During the third Test match between South Africa and Australia currently underway in Cape Town, pace bowler Kagiso Rabada found himself holding an unwanted record on the opening day that he would surely prefer to forget. Facing the hostile bowling attack of Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc, Rabada failed to open his account and was dismissed without scoring. With this dismissal, he officially surpassed all his compatriots to become South Africa's most frequent batter to be dismissed for a duck in the history of Test cricket. This marked the 23rd occasion in his Test career that Rabada walked back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers. In doing so, he broke the previous record held by Morne Morkel, who was dismissed for a duck on 22 occasions during his career.
Mitchell Starc triggers the collapse
Sent in to bat first after losing the toss in this crucial and thrilling encounter of the series, the hosts actually enjoyed a very solid start. At one stage, South Africa displayed brilliant batsmanship and laid a strong foundation to post a massive total on the board, but the Australian bowling attack staged a remarkable comeback later in the day. The visitors managed to bowl out the entire South African side for 329 runs in 82.3 overs. Towards the backend of the innings, Mitchell Starc wreaked havoc with the ball and completely dismantled the lower order of the batting lineup. Starc delivered the final blow in the 83rd over by trapping Kagiso Rabada lbw for a duck on the third ball of the over, which brought an immediate end to South Africa's innings.
Bowling prowess contrasted by batting struggles
Even though Kagiso Rabada is widely recognized among the most dangerous bowlers in international cricket, his batting statistics in the longest format tell a difficult story. On the opening day of the match, the South African lower-order batters simply had no answer to the fiery spell from the Australian fast bowler, leading to the team getting bundled out for 329 runs. With the action of the first day now in the books, the match has turned into an intensely fascinating contest, and all eyes are firmly focused on how Australia will fare when they take the crease for their reply in the first innings.
Top-order batters score half-centuries
South Africa's first innings featured a total of four half-centuries from their batsmen, with three of those fifties coming from the top three players in the batting order. Among them, Marcus Ackermann emerged as the leading run-scorer for the side. Marcus Ackermann played a stellar knock by scoring 95 runs off 94 deliveries, laced with 12 boundaries and two sixes. Meanwhile, Markram contributed 78 runs, David Bedingham chipped in with 50, and Marco Jansen scored 52 runs. For Australia, Mitchell Starc was the standout performer with the ball, finishing the innings as the pick of the bowlers by claiming six wickets.
