SA vs AUS, 1st Test — Day 2 Stumps: Australia 390 & South Africa 27/1, Trail by 363 as Matt Renshaw's 190 Turns Kingsmead Around

Some innings win you a session. Others take the whole match by the collar. Matt Renshaw walked out on the second morning at Kingsmead on 46, with Australia 187 for 6 and South Africa's seamers still convinced the day was theirs. He walked off a few minutes after tea with 190 against his name, Australia all out for 390, and the shape of this Test changed beyond recognition.

It was not a blitz. It was 397 balls of refusal — 21 fours, one six, and an enormous amount of leaving, defending and waiting. By the time Simon Harmer had him caught by Aiden Markram, Australia had added 203 on the day, and South Africa, who had Australia eight down for 230 before lunch, were looking at a first-innings deficit before they had faced a ball.

The morning started as South Africa would have wanted. Pat Cummins, so composed on the first evening, had added ten to his overnight 33 when Wiaan Mulder found the edge and Markram held the catch: 210 for 7, ending a seventh-wicket stand of 86. Renshaw brought up his fifty off 117 balls, and when the new ball was taken in the 81st over it took only a few balls more for Mulder to bowl Mitchell Starc for 6. At the drinks break Australia were 230 for 8 and the hosts could see the tail.

Nathan Lyon was not in a hurry to become part of it. He and Renshaw saw off the new ball, Renshaw reached his hundred off 204 balls, and at lunch Australia were 277 for 8 — Renshaw 102, Lyon 7.

The afternoon session is the one South Africa will replay in their heads. Lyon kept his end shut with the patience of a man who has spent a career watching batters bat around him, and Renshaw opened up. The ninth-wicket pair raised their fifty off 101 balls and their hundred off 213; Renshaw went to 150 off 311 balls, and Australia passed 350 in the 121st over. Lyon eventually fell lbw to Marco Jansen for 27 off 92 balls — Australia reviewed, and the decision stood — but the stand was already worth 134. Josh Hazlewood then stayed with Renshaw for 52 balls as another 26 arrived.

Australia went to tea on 390 for 9 with Renshaw on 190. Two balls after the break, Harmer — wicketless through 28 overs until that moment — had him caught by Markram, and the innings was over at 390 in 137.2 overs.

South Africa's reply began badly. In the second over Hazlewood had Ryan Rickelton caught by Beau Webster for 0, and South Africa were 0 for 1. Markram survived an Australian review on 2.1 overs, then he and David Bedingham added 27 off 43 balls before bad light, the theme of this Test so far, again cut the day short. South Africa 27 for 1, trailing by 363.

Renshaw's previous highest Test score was 184, against Pakistan at the SCG in 2017. Nearly a decade later, this one surpassed it on a surface where nobody else in the Australian top seven passed 37. That contrast is what makes the innings. Head, Labuschagne, Smith, Carey and Webster made 89 between them; Renshaw made 190.

He went into the 1st Test as a batter with a lot to prove, and he answered with a lesson in what Test batting looks like when the ball is doing something. He trusted his defence, left anything wide of off stump and took his runs off the bad balls. That method kept the scoreboard ticking once the ball softened. From 124 for 6 he shepherded the lower order through stands of 86 with Cummins, 20 with Starc, 134 with Lyon and 26 with Hazlewood. It was the kind of innings that makes a captain's job easier for the next three days.

South Africa will not feel they bowled badly. Mulder finished with 4 for 68, his removal of Cummins and Starc in the morning a reward for relentless control, and Jansen's 3 for 68 came from 31 overs with nine maidens. The problem was the hour after the new ball had lost its shine. Keshav Maharaj went wicketless in 20 overs for 75, Nortje's 2 for 88 came at more than three an over, and the 30 extras the innings conceded are runs a side chasing 390 will feel. The score that had them in control the previous evening, 124 for 6, ended as 390, and 266 runs for the last four wickets is the story of their day.

Our preview argued that the side that "posts a first-innings total north of 350" in Durban would put enormous pressure on the opposition. Australia have done exactly that — though from 230 for 8 it looked very unlikely. We had flagged Renshaw's patience as one of the qualities that let this Australian lineup bat time, and we said Lyon would need to be more than a holding option. We meant with the ball. He delivered with the bat first. Our South African pick, Markram, is 15 not out and carries the reply into Day 3.

South Africa need 164 more just to avoid the follow-on and a lot more than that to stay in this Test. Markram and Bedingham will face a fresh Starc and Hazlewood first thing, with Cummins barely started and Lyon waiting for the footmarks. If Australia can take two early wickets on the third morning, they will begin to think about batting only once. If Markram bats long, Kingsmead could yet produce another twist, because the bad light has already cost both days time. The second Test follows in Gqeberha from October 18.