Batting below par – Warner

– Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj played a crucial role for the Proteas from as early as the 11th over on the opening day of the first Test against Australia at Kingsmead yesterday, delivering 24 of the 76 overs bowled as Australia were restricted to 225/5 after winning the toss.

Maharaj led the way in South Africa’s successful efforts to ensure the Australian batsmen could never get away from them in terms of run-rate, finishing the day with 2/69, backed by Vernon Philander’s equally impressive 2/36 in 17 overs.

It was Maharaj who claimed the key wicket of Australian captain Steven Smith for 56, bottom-edging a cut which rebounded from wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock’s leg and ballooned to slip. The dismissal of the world’s No 1 ranked Test batsman epitomised the struggles the visitors had in trying to escape from the clutches of the persistent Proteas attack – Smith had breezed to 46 off just 60 deliveries, but just 10 runs came from the next 54 balls he faced before his dismissal.

“Kingsmead is always a pitch where you don’t have to go out and try things. If you can control the run-rate, stop the batsmen from scoring, then something usually happens,” Maharaj said rather modestly of his efforts in his first Test at his home ground.

Smith has been churning out the runs for Australia for the last four years since his previous Test tour to South Africa, but there was also a half-century for David Warner (below) and useful contributions of 40 from Shaun Marsh and 32 not out from his brother Mitchell.

While Warner confirmed that there were no easy runs out there, he felt Australia’s batting effort had been below par.

“We’re probably down two too many and we probably didn’t assess well enough for reverse-swing from about 24 overs. The stats suggest 280-290 is about par for the first innings here, but the pitch normally does something here. So anything above 300 would be great,” Warner said.