Mitchell Starc leads Australia’s fightback with six-wicket haul on day 1 of Cape Town Test

Mitchell Starc led Australia’s brilliant fightback on the first day of the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town. Starc finished with six wickets for 72, dismissing the Proteas for 329 shortly before stumps on Tuesday (Oct 27) at Newlands.

South Africa raced to 140 for no loss at lunch on the opening day after being sent in. The openers Aiden Markram and Marques Ackerman punished the Aussie quicks, including Starc, with the left-arm seamer conceding 39 runs in his first seven overs. However, it was his spell late in the day that triggered South Africa’s collapse, as they lost their last four wickets for just two runs.
"We probably expected more out of the wicket," said Starc. "It was quite slow, with tennis ball bounce. They came at us hard.

"We didn't have our best stuff in the first two hours, but the last two sessions were right up there. It's what we expect from this group. We had a reset at lunch and just tried to change the momentum in the field."

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Ackerman, playing his second Test, was the aggressor of the two, as he whacked Starc for four fours in an over, setting the tone for the hosts. Quickly racing to his 90s, Ackerman danced down the track to Nathan Lyon, only for the veteran spinner to outfox him and dismiss him for 95.

South Africa lost five wickets in the second session, including captain Temba Bavuma on a three-ball duck.

Starc accounted for David Bedingham for 50 before returning to tear into South Africa’s tail and pick up a memorable six-wicket haul. Starting with Ryan Rickelton, Starc’s banana swing trapped him in front of the stumps before dismissing Marco Jansen next and the two seamers Gerald Coetzee and Kagiso Rabada on zero.