Australia meltdown and other talking points as South Africa register resounding win in Newlands Test

Ashish Peter - Senior Writer 20:59 25/03/2018
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    • Morne Morkel picked up a five-wickel haul in his final Newlands appearance.

    South Africa completed a remarkable 322-run victory over Australia in the third Test at Cape Town to take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the four-match series.

    With the spectre of the ball-tampering saga casting a dark cloud over the Newlands Test, the hosts bundled out the visitors for just 107 runs in front of a vociferous home support after setting them a huge target of 430 runs in the final innings.

    Here, we look at the key talking points from a Test that will live long in the memory of cricket fans around the world.

    BALL-TAMPERING SAGA’s AFTERSHOCKS

    After Steve Smith’s admission that the ball-tampering plan was hatched by Australia’s ‘leadership group’, the cricketing world was left shell-shocked.

    When the time came to take the field on Sunday, it was wicket-keeper Tim Paine who led the side out as Smith and his deputy David Warner were stood down from their roles for the Test.

    Smith was later handed a one-Test suspension by the ICC and fined 100 per cent of his match fees while Cricket Australia opened their own investigation into the cheating scandal. It was no surprise, therefore, to see Smith receive the loudest boos of the day from the Newlands crowd as he walked out to bat.

    The Aussies, especially Smith, faced a hostile crowd throughout the day as ‘sandpaper-gate’ dominated Sunday’s play.

    LYON GETS TO 300

    After Morne Morkel had breached the 300-wicket mark in the first innings, Australia’s Nathan Lyon became the second bowler in the Test to reach the mark.

    The off-spinner joined the club when he had Kagiso Rabada stumped by Tim Paine in the first session on Sunday. In doing so, he became the seventh Australian bowler to reach the 300-wicket mark in Test cricket.

    It was a rare moment of celebration for the Aussies on the fourth day after looking like a deflated bunch.

    AUSTRALIA SELF DESTRUCT

    Chasing 430 to win in the second innings, the visitors got off to a good start with openers David Warner and Cameron Bancroft racing to 57-0 in 20 overs. Disaster struck after that, as Bancroft was stitched up for the second time in the Test as Warner set off for a suicidal single. Faf du Plessis did not miss his mark with the throw as the protagonist of the ball-tampering saga made his walk back to the pavilion.

    Very soon, Keshav Maharaj had Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh dismissed off successive deliveries after Warner was dismissed while guiding a Kagiso Rabada delivery straight into the hands of AB de Villiers at third slip.

    In the space of 20 balls, the visitors had lost four wickets and the innings spiraled out of control.

    NEWLANDS PLAYS ITS PART

    Losing four wickets in quick succession was not the end of Australia’s collapse at Newlands. In the simmering cauldron that was the Newlands on Sunday, the crowd got their money’s worth when Smith, in a carbon copy of his first-innings dismissal, edged Morne Morkel to gully for just seven runs.

    As the crowd delivered their loudest roar of the day, Australia’s cause was well and truly lost with the dismissal of their best batsman. The procession of batsmen walking back to the dressing room continued as a sense of inevitability engulfed Cape Town. A deflated Aussie bunch seemed to be going through the motions as the last five wickets fell for just 21 runs to give the hosts a resounding victory with Morkel finishing with 5-23.

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