The Australian cricket team is in the driving seat after day two of the first Test match against South Africa at Kingsmead in Durban.
The Aussies posted a competitive 351 in their first innings and by stumps had bowled the Proteas out for a shocking 162.
Australia’s batsmen were cautious when they resumed their innings on 225 for five.
They safely navigated the opening six overs before Kagiso Rabada was given the new ball.
The steamer struck almost immediately with the perfect line and length to dismiss Tim Paine for 25.
Skipper Faf du Plessis took a bit of a gamble when he brought on spinner Keshav Maharaj with the ball still relatively new, but it paid dividends as Maharaj bowled Pat Cummins for three.
Mitchell Marsh who resumed his innings on 32, made slow progress but continued to anchor the innings and he was rewarded with is third Test half-century, bringing it up with a boundary.
Mitchell Starc scored a flurry of runs for the visitors just before the break, he shared in a 49-run eighth wicket stand with Marsh, smashing 35 runs from just 25 deliveries to take the visitors’ total to 300.
But Maharaj struck again on the stroke of lunch, again sneaking through the gate, to dismiss Starc and the Aussies went into the interval on 300 for eight.
Marsh looked to accelerate in the second session and on 96 went for a big shot, but eventually holed out to mid-on.
Maharaj brought an end to the Australians innings in the next over, claiming his maiden five wicket haul at his home ground the fourth of his career, as the visitors were bowled out for 351.
South Africa’s openers made a decent start against Australia’s seamers but Captain Steve Smith also decided to use his spinner earlier than usual.
And Nathan Lyon the leading wicket taker in Test cricket in 2017, struck immediately.
He removed Dean Elgar for five and a few deliveries later followed that up with the wicket of Hashim Amla for a duck and the Proteas were reduced to 27 for two.
Cummins accounted for Aiden Markram for 32 on the stroke of tea and the home side went to tea on 55 for three still trailing by 296 runs.
Starc also got in on the action in the final session.
The seamer dismissed the Proteas skipper du Plessis for 15 and little while later also had Theunis de Bruyn back in the pavilion for six and the Proteas were in trouble on 108 for five.
AB de Villiers was the only South African batsman to produce a score of any significance.
As is his style de Villiers made batting look easy notching up is 43rd Test 50.
But he ran out of partners in the dying overs as the South Africans lost their last four wickets for the addition of just 11 runs.
Starc recorded his ninth five wicket haul in Tests to bundle out the Proteas for an embarrassing 162 — still 189 runs adrift of the Aussies first innings.
