Australia bowl South Africa out in Durban to win first Test before tea on day five
Josh Hazlewood's 6-49 did the damage as the Proteas' batting folded at Kingsmead, handing the tourists a 1-0 series lead.
Australia bowled South Africa out to win the first Test in Durban, wrapping up the match before tea on day five. As Al Jazeera reported on 13 October, Josh Hazlewood took 6-49 as the visitors cleaned up the South African batting.
That is the whole of the result in one line. The detail that a South African reader will want, and that the wire summary does not carry, is what it means for the series and for a home summer that has started with a defeat at Kingsmead.
Hazlewood’s six wickets are the headline figure of the match. A six-for in the second innings of a Test is the kind of return that decides games, and it decided this one. The South African batting did not survive the morning session, and the Australians did not need the full day to finish the job.
For the Proteas, the loss is the first of the series and puts them behind with the second Test to come. The schedule and venues for the remainder of the series are not carried in the source material for this report, so we are not going to state them here. What is on the record is the result, the margin of the defeat, and the man who took the wickets.
South African readers who followed the match will know the shape of a home Test that slips away on the final morning. The crowd at Kingsmead watches a chase or a rearguard, the bowlers rotate, and the game ends earlier than the ticket suggested. That is what happened here, and it happened before tea.
We will carry the second Test when it is played. For now, the record is simple. Australia won the first Test in Durban. Hazlewood took 6-49. South Africa are 1-0 down.
