Rain Disrupts Second Test as South Africa Struggles with Batting Collapse
South Africa loses five wickets in rain-affected second Test, with only 43 overs played in two days at St. Georges Park.
Gqeberha, October 19 (Daily Kiran) : South Africa faced a challenging second day in the rain-affected second Test against Australia, losing five wickets by the end of play. Only 43 overs were bowled across the first two days at St. George’s Park in Gqeberha.
After losing the toss and being put to bat, South Africa managed just 12.2 overs on the first day, scoring a mere 20 runs before losing two wickets. Rain delayed the start of play on the second day, and Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood was absent due to health issues, having conceded only three runs in five overs on the first day.
Captain Temba Bavuma, alongside Marques Ackermann, added 13 runs for the third wicket, bringing the team total to 25 before Ackermann fell for 6 runs. Bavuma then partnered with Matthew Breetzke to score 15 runs for the fourth wicket, lifting the score to 40, with Breetzke contributing just 4 runs.
Bavuma later formed a fifth-wicket partnership with Ryan Rickelton, accumulating 52 runs off 109 balls to push the score to 92. Rickelton scored 31 runs off 51 balls, hitting five boundaries before being dismissed. By the end of the day, Bavuma had made 41 runs off 108 balls, which included one six and five fours, while Vian Mulder added 2 runs to the total.
For Australia, Scott Boland took four wickets for 31 runs in 14 overs, and Mitchell Starc claimed one wicket. After winning the ODI series 2-1, South Africa had previously suffered a 214-run defeat in the first Test of the series held in Durban. The third and final Test is scheduled to begin on October 27 in Cape Town.
