Kagiso Rabada (Fake Images)
Australia captain Pat Cummins led a barrage of pace that tore Proteas apart before his team chased a target of 34 to claim victory in two days in a hostile Gabba field despite the best efforts of Kagiso Rabada, who took four quick wickets.
After finishing their first innings with 66 runs in front halfway through the opening session on Sunday, Australia dismissed the visitors for just 99 despite Khaya Zondo failing to score 36 runs.
But the Australians then lost a cheap four wickets in the chase when leader Rabada went wild, with Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Steve Smith and Travis Head all falling behind the wicket.
However, Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green, with the help of 15 extras, guided Australia home to give them a 1-0 lead in the three-match series on a day when 19 wickets fell.
SCORECARD | Australia v Proteas – 1st Test
“Tough port. I thought the way Head and Smith batted (in the early innings) got us into this winning position,” Australia captain Pat Cummins said.
Man of the match Head added: “A very difficult wicket, a lot for the bowlers. We saw it throughout the game. It’s nice to be able to contribute and get a win.”
Despite the victory, the Australian selectors will be concerned about Warner’s form after another failure.
Warner must play his 100th Test in Melbourne on Boxing Day without scoring a century in almost three years, as calls for him to be dropped mount.
Both teams came into the series with high-quality bowling attacks, but Australia’s batting always looked stronger.
And on a green wicket from Gabba, South Africa’s weaknesses at the top of the order were brutally exposed.
“Another 60 runs and we would have been in the game. Quite a racy wicket, bowlers smacking their lips,” said South Africa captain Dean Elgar.
“I don’t think we could have prepared any better. Conditions were not in the hitters’ favor.”
South Africa fell to 27-4 in the first innings and 5-3 in the second, positions from which they never recovered.
While the Aussies also struggled at times, Head’s superb 92 off 96 balls showed the difference between the two teams.
Australia started the day at 145-7 and South Africa did well to restrict them to 218, a lead of 66.
But the South African batsmen never considered the task of setting up a competitive total for Australia after falling to 3-2 at lunch.
stop rot
Although Temba Bavuma and Zondo tried to start a rally in the intermission session, they continued to lose wickets in groups to a rampant onslaught of Australian bowlers.
Cummins, who finished 5-42, started the second innings badly when he caught his South African counterpart Dean Elgar lbw for two in just the second over.
Mitchell Starc then took his 300th career wicket when he bowled Rassie van der Dussen for a duck.
South Africa limped off for lunch, but Cummins struck again shortly after the restart when Sarel Erwee got a top edge into a gully where the two-metre-tall Green jumped high for an excellent catch.
With South Africa reeling at 5-3, Bavuma and Zondo survived a torrid scrutiny from Cummins, Starc and Scott Boland before slowly beginning to reduce the deficit.
Bavuma made it to 29 before playing Nathan Lyon to leave South Africa 47-4.
Boland then had first innings leading scorer Kyle Verreynne catch the second slip before bowling to Maro Jansen two balls later to leave South Africa 48-6, still 18 runs from getting Australia to bat again.
Keshav Maharaj struck to make a quick 16 before Starc got caught behind, before Zondo and Rabada survived the tea break.
But the wickets fell quickly after the break with Cummins particularly dangerous with his flawless line and length.
