SA vs AUS, 3rd Test — Day 1 Stumps: South Africa 329 All Out, Australia Yet to Bat as Mitchell Starc's 6/72 Undoes a 158-Run Opening Stand

At lunch on the first day of the decider, the Newlands scoreboard read 140 for 0 and Pat Cummins' decision to bowl looked like the kind of call a captain spends the rest of the week explaining. By the close, South Africa had been bowled out for 329, and nobody could quite say which side had won the day. Four South Africans made half-centuries and none of them reached three figures. The man who made sure of that was Mitchell Starc, who had been taken apart in the morning and finished with 6 for 72.

It was a day that kept changing its mind. South Africa threw away a platform, built a second one through Ryan Rickelton and Marco Jansen, and then lost their last four wickets for two runs to the second new ball. Australia have not yet faced a delivery.

Cummins became the first captain to bowl first at Newlands since Faf du Plessis in 2019. He was hoping for early help from the surface. In the Cape Town sunshine, there wasn't any. Aiden Markram drove Starc for two fine boundaries after a couple of watchful overs, and Starc pushed his pace towards 150kph without finding much movement. He came closest when Marques Ackerman gloved one past a diving Nathan Lyon at leg slip.

That was about the only nervous moment for South Africa. Lyon, recalled for this Test, came on in the 11th over and was expensive. Ackerman hit him for a straight six and reached his first Test fifty off 62 balls. Just before lunch Travis Head dropped a straightforward chance at cover to reprieve Markram on 39, and Ackerman then hit Starc for four consecutive boundaries. At lunch it was 140 for 0 from 27 overs, with Ackerman on 82 and Markram on 56. Australia had rarely had a more listless session under Cummins.

Ackerman kept attacking after the break and survived a fierce return chance that Lyon couldn't hold. With a maiden hundred in sight he grew edgy, charged Lyon and was stumped by Alex Carey for 95 off 94 balls, with 12 fours and two sixes. The opening stand had been worth 158. Markram, who had been happy to play the supporting role, went on to 78 before he holed out to Starc off Josh Hazlewood at 203 for 2.

That started the slide. Temba Bavuma was bowled by Lyon for a third-ball duck the next over, and Matthew Breetzke fell lbw to Cooper Connolly for 2 after an Australian review. South Africa went to tea on 221 for 4, with David Bedingham on 41.

Starc came out after tea and bowled short. Bedingham reached 50 off 78 balls and then top-edged one to Hazlewood. Two balls later Wiaan Mulder gloved a short one to Carey for a duck. From 203 for 1, South Africa were 232 for 6, five wickets down for 29.

Then the day turned again. Rickelton, who survived an Australian review in the 62nd over, and Jansen added 95 for the seventh wicket. Jansen reached his fifty off 66 balls and South Africa passed 300 in the 73rd over. Australia took the second new ball at 80.1, and Starc finished the innings in his next two overs. Rickelton was lbw for 42, Jansen bowled for 52 off the last ball of the same over, then Gerald Coetzee was bowled first ball and Kagiso Rabada was lbw, with South Africa's review unsuccessful. From 327 for 6 they were all out for 329, and Simon Harmer was left on 0 not out.

Australia's day started with bad news before a ball was bowled. Steven Smith was ruled out after failing to recover from a neck injury he picked up in the defeat in Gqeberha. He had a brief net in the morning with a bandage or heat patch on his neck and then wasn't seen for about half an hour. Nathan Lyon, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green and Josh Inglis were recalled, and Scott Boland, Nic Maddinson and Beau Webster were left out. It was the first time Australia had made four changes since the Johannesburg Test that followed the 2018 sandpaper scandal, and this is their first Test at Newlands since that tour.

Lyon's return paid off once the morning was over. He went for 71 in 23 overs but took the two wickets that started the collapse: Ackerman, stumped, and Bavuma, bowled. Connolly picked up Breetzke. Cummins went wicketless in 18 overs for 73, and the day's work fell to his left-arm partner.

For most of the day Starc looked like two different bowlers. In the morning Ackerman took him for four boundaries in a row and Head's drop off his bowling left him biting his collar on the way back to his mark. After tea he went to the short ball, and it got rid of Bedingham and Mulder within three deliveries. With the second new ball he took four wickets in his last two overs, two lbw and two bowled. His 6 for 72 came from 16.3 overs. Starc was hit hard by Ackerman and still bowled South Africa out, and that is the story of the day.

One day in is too early to judge any of the bigger calls, and our preview didn't pick a winner. But some of it has already aged. We wrote that Nathan Lyon had been dropped for Scott Boland and that Australia would go with four seamers. In fact Lyon was recalled and Boland was left out, and Lyon took two wickets. Our key matchup was Rabada and Jansen against Head and Smith, but Smith has been ruled out of the match. We did say the captain who won the toss would "almost certainly bowl first," and Cummins did. We also said 300-plus scores were achievable for batters who got through the opening examination, and South Africa's openers showed that. We expected Ackerman to be tested hardest. Instead he made 95. South Africa's bowlers, whom we backed throughout, haven't bowled a ball yet.

Australia start Day 2 at Newlands without Smith and facing 329, a total that looked like it would be much bigger at lunch. South Africa's attack, with Rabada, Jansen, Coetzee, Mulder and Harmer, needs to show that the surface the openers enjoyed can still take wickets. For South Africa the frustration is the 29 for 5 either side of tea. For Australia it is a morning when the ball did nothing. The series is level, the first innings is half done, and the first hour of Day 2 could matter more than anything that happened on Day 1.