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South Africa tour of Australia
Test Format
2nd Test
Australia v South Africa
Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne, Australia
26-30 December 2022
South Africa need to improve markedly with the bat if they hope to tie the three-match series at 1-1 against Australia in the second Test at the MGC, which gets underway on Monday, December 26.
The Proteas' struggles at the crease in 2022 continued as they slumped to a six-wicket defeat in the first Test at the Gabba inside two days - the second-shortest Test ever recorded on Australian soil.
Malibongwe Maketa's side were dismissed for 152 in the first innings, with Kyle Verreynne (64) offering the only resistance in the middle as one of just four batters to reach double figures.
The Aussies didn't fare much better on the green pitch with the exception of Travis Head, who scored 92 to fall eight runs short of his sixth Test century.
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Trailing by 66 runs, South Africa capitulated in the second innings as they posted a paltry 99 runs - the eighth time this year they had been dismissed for under 200 (their lowest in a calendar year).
Kagiso Rabada took all four wickets in Australia's second innings to finish the match with eight dismissals and become the leading Test wicket-taker in 2022.
SA skipper Dean Elgar admitted the pitch heavily favoured the bowlers and said they will use the extra three days to iron out their issues at the top of the batting order.
"Another 60 runs might have been a different result. Still trying to wrap my brain around what's happened," Elgar said in his post-match interview. "(On the pitch) It was pretty spicy, if you're a bowler, you'd be licking your lips by how everything unfolded.
"Challenging for the batters, no doubt. That is okay if there is a good contest between bat and ball. Obviously, on the flip side, I don't see it was that way really.
"I'm glad to have three days to go back to the drawing board. Few scars might have opened up. We have more players in the sidelines waiting. If you have quality bowling attacks people will want to watch. But they will want to watch for five days, which obviously did not happen today."
Australia recorded their third Test win in a row to open up a 33-point lead over India in the World Test Championship table.
Pat Cummins shone with the ball in the second innings, taking five wickets for 42 runs in 12.4 overs to finish the match with a seven-wicket haul.
Meanwhile, Mitchell Starc became the seventh Australian to take 300 Test wickets when he sent Rassie van der Dussen back to the pavilion in the first innings.
Cummins was pleased to have come out on top in Brisbane and paid tribute to their pace attack for using the "tricky" surface to their advantage.
"Great couple of days, great way to start the series," he said. "Tricky wicket. Head and [Steve] Smith, the way they got us to a good total was awesome.
"I wasn't happy with my bowling yesterday, couldn't get my lengths right on a greentop on day one. Happy today, I thought all the bowlers were fantastic. We had a couple of partnerships, a couple of batters played well. Head almost got a hundred on it. In a way, happy to have ended on the right side of it."
Head-to-Head (Tests)
Matches - 99
Australia - 53
South Africa - 26
Draws - 20
Test Team Rankings
1 - Australia
4 - South Africa
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