Australia With Edge Heading Into Day Four Against South Africa

Handscomb and Renshaw were among the five changes to the Australian XI for the day-night match at the Adelaide Oval after South Africa clinched the series with back-to-back wins in Perth and Hobart.

Spearhead Mitchell Starc put the second new ball to good use on Sunday, trapping Vernon Philander lbw and clean bowling Stephen Cook with a cracking inswinger.

Starc finished with four wickets for 80 and spinner Nathan Lyon captured three for 60.

Australia coach Darren Lehmann said his players “copped a lot” of criticism before they emphatically halted a run of Test defeats against South Africa, adding that he’d love to keep his new-look team together. “Incredible series to beat Australia 2-1, and to do it three times in a row – it’s fantastic”.

Chasing the mere total of 127, Australia lost David Warner, Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith and reached the required total in 40.5 overs.

Smith will next lead the test side out against Pakistan in another day-night match at the Gabba on December 15 and admitted he would retain some unhappy memories of the South Africa series. Starc ended with a fifty to provide while Hazlewood remained not out on 11.

Faf du Plessis reckons he’ll forget about the booing, eventually, and his enduring memories of the Australian tour will be about South Africa’s against-the-odds series win.

Adelaide Oval groundsmen also shaved two millimetres from the grass length on the pitch and the result impressed Australian skipper Steve Smith.

In Handscomb’s stunning catch that accounted for South Africa’s best batter of the first innings.

Cook can now consider that job done, even though that relief will be dulled by knowing what it feels like to finish on the losing side for the first time in his six tests. At right is former South African cricketer Kepler Wessels who presented du Plessis with the trophy.

Newly minted Australia opener Matt Renshaw has taken great satisfaction from his grinding second-innings knock in the Adelaide Test, which lasted 137 balls and yielded 34 runs.

This team, led intelligently by Du Plessis, have played for each other and the Proteas badge.

The left-hander inside-edged a pull to midwicket and set off for a single only for Renshaw to send him back, leaving Warner stranded as Temba Bavuma and De Kock completed the run out.

Smith says the new faces helped gee up the team significantly in the build-up to the Test.

Du Plessis chose to review the decision, but it remained as the ball missed the bat by a significant distance.

His ability on the first evening to survive 12 overs against an in-form South African attack with new pink ball under lights was a key play in the game. “I felt a bit of a switch straight away in energy and presence come our first training session in Adelaide”, he said. I’m proud of today, it was a big day for me to stand up as a captain and make sure I lead from the front.

Du Plessis is South Africa’s hero, Australia’s villain was posted in Sports of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on November 28, 2016 and was last updated on November 28, 2016.