Tea Australia 2 for 109 (Khawaja 58*, Smith 23*) trail South Africa 9 for 259 dec by 150 runs
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Usman Khawaja brought up another half-century © Getty Images
Kyle Abbott made two breakthroughs early on the second day in Adelaide before Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith steadied Australia’s innings with a half-century partnership. At the tea break, Australia had moved from their overnight score of 0 for 14 along to 2 for 109, with Khawaja on 58 and Smith on 23, and they still trailed South Africa by 150 runs.
As was the case in South Africa’s innings, the early wickets came from edges snapped up behind the wicket. Debutant Matt Renshaw added only two runs to his overnight score before he edged Abbott and was caught low to the ground by Dean Elgar at third slip; the third umpire was called on to determine whether the ball might have touched the ground but adjudged that Elgar had taken the catch cleanly.
That wicket brought David Warner to the crease in the unfamiliar position of first drop; it was just the third time in his 105 Test innings that Warner had not opened the batting. In Chennai in 2013, gastro prevented him from opening in the second innings and in Manchester later that year, he batted at No.6 in his first game back from a disciplinary lay-off. Here, he could not open due to spending time off the field on day one.
Warner managed only 11 before he too edged Abbott and was also caught by Elgar at third slip, a catch that was far more straightforward and taken at a comfortable height. That left Australia in some bother at 2 for 37, but Smith and Khawaja worked patiently through and by tea had a partnership worth 72 runs. It was Australia’s ninth stand of 50 or more in this series, and Khawaja has been part of six of those.
Khawaja scored heavily through the leg side and one of his seven boundaries through that side brought up his half-century from his 115th delivery. It meant that, leaving aside the SCG wash-out in January when he did not bat at all, Khawaja has now scored at least a half-century in his past six Tests in Australia.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo