Starc: “We’re 1-0 up, so it’s on South Africa”

Day 3 saw the second Test match between South Africa and Australia take a huge turn as Temba Bavuma, Marco Jansen and Simon Harmer led the Proteas’ fightback.

South Africa declared at 9/425 and sent in Australia to have a few overs of batting before stumps in the hope of catching a late wicket.

To the Proteas’ delight, Kagiso Rabada struck in the opening over with Nic Maddinson attempting to drive a ball on the up and edging it to the third slip.

Australian paceman Mitchell Starc joined SEN Cricket at stumps and remained confident despite facing an uphill battle to claim the series in this Test.

"We're one-nil up, so it's on South Africa," Starc said.

As the pitch flattened out with some more favourable batting conditions, the South Africans looked much more comfortable at the crease and made the Australian bowling attack work hard for their wickets.

“It was a bit of a toil there,” Starc said.

“It's clearly a nice surface there and it's changed a fair bit from that little stint on day one with the wind we've had and the sunshine it's dried out a fair bit.

“There’s still enough there with the hard new ball.

“We saw it get a lot easier once you get some overs into that ball and seam gets a little bit softer, it becomes a game of sticking to your plans and trying to draw out the full shot.”

The task wasn’t easy for the Aussies who lost Josh Hazlewood on Day 2 to a stomach issue and was unable to bowl until after lunch on Day 3.

“We were a man down for 100 overs or whatever it was, which obviously changes plans when you've got your three front-liners rotating a fair bit more, Beau Webster having to play a different role and probably bowling more than he expected to,” Starc said.

“I thought he bowled quite nicely throughout as well, but it changes things when you're a front-liner man down, but look I thought we were really good in different spells.”

Starc was full of praise for South African bowler Marco Jansen who showed a level of dynamism and class with the bat that propelled the Proteas to a strong position.

“Obviously Marco came out and changed the course of the innings with taking the momentum back and putting his foot down,” Starc said.

“Temba (Bavuma) obviously played really nicely and I think the wicket's still quite nice.”

There was also a lot of appreciation for the efforts of Scott Boland who took his third 5-fa in his 20 Test matches with figures of 5/81.

“There's a lot of reasons we love Scotty, but when he gets his opportunity, he comes in and really makes the most of it,” Starc said.

“I thought he was phenomenal throughout the innings, and hopefully he can replicate that in the second innings.”

Day 4 will require some heroics from Australia with the bat in order to wrestle back control of the Test match with a victory looking unlikely, but not impossible. Meanwhile, the South Africans will be hoping to topple Australia’s batting lineup cheaply and set themselves up for a series levelling win.

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