich Nortje and Keshav Maharaj each took two wickets in the innings, but Harmer's 1-121 across the match reflected how little the pitch offered the slower bowlers once Australia committed to attacking.
The Fourth-Innings Collapse
South Africa's resistance rested almost entirely on Markram, who batted for close to six hours for 75 from 237 balls. His 69-run stand with Mulder had lifted the score from 86-4 to 155-5 before Hazlewood found reverse swing to remove Mulder, who had occupied 110 balls for 29.
From there it unravelled. Renshaw had dismissed Temba Bavuma late on the fourth day and removed Kyle Verreynne on the fifth to leave South Africa 156-6. Jansen counter-attacked for 35 from 54 balls, adding 45 with Markram, before Hazlewood bowled him. Harmer went for a duck, Starc finally ended Markram's innings with a catch to Alex Carey, and Hazlewood closed the match by dismissing Nortje.
The last four wickets fell for five runs. Hazlewood's 6-49 came from 16.5 overs and gave him eight for the match. Carey took four catches in the innings.
What It Means for the Series
The result is a notable reversal of the tour's early form. South Africa had won the preceding one-day series 2-1, with Maharaj named player of that series, and came into the Test as the home side with momentum.
Bavuma was measured in defeat. "We can learn from the way they went about it," the South Africa captain said, while coach Shukri Conrad suggested the side would benefit from the experience, saying "we'll be better for this run under the belt."
Renshaw, whose match return of 272 runs and 2-30 settled the Test, was content with his role in the order. He said it had been "pretty nice" to bat in the middle order and that he was "happy to do whatever the team needs me to do."
The second Test begins on 18 October at St George's Park in Gqeberha, with the third to follow from 27 October.
