South Africa’s extras
For most of day one, I was counting the extra column, because South Africa were all over the place. They started with four leg byes, and continue to bowl like that. They had too many no balls, and even a wide. A wide. On day one of a Test with a pitch doing something. Pitiful.
19 runs from extras may not seem like a lot, but it’s ten percent of Australia’s total. And for a while leg byes were their best batter today.
And South Africa also wasted the new ball. Twelve balls were hitting the stumps in the first session. That’s with them starting with their medium pace of Wiaan Mulder. Australia couldn’t reach the deliveries to punish them.
The Anrich Nortje double strike and Travis Head’s leg side strangle made their day look much better. But even if you think South Africa are in front, they could have almost ended this game against Australia’s shaky top order. Instead, this match is very open and South Africa still have wickets to get.
