Bowler’s 12 wickets give Australia 281-run victory over hosts in 1st Test
Australia crushed cricket’s top-ranked team on Saturday as unstoppable fast bowler Mitchell Johnson took 12 of 20 wickets to send South Africa to a humbling 281-run defeat at home in the first test. Already with 7-68 from the first innings, Johnson ripped out 5-59 in the second to bowl South Africa out for 200, way off the huge target of 482 at SuperSport Park. Johnson finished with match figures of 12-127 off 33 brutally hostile overs.
Bowling fast and often short, and too fast for the South Africans to handle, the left-arm Johnson sent back openers Alviro Petersen and Graeme Smith inside four overs. He had JP Duminy out just before tea. For good measure, Johnson struck Ryan Mclaren a crunching blow on the helmet with a bouncer, then blasted him out too as a ruthless Australia took the lead in the three-match contest.
The red-hot quick eventually finished with a second five-wicket haul of the match and his third career 10-for in tests. Fellow fast bowlers Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris had two each as Australia rattled through South Africa’s top order for the second time in the match and then bruised its lower order. Johnson’s destructive start to the series opener already had the Proteas all out for 206 in their first knock.
Sweeping aside South Africa’s No. 1 ranking, Australia and Johnson had the home team on the ropes throughout the opening match and sealed a commanding win to start the three-match series, where Australia is now far more than just a mere challenger to South Africa’s status as the top team in the world. Australia has been the best team by some way in this match.
Brief Scores
Australia: 397 (Shaun Marsh 148, Steve Smith 100; Dale Steyn 4-78) and 290-4 declared (David Warner 115, Alex Doolan 89; Steyn 2-61) beat South Africa: 206 (AB de Villiers 91; Mitchell Johnson 7-68) and 200 (AB de Villiers 48; Johnson 5-59) by 281 runs.