David Warner got off to a blistering start to the second day of the MCG, reaching half a century with his 100th Test run and becoming the eighth Australian batsman to complete 8,000 Test runs. Australia’s only blemish in an otherwise perfect session as they overturned South Africa’s lead was Marnus Rabchagne’s dismissal against the flow of play. That was the only wicket dropped in the morning session, as Australia picked 91 runs in 24 overs to go 136 for 2, just 53 runs behind South Africa.
Warner saw him play 51 balls at the end of his first day, which was bounced back by the South African Quix. He scored his 32 runs but his stay was best described as a scratch one. It handled the impact against a short, wide ball from Labada on the morning of the second day and quickly disappeared through the window when he sliced past the point of four in two overs on the second day.
South Africa’s fast-paced trio of Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Henrich Nortje used a lot of short bowling, but both Warner and Labuschagne managed well in the early passages of the game. It took a moment of misunderstanding between the two batsmen to give South Africa a lucky break when Warner called for a second run on a fall.
Labuchaneu comfortably completed his first run and made several steps before seeing Warner already covered three-quarters of 22 yards on his second run. He then sprinted and tried to reach the end of the non-forwards before the throw reached Norce there, but even a desperate leap was not enough as he was caught just short of the crease. One over later, Warner off his 50-72 ball in his 35th Test.
Australia’s opener then topped 8000 Test runs as conditions were favorable for batsmen on his second day in the heat. Marco Jansen was one of his better bowlers in the South African session and twice he created wicket-taking opportunities against Steve Smith. In the first, the outside edge narrowly missed the second slip, and in the second, Kyle Verain was caught on a hard edge and pulled away from Smith’s glove. We were approaching the 25th century.
Short score:
53 behind Australia 136/2 (David Warner 86, Steve Smith 19) South Africa 189 (Marco Jansen 59, Kyle verreynne 52, Cameron Green 5-27, Mitchell Stark 2-13)