South Africa v Australia: second men’s cricket Test, day one – live

Key events9m agoTeams14m agoAustralia win the toss and bowl24m agoPreambleThe big call is once again the fast-bowling selection. Nathan Lyon was never left out of an Australian team when available from August 2013 to July 2025. Played 116 Tests in that span. Today he’s been left out for the third time in the last eight Tests that he’s been fit for. It’s a severe change in approach from the national side.The big reason is that Scott Boland is so good, and is sitting on the sidelines so much of the time. They love his effectiveness but he can’t get past the other three quicks when they’re all fit. So with this surface expected to be effective for his bowling style – very accurate, fuller than the others, threatening stumps and pads more often – he’s in.TeamsSo, mature-age debutant Ackerman will be into the action immediately, opening the batting this morning. Steve Smith is playing after some concern following his head knock in Durban.South Africa Aiden Markram Marques Ackerman David Bedingham Temba Bavuma * Matthew Breetzke Ryan Rickelton + Wiaan Mulder Marco Jansen Simon Harmer Anrich Nortje Kagiso RabadaAustralia Nic Maddinson Travis Head Marnus Labuschagne Steve Smith Matt Renshaw Alex Carey Beau Webster Pat Cummins Mitchell Starc Scott Boland Josh HazlewoodAustralia win the toss and bowlPat Cummins has no hesitation in bowling first, something he’s done more than most captains. He cites the fact that it’s a damp morning, that the wicket will be freshest today, and rather burying the lede, that they have once again dropped their spinner to play four fast bowlers, with Scott Boland coming in for Nathan Lyon.Temba Bavuma says, “We were undecided, but a decision has been made on our behalf.” Understated as ever. For his team, Marques Ackerman will debut, Matthew Breetzke comes in to help the batting, and then there’s Rabada. So that means Verreyne and Stubbs miss out from the batting side of things, and interestingly Keshav Maharaj is the spinner dropped rather than Simon Harmer. Maharaj bowling left arm is very much the senior bowler, but Harmer the off-spinner may have been preferred with so many Australian left-handers.Interesting given left-arm spin has been effective against Australian sides for a while now.PreambleGeoff LemonHello, cricket pals. Get ready for something spicy. And wet. Spicy and wet. The tom kha soup of cricket. It’s coming to your table very shortly, direct from Gqeberha, which you may know historically as Port Elizabeth.Here’s the deal. Australia in South Africa, tough away trip but they’ve got a record doing it, very competitive and tense history between the teams, not to mention some… uh… stuff that happened last time that was spoken about exhaustively in the first place. And amid all this context, Australia rolled up and grabbed the first Test in Durban despite a batting collapse on day one.Point two, South Africa will revamp their side quite substantially, and oh oh oh oh, Rabada’s back. Last time we had this tour, Australia also won in Durban but then got torn up by Rabada in Gqeberha. This time he’s coming off a hamstring injury, so point one will be whether he can bowl at his best and get through without aggravating it.South Africa have to grab this game to stay in the series, and there are precious World Test Championship points / chunks of win percentage on offer. Shall we?Geoff will be here shortly to take you through the first half of the day, but for now remind yourselves of how Australia took a 1-0 series lead with victory on day five of the first Test in Durban.