South Africa’s fiery pace attack completely tore through Australia on Day 4 of the second Test at St George’s Park skittling the tourists for a paltry 99 and their fourth-lowest Test total against the Proteas.
Left-arm quick Marco Jansen stole the show with snagging an incredible 5-33 to leave Australia trailing by 326 runs following South Africa's massive first-innings total of 425-9 declared.
Enforcing the follow-on, the hosts quickly got back to work. Kagiso Rabada struck early in Australia’s second innings, removing opener Nic Maddinson for 8. By tea Team Australia had reached 50-1, still trailing by 276 runs with Travis Head (26*) and Marnus Labuschagne (16*) battling to rebuild.
Despite the dominant session South Africa suffered a major blow when key paceman Anrich Nortje walked off with a groin injury after bowling just 3.3 overs. He was ruled out for the rest of the day's play with leaving the hosts a bowler short as Rabada, Jansen and Wiaan Mulder carry the remaining workload.
Highlighting the session was Steve Smith, top-scored with 28 and became only the third Australian and 12th player overall to pass 11,000 Test runs though he battled a painful neck issue before being bowled by Mulder. Sharp catching in the slips by Simon Harmer and Ryan Rickelton behind the stumps ensured Australia never found momentum.
With nine wickets needed to level the series South Africa remains firmly in the driver’s seat.
Scorecard: Australia 99 (Smith 28, Jansen 5-33, Mulder 2-14, Rabada 2-33) and 50 for 1 (f/o) (Head 26*, Labuschagne 16*, Rabada 1-21) trail South Africa 425 by 276 runs.
