JOHANNESBURG : South Africa scored rapidly but lost four wickets before
tea against a depleted Australian bowling attack on the first day of the
second and final Test at the Wanderers Stadium on Thursday.South
Africa were 213 for four at tea, failing to take full advantage of
ideal batting conditions as they sought to bat Australia out of any
chance of levelling the series.Jacques Kallis struck an
impressive 54 off 41 balls before he was out tamely, chipping Peter
Siddle to mid-wicket, while AB de Villiers was unbeaten on 51 at the
interval.Kallis' dismissal ended a second-wicket partnership of
80 with Hashim Amla that enabled South Africa to recover from 43 for two
after losing both their openers.Amla became Pat Cummins' first Test victim when he edged a loose drive to second slip soon afterwards.At
129 for four, South Africa had squandered the advantage of winning the
toss but De Villiers and Ashwell Prince (34 not out) put on an unbeaten
84 for the fifth wicket.Australia suffered a blow when
all-rounder Shane Watson was unable to complete his fourth over and had
to leave the field with a hamstring injury before lunch. He did not
reappear before tea.The visitors were already without Ryan Harris because of a back injury.Before the setback, Watson had taken the wicket of Jacques Rudolph, caught behind for 30.The first breakthrough was made by Mitchell Johnson, who had Graeme Smith caught at second slip for 11.Teenage
debutant Cummins generated impressive pace and deserved to take the
wicket of Amla, although he showed signs of flagging when he came on for
his third spell shortly before tea.At 18 years and 193 days
old, Cummins became the second youngest Australian Test player after Ian
Craig, who was 17 years 239 days when he made his debut, also against
South Africa, at Melbourne in 1952-53.Kallis joined Brian Lara
of the West Indies as the fourth highest run scorer in Tests when he hit
the first ball he faced from Watson through the covers for four to take
his total of runs to 11,953. He took sole possession of fourth place
when he scored a single in Watson's next over.Kallis reached a
37-ball fifty with a flick for six off Siddle and a four in the next
over took him past 12,000 runs in Tests, only for him to be out to the
next ball.
