South Africa may boast an excellent pace attack, but it won’t matter if their batsmen can’t score runs. This is their fourth setback in a row, and with each loss, qualifying for the WTC final gets farther away. They still have a Test left on this trip, so there is yet hope. Australia vs South Africa at home for the first time in 17 years, and this deserves to be celebrated. They may be missing several regulars for the Sydney Test, but expect them to try for the clean sweep. That’s all we’ve got. We hope you found our coverage useful. Stay safe and have a great new year till next time. Goodbye!
Australia vs South Africa:
Australian Captian, Pat Cummins It (the victory) is right there. We’ve had some terrific games with South Africa, and we hadn’t won at home against them in 20 years, so it was pretty amazing. I think Warner and Smith batted bravely in the heat. Starc and Green, too, pushed their ailments aside and showed them. Davey was fantastic; you could feel his intensity from the first ball, and to accomplish it in his 100th Test is incredible.
He (Carey) has definitely confirmed his position in the Test team, and a century on Boxing Day is something remarkable. He’s OK (Lyon), he simply got winded. Starc and Green will almost certainly miss the Sydney Test. Boxing Day is a big deal, and this year was extra special since we were celebrating Warnie.
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South Africa captain:
Dean Elgar It’s not easy right now. That was quite a thrashing. We need to do a lot of reflecting before we go forward. This Test yielded a few favorable results, but not many. We lost a lot of hitters in the previous several years, so inexperience with the bat has played a factor. However, this provided a chance for newbies to come out, perform, and make a permanent claim in this batting group. But it is absolutely harming us right now. There’s a lot on the line in Sydney, South Africa is a proud cricketing country, and 2-1 sounds a lot better than 3-0.
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David Warner | Player of the Match:
Outstanding effort by the guys to complete the task. Green and Starc did some insane things, while Carey had a tremendous hundred. What a contest it turned out to be, the 100th Test in front of a full MCG. For me, the knock will be right up there. I’ve always known I had what it took to perform on a huge platform. (When asked whether this was his last Boxing Day Test, he said, “I’m committed to playing in next year’s World Cup (50-over competition in India), I’ll keep myself healthy, try to keep scoring, but if they (team management) slap me on the back and say it’s time, I’m ready” (to quit)
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Mitchell Starc:
We take satisfaction in our performances over the previous 18-24 months, and this week was another important triumph for us. It was great to overcome the injuries and contribute to the victory. I wasn’t sure (about his finger injury), I simply wanted to see if I could bowl through the agony; I’ll be out of commission for a few weeks, but it was worth it. I’ll have to investigate the problem and determine the extent of the harm. With the next India trip, I obviously want to return as soon as possible.
He (on David Warner) and Alex Carey set up the game for us after going through a lot with all the outside noise and then delivering in such a way. It was good to not bowl under 38 degrees after winning the toss and bowling. We put them under pressure, and it was fantastic to build up this victory.
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Australian pacers:
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The day began with Erwee and Theunis de Bruyn holding off the Australian pacers. They were batting without much difficulty until Starc bowled a blistering yorker and they lost three wickets in a row. Bavuma and Verreynne began the rebuilding process once again, adding a 50-plus partnership for the fifth wicket, but as expected, one brilliant ball from Boland ended their relationship as well. Bavuma went to fifty, but he sacrificed two partners and threw it away when playing a slog sweep.
The rest was simple since the tail was not prepared to fight and wanted to get it over with by playing their shots. All of the Australian bowlers took a wicket, with Lyon taking three. Keep an eye out for the presentations. South Africa needed a miracle to tie the series, but they could have shown a little more fight and prolonged the game to day five, instead of surrendering meekly in little over two sessions.
The same script had played out in the previous four Tests: hitters putting themselves in but not showing enough effort to turn it into a huge score. Without the final couple flinging their bats about, Australia vs South Africa would have gone eight innings without reaching 200. However, Australia deserves credit for getting the job done despite losing Green to a finger injury and Starc bowling with a broken finger.
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