On this day: South Africa complete a hat-trick of Test series victories in Australia
South Africa toured Australia in 2016-17 for a 3-match Test series including a day-night Test match at the Adelaide Oval. The Proteas were successful in their previous two tours as they won the series in 2008-09 tour by 2-1 margin and later the series in 2012-13 tour by 1-0 margin. However, the Australians were looking strong under the leadership of Steve Smith at least on home conditions. They had not lost a Test series since South Africa defeated them in 2012 at Perth’s WACA Ground to clinch the series.
The WACA Ground stood host for the first Test of the series where the Aussies looked like showing their dominance. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood bagged seven wickets between them to restrict the visitors to 242 shortly after Tea on the first day. The opening pair of David Warner and Shaun Marsh put on 105 in just 21 overs before the stumps on the first day. Their partnership reached 158 in only 35.2 overs before Warner edged one to the slips off Dale Steyn when on 97 in just 100 balls with 16 fours and a six.
South Africa’s third successive Test win in Australia.
Won at
Perth in Dec 2012
Perth in Nov 2016
Hobart in Nov 2016#AusvSA— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) November 15, 2016
It was the first-ever dismissal in the 90s for Warner while his opening partner Marsh also fell for only 68. Steyn was ruled out of the game after taking Warner’s wicket as the veteran pacer suffered a shoulder injury. But Vernon Philander (4) and Keshav Maharaj (3) picked seven wickets between them to bundle out the Aussies to 244. From there on, it was a smooth passage for the Proteas who piled on 540/8 in their 2nd essay thanks to centuries from Dean Elgar and JP Duminy. South Africa went on to seal a 177-run win by bowling out the hosts to 361 with help of Kagiso Rabada’s 5-wicket haul.
Callum Ferguson and Joe Mennie earned their baggy green caps in the second Test to be hosted by the Blundstone Arena in Hobart. On a spicy track, the South Africans elected to bowl first and the decision turned out to be a profitable one. Vernon Philander (5) and Kyle Abbott (3) left the Aussies struggling at 8/4 which soon became 31/6. Debutant Ferguson got runout while another debutant Mennie scored 10 and put on 28 runs for the 7th wicket with his skipper Steve Smith.
Their partnership turned out to be Australia’s best in the innings as they were bowled out for only 85. Smith remained unbeaten on 48 while spending nearly 137 minutes at the crease. South Africa, in reply, lost four wickets for 76 runs on the board before Temba Bavuma (74) found support from Quinton de Kock. The duo put on 144 for the 6th wicket in 46 overs to take the lead close to the 200-run mark. De Kock scored 104 from 143 balls with help of 17 fours and helped South Africa finish on 326.
In the second essay, Usman Khawaja (64) put on two 50-run stands with David Warner (45) and Steve Smith (31). But once Khawaja got out at the score of 129/3, the Aussies could only add another 32 runs for the last seven wickets and bowled out for 161. Abbott, who came in for Steyn, bagged six wickets to go along with his 3-fer in the first innings to become the player of the match. Rabada picked the rest of the four wickets to seal the series for the visitors and also South Africa’s maiden innings win on Australian soil.
