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The highly-anticipated Gabba Test between Australia and South Africa only lasted two days, and the hosts managed to register a✱ victory by six wickets. It was juﷺst the second time in history tha♏t a Test match in Australia was finished in the space of two days.
The green top surface wreaked havoc on both batting line-ups, as 34 wickets ܫfel🌃l in six sessions of the game. After packing South Africa for 99 on Sunday afternoon, Australia had a mere 34-run target to win the contest.
The ru🥃n-chase, which could have been a cakewalk, was nothing but pure chaos as the hosts ended up losing four wickets before eventually reaching the targe𝐆t.
Earlier on the day, Australia resumed their first innings at 5/145, with Travis Head cruising towards another Test century. However, the left-handed batter fell eight runs short of a triple-figure score after being dismissed by Proteas seamer Marco Jansen. The rest of Australia’s l🎶ower order couldn’t do much, and the home team only managed to get a first-innings lead of 66, which ultimately proved to be more than enough.
Australian skipper Pat Cummins was the chief destroyer in the second innings, bagging his eighth five-wicket haul in the red-ball format and finishing with figures of 5/42 from 12.4 overs as the tourists were bundled out for 99 – their lowest team total on Austr🐽alian soil in 90 years.
Brief Scores: Australia 218 (Travis Head 92, Kagiso Rabada 4/76) and 35/4 (Marnus Labuschagne 5*, Rabada 4/13) beat South Africa 152 (Kyle Verreynne 64, Nathan Lyon 3/14🐟) and 99 (Temba Bavuma 29, Pat Cummins 5/42) by six wickets.
Here is how Twitter reacted:
Austrꦇalia get the job done. 💦But not without a few scares!
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau)
It’s been fun but it’s all happened too quickly.
Pitဣch too grassy and green especially when you have two outstanding bowling units who don’t need generous conditionsไ to have an impact.— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket)
Strike rate of less than 50 for 300 Test wickets… the guy has caught♔ a lot of flak for a bloke that has been an absolute weapon. Congratulations, Mitchell Starc 👏
— Corbin Middlemas (@CorbinMiddlemas)
Cameron Green is a three-metre high, three-metre ♛wide wingspan of death in the gully
— Louis Cameron (@LouisDBCameron)
Pat Cummins as Australian captain
13 matches
9 wins
3 draws
1 defeat— Nic Savage (@nic_savage1)
I'll be pleased not to be up at 2am tomorrow but this is comfortably the worst Test I've covered. There's going to be a lot said about the pitch – and yes, it's unfortunate that SA have to bat on surfaces like this a lot – but more should be said about the batting.
— Firdose Moonda (@FirdoseM)
Dean Elgar in Tests in Aus:
0, 0, 12, 127, 17, 5, 0, 3, 2
166 runs @ 18.44
— Adam Burnett (@AdamBurnett09)
Lowest targ🌞et chase in Tests when a bowler took four-wicket haul:
34 – Kagiso Rabada🇿🇦 v AUS, today
65 – Nick Cook🏴 v PAK, 1984
73 – Manny Martindale🏝️ v ENG, 1935
74 – Sanath Jayasuriya🇱🇰 v ENG, 2001
78 – Muttiah Muralitharan🇱🇰 v ENG, 2006— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats)
Mitchell Starc’s 300th Test wicket is outrageously beautiful 🤩 ಞ
— Chloe-Amanda Bailey (@ChloeAmandaB)
Australia vs Soꦗuth Africa first Test match finished in 144.2 overs.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns)
Maybe it’s because he’s a current player that he’s not spoken of in more reverential tones, but I don’t think Australian fans appreciate en🅰ough how good a Test bowler Mitchell Starc has been. 7th Australian to 300, and the best strike rate of 𓆏them all.
— Andrew Wu (@wutube)
Rabada claimed 4-1🍷3 (maybe he was just a little p***ed off at yet anotherꦦ failed batting effort)
Australia won by 6 wick🥂ets and go 1-0 up after just 2 days
— ThePoppingCrease (@PoppingCreaseSA)
