Key events
Liam Plunkett brings down Government?
“But the Downing Street staff could not have been more welcoming that day and they clearly weren’t too concerned about our silliness, plying us with yet more booze at a reception in the No 10 garden. Somehow, against all the odds, Pudsey managed to hold his own in a conversation with the prime minister, Theresa May. God knows what they talked about but two weeks later she stood down from the job.”
Rain delay reading: Taha has had a look at the England white ball set up:
With the 50-over World Cup less than a year away, ODIs are where England must, as Logan Roy might say, be serious people.”
The rain is still falling I’m afraid, I’ll pop back with any updates.
Meanwhile – The Aussie women got the job done against New Zealand in Sydney. Just about.
A low hanging mist of mizzle has settled over St George’s Park and the city in the background. It’s a Patrick Hamilton novel out there at the moment, weather to send you into a dark and cosy tavern for a stiff drink and lengthy ruminate. The full covers on and we might be off for a while.
12.2 overs: Rain stops play, again.
Gah, the rain has returned and the umpires and players scuttle from the field as the covers are hauled on. “Rain never came to help the batter” says Mark Nicholas ominously. Bavuma and Ackerman might disagree though as they head to the sheds for some respite.
12th over: South Africa 20-2 (Ackerman 5, Bavuma 4) Oh and here is Pat Cummins bringing himself on for his first bowl. Nobody said oit was easy. Big Pat lands it on a handkerchief just outside off stump and tests out Ackerman’s forward defence. The opener looks solid enough there but then does have a flap at a shorter ball which raps him on the glove and runs away fine for a couple. Cummins lets out a beaming smile that suggests he quite liked the look of that unconvincing stroke from Ackerman.
James Wallace
11th over: South Africa 18-2 (Ackerman 3, Bavuma 4) Thanks G. Lemon and hello all. My knuckles are greased and ready to call some Scott Boland carnage on what looks like a green’un in Gqeberha. Bavuma gets a thick edge to an unconvincing drive and it flies for a streaky four past the cordon. Boland is in full bag of snakes mode here, decking them back and seaming them away at will. Bavuma blocks out well to survive the over. Don’t go anywhere.
Geoff Lemon
10th over: South Africa 13-2 (Ackerman 2, Bavuma 0) A second run for Ackerman, glanced fine, who will have to get his head in order after watching that drama as the junior partner. Batting with his new skipper now. Hazlewood bumps Bavuma, smashes the gloves uncomfortably. It’s a gloomy, cloudy day. This is not fun batting.
Well, I’m out of time. It will be the esteemed J. Wallace to take you from here.
9th over: South Africa 12-2 (Ackerman 1, Bavuma 0) So close to the hat-trick too! Bavuma the player to face the music, he gets a ball that cuts in and smashes pad in front of the stumps, but there was some bat in that mix as well.
WICKET! Bedingham c Carey b Boland 0, South Africa 12-2
Scotty Boland’s on a hat trick! When is his birthday? What a call to bring him into the side. He’s relentless. The identical length, a touch wider in line, but having seen what has just happened with the nip-backer, Bedingham has to play. Big stride, push forward, but this time it seams away a touch, and nestles for a fraction of a second against the outside edge of the bat before carrying to the keeper.
WICKET! Markram b Boland 11, South Africa 12-1
It’s another Test wicket for Scotty Boland! Oh, does he love one early in a spell. His second over, his 10th delivery, and he has his first Test wicket on South African soil. It’s South Africa’s best batter, into the bargain.
That is just textbook Scott Boland line and length. Just outside off stump, just full of a good length by a couple of inches, so Markram thinks it’s full enough to drive, but it’s not really. It’s not when there’s movement, anyway. And there is, fractional seam movement cutting into the right hander, so that drive on the up gets an inside edge rather than the middle, and back onto the off and middle stumps. I think it was hitting off stump even if it had missed the bat, just a faint nick. He’s rolling in the money.
Australia’s women won the T20. Molineux did get bowled late in the piece, to make it eight down, but they were close to the target by then, and Garth finished it off with seven balls to spare.
8th over: South Africa 12-0 (Markram 11, Ackerman 1) Markram finds a single to long leg, and Ackerman has to face a bit of Hazlewood. Shuffles at him at one stage to defend, which is an interesting tactic. Hasn’t played a single aggressive shot so far, I like this approach from Ackerman who is not scoring but is looking like it’s his decision to (not) do so.
7th over: South Africa 11-0 (Markram 10, Ackerman 1) Boland gets his first roll. Goes at Ackerman, repeatedly, in signature style. Beats his edge once as the ball seams away. Maiden over to start.
6th over: South Africa 11-0 (Markram 10, Ackerman 1) We’re back at the Test. Hazlewood has half an over to finish: on a length, wide of off, on the stumps. Nothing happening via Markram.
At the T20, another bungle from the Australians sees Carey get run out, and they’re seven down needing 18 from 26. I still say Australia have got this comfortably, McGrath and Molineux are the batting pair, with Kim Garth to come, all of whom could bat and have batted top order for most teams.
At the Test, allegedly we’ll be back on in five minutes, with the inspection saying all is well.
Interesting! Gardner and Sutherland take Amelia Kerr for 17 from her final over, meaning she’s bowled her most expensive spell ever in T20s for New Zealand. But next over her sister gets Gardner out on lbw review, then has Sutherland caught in the deep when she didn’t need to try hitting a six. Now needing 22 runs from 33 balls. Six down. Heaps of batting left though.
Lunch – after five and a half overs. South Africa 11 for 0
Finally we’ll get that dratted lunch break out of the way while it’s raining. The caterers at the cricket are the equivalent of the cows of daylight saving, when it comes to spurious reasons not to improve a system. That lunch break is officially ending 17 minutes from now, but I doubt we’ll be back on at the same time.
Or not… Wareham belts 10 in no time, then cuts to point. Now 115 for 4, needing 48 at a run a ball.
Perry smashes past 50 from 27 balls, that’s quick, then gets out a few balls later almost hitting another six. That’s her 54th international 50, to go with the five tons across formats. Never got a T20 international ton, though she has a few in the Big Bash.
Australia three down now for 104, need 58 from 54, in the women’s game. Should be a doddle with Gardner and Wareham batting.
Back to the women’s T20, as predicted, Australia are crushing it. New Zealand did just take their second wicket, Beth Mooney run out, but the Aussies have already piled on 86 runs in eight overs! Goodness. Mooney had 38 from 25 when the direct hit got her, and Ellyse Perry has 41 from 23 at the moment. They’re flying, and Ash Gardner is walking in next, the long-bomb specialist. They basically only need a run a ball from here.
So all that business with the lunch timings will go out the window now. Surely, when there are delays, the default should be to come back and play two hours wherever possible. Maybe even two and a half, extended session, on days when the weather is a problem. Just maximise the minutes played when play is possible, until the players genuinely need a break, and make the broadcasts et cetera work around that. It shouldn’t be complicated.
Rain delay
So we’re off. The Australians might not mind, they weren’t happy with how wet their new ball was getting when Markram drove it across the grass. Very light rain still, but cumulatively the water is still wet. Fish around the globe are shocked.
5.3 overs: South Africa 11-0 (Markram 10, Ackerman 1) Aaaaaand they’re off for rain again. But! Before that! Ackerman got his first Test run! The very last ball before the break, he gets a thick edge along the ground, it just gets past gully, and Ackerman is pushing for the single while Markram is dawdling and prevaricating. Eventually the new player prevails, and gets his career going in numerical terms, before the umpires say it’s too wet outside now.
5th over: South Africa 10-0 (Markram 10, Ackerman 0) Again the Markram squirt, and this time it collects him two runs. Starc’s long loping strides take him up to the crease, but he’s not got his accuracy going today, very wide of off. He’s very distracted by his landing pad, he feels that his feet are slipping as he lands on the damp turf. Can’t noticeably see him slip, but he’s not happy about it, you can see a tentativeness there. That’s around the wicket, and now he goes back over, then bails out of his run-up halfway through, before finally delivering another wide full ball that is, like the last one, driven for four.
4th over: South Africa 4-0 (Markram 4, Ackerman 0) Markram-Starc, Hazlewood-Ackerman, that’s been the configuration today. The man on debut absorbs another over from the man who defined the previous Test with his six-wicket bag in Durban. Ackerman looks nervous but is defending convincingly enough. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop, though. He’s defending good normal Hazlewood balls, but what happens when he gets one that does more?
3rd over: South Africa 4-0 (Markram 4, Ackerman 0) Squared up, Markram squirts Starc into the gully. Leaves more, defends more, then finally get a ball he can drive! Full enough, outside the off stump, and Markram cover drives like he’s wiping a spatula of icing across the top of a cake.
2nd over: South Africa 0-0 (Markram 0, Ackerman 0) Ackerman now has to face the music, and the tune is played by Josh Hazlewood. Gets a brute second ball that decks back into his body, strikes him and ends up in the cordon. Does better than Rickelton, in that he gets through the over unscathed.
1st over: South Africa 0-0 (Markram 0, Ackerman 0) Starc to open up, of course – he holds the record for wickets first ball of a Test, having done it four times. Markram takes first ball to spare his opening partner, who is not a first-class opener, he’s never batted there in 85 matches. No early glory for Starc today, though, he starts too wide of the right-hander’s off stump, allowing four leaves in the over.
Two hours on, we are about to get some play. Hooray.
Yep, my suspicions are confirmed… they will play a session of 90 minutes, then take a lunch break. Ridiculous. You’ve lost two hours already, so you shorten the next session as well? And then they’re projecting to extend play to 6pm, by which time it will surely be too dark. It’s a stupid game.
Plimmer and Green have batted through to score 162 in the end, much better than was on the cards for most of the innings. Still the kind of range that the Australians will run down nine times out of ten. Perhaps today is the tenth?
Ok, the pitch inspection has passed at St George’s Park, and the new start time is 12pm local time, which is when lunch was supposed to begin. Does that mean we’re taking lunch now? Or will they try to jam a 40-minute break in later? Don’t know.
New Zealand’s hundred comes up between Plimmer and Maddy Green in the 15th over. They’ll need to get a move on.
Plimmer does, with a six off Nic Carey.
In Sydney, half century for Plimmer from 40 balls. Nice striking, though she’s also been dropped twice on the way there.
The South African openers might not mind dodging the earliest hour or two of the morning session, with these early starts in South Africa. There will be some moisture on the pitch under the covers, which won’t be fun, but at least starting in the middle of the day might mean that things dry out faster, and it’s less cool and pleasant for the fast bowlers. Marginal gains are still gains.
An inspection is coming up in 15 minutes, at this stage.
New Zealand women just raised their 50 in the 9th over, with Plimmer now settled into her innings able catching up her strike rate and get it above a hundred. Amelia Kerr got out to a diving catch by Lucy Hamilton at fine leg, they’re two down.
There’s a bit of clean-up happening in the centre at the moment, so fingers crossed that it reaches a point of completion.
“I agree about Verreyne, but it’s sad to see, given that he played really well for Nottinghamshire in 2025, but did begin to drop off a bit last season. Loads of talent and determination, but sometimes it just doesn’t click. Any idea why?”
Wouldn’t have a clue, John Starbuck. Verreyne was their best when a very ordinary South African team got clobbered in Australia a couple of years ago. He’s a very dynamic style of batter, fast hands, loves to carve away outside off stump, uppercuts and late cuts, that sort of thing. That’s a fast scoring game but a high risk game. It worked for him with the bounce in Australia, he did score quickly there, not huge scores but was making 50s while nobody else was making anything.
Perhaps when that sort of game drops in effectiveness to 99% from 100%, it goes wrong more noticeably than other game styles? He did have a run of tons after Australia, then dropped off sharply in the last 18 months, although his team doesn’t play much, which doesn’t help.
The women’s game has started at North Sydney Oval. A new player in Fiona Devonshire is off for an early tea, bowled by Kim Garth. Georgia Plimmer has whacked a couple of fours from Lucy Hamilton, but that’s about all there is to cheer about for the Kiwis. They’re 19 for 1 after four overs, not moving quickly.
Still waiting for our start. There’s very light rain at the ground, not enough to bother many of the spectators, but you can’t start a game until it’s perfectly dry, so say the playing conditions.
I like all the changes for South Africa. It’s great that Tristan Stubbs wants to be a Test player, given all his attention from the franchise circuit, but he didn’t look up to speed in Durban, where Breetzke really did take it up to the Aussies in the one-day series, and looked to have a lot to offer technically as well as in attitude.
Ackerman has a monster first-class record and has earned a shot at the next level up, and to make space for him the move involved getting Rickelton out of the opening spot, which he desperately needs based on the evidence of Durban, then having him go down the order to become the keeper in place of Verreyne, who was dreadful last start and hasn’t made runs in any Test for a while.
Then Rabada coming in speaks for itself, although Maharaj has historically taken the fight up to the Australians, so I’d have expected him to stay as the lone spinner. But glad to see Harmer get another chance to show his quality.
So the hosts look stronger up top, stronger in the middle, and stronger as a bowling outfit. It may all fail terribly, but it’s a nice setup before a ball is bowled.
Although with the rain delay, maybe the women’s game is genius timing? There’ll be something to watch in a few minutes’ time.
Mark Chaimungkalanont emails in, with an Australia-NZ T20 for the women’s teams to begin in 10 minutes.
“Surely another miss from CA with the Aussie women’s clashing with the men’s on a Sunday? Watching some top class cricket v NZ after being flogged in the rugby surely was better than a full clash tonight. Nothing else on last night and would’ve been three days after Bangladesh.”
Yes, yes, and yes. The Australian women’s team has an appalling schedule this season and next, shoehorned into October and March. CA will give you umpteen justifications around T20 leagues, ground availability, etc, but the overall impression is very much back to the second-class citizen era. Get your house in order, CA.
Aaaaand just as we’re getting ready for a start in a few minutes, the drizzle returns, and the choreography of the covers returns with it.
The 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.
Teams
So, 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 Rabada
Australia
Nic Maddinson
Travis Head
Marnus Labuschagne
Steve Smith
Matt Renshaw
Alex Carey
Beau Webster
Pat Cummins
Mitchell Starc
Scott Boland
Josh Hazlewood
Australia win the toss and bowl
Pat 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.
Preamble
Geoff Lemon
Hello, 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.
