Stunning Renshaw reality after ‘fight’ with SA superstar; ‘no denying’ grim Marnus fate — Talking Pts

Australia is in the lead at stumps on day two after a superb batting day in Cape Town where four of the visitors’ top six struck half-centuries.

The one to miss out copped a lot of heat, however, with Marnus Labuschagne’s future being widely condemned regardless of what plays out in the next three days at Newlands.

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The runs scored on the second day showed that there have been questions the Australian hierarchy already knew the answers too and as they chase a big series victory here, the picture for the home summer is becoming clearer.

In the wake of Steve Smith’s withdrawal, an act by the team caught the eye, while the South Africans sought to bring a more hostile approach.

But it did not yield them enough wickets, as Australia are now in the box seat to push for a decisive series victory at the venue where the nation’s cricket side was plunged into chaos eight years ago.

‘WON’T BE ANY WAY BACK’ FROM LATEST MARNUS FAIL

When Marnus Labuschagne was walking to the crease at Newlands on Wednesday, it was hard not to consider how surreal the situation was.

It was a beautiful day at the world’s most picturesque ground, a venue that serves as a celebration of the wonderful game that cricket is played at the altar to Table Mountain.

Matthew Renshaw and Travis Head, until he chopped on again, had demonstrated this was a good day to bat when surviving and then thriving against the brilliant Proteas attack.

For an in-form batsman, this was a day to shine. But Labuschange looked like a condemned man, which is scarcely surprising given the long-lasting lament that brought him to now, with his spot in the Australian team effectively gone.

The sense of anticipation was apparent in the South Africans as he walked grim-faced to the crease. As former Protea Vernon Philander said, this is a team that hunts like a pack.

And Labuschagne was wounded. The Proteas knew it. It beggars belief that the Australians did not know it. There was no sense of purpose. Not a hint of belief whatsoever.

David Warner is no stranger to stirring up tension around the crease and he said on Kayo Sports the Proteas, who noted Labuschagne had been chatty in the field, were circling on the No.3 before he had even faced a ball.

The Queenslander lasted five balls against Simon Harmer and was out edging a nothing shot to a ball where his feet did not move. It was a tepid thrust from a broken batsman.

“It’d be second nature to come down the ground and knock that to mid-on. It’s a decent ball, but it shouldn’t get you out, not a No.3 at international level,” former Australian great Mark Waugh said on Kayo Sports.

“He should have been forward, should have pushed it down the ground. He was tentative and he’s not getting much luck by the same token at the moment. He’s given one chance and he’s gone.”

When Labuschagne gets out, a notable trait has been how slow his amble back to the pavilion is. He loves batting. But on Wednesday he could not get off quickly enough.

Anyone who watched him in the main nets session on Sunday noted he was struggling. Always so enthusiastic, Labuschagne laboured in his movement. His usual eagerness to get into the nets was lacking. And when he went in far later than usual he kept edging his mates.

On Monday he was given a circuit-breaker. Put the bat away. Go relax. Pick up a golf club.

But an observer who knows him well sensed on Tuesday it had not worked. He looked stressed in the team hotel and especially tense when he walked to the nets to bat as well.

According to Simon Katich, who has been commentating on the series being broadcast back to Australia on Fox Sports, the blame for the predicament should be shared.

The former Test opener has been saying throughout the series Labuschagne, who now holds the record for the most innings by a top-order batter without a century, needed a break. That he should have been sent back to the Sheffield Shield before this series.

There was an issue, of course, arriving at Newlands, for Beau Webster and Nic Maddinson were also out of form. Labuschagne would have played even before the Steve Smith saga.

But it was apparent on Sunday that he was struggling and this has furthered the anguish.

“That’s nerves and that’s the pressure the Australian selectors have put him under for an extended period of time. They deserve to be in the same situation as him here,” Katich said on SEN.

‘“They put him in this position by not making the decision to give him a breather. I feel for him. I’ve been through it and it is not pleasant.”

There is no certainty Labuschagne has another innings in this Test to come given how well his teammates batted on Day 2. For a man of faith, there is always hope. But as Katich had noted a day earlier, you cannot get by in Test cricket on hope alone.

And unless something miraculous happens, former Australian spinner Kerry O’Keeffe is worried about whether there will be a path back to Test cricket for a player once ranked the world’s best Test batsman.

“I think the thing is, if he doesn’t get runs in the second innings, then the regeneration of this team will start with Marnus, and there won’t be any way back because they should give those that come in an extended chance to secure themselves,” he said.

“Marnus has served grandly. There’s no denying he’s been a great servant of this Test team, but his average is now in free fall and he’s not playing like the number three should.”

At stumps, it was said Labuschagne was in reasonable spirits and his teammate Matthew Renshaw rallied around him afterwards.

“Obviously Marn is a great mate of mine (and) obviously as batters, we can get out at any point,” he said.

“Unfortunately, today was a short one for him. But the way that he’s been moving around, what I’ve seen the first two tests, he’s been moving probably as well as I’ve seen him bat.

“Unfortunately, sometimes we need a bit of luck, and that’s cricket. But the way that he’s he’s going, I think that it’s it’s very close. It’s just letting it happen.”

AUSSIE ACT IN WAKE OF RIFT REPORTS

Prior to play at Newlands on Wednesday morning, the Australian team gathered in the nets at Newlands and circled on each other before engaging in a team embrace.

There was a risk in doing that if they were prone to believing in superstitions, for the last time they were spotted doing this was in Gqeberha last week when they were all out for 99.

The backdrops were reports about cliques in the dressing room and a supposed rift between the bowlers and the batters. Colour the foxsports.com.au team shocked!

The absence of Steve Smith from the Newlands Test has inflamed chatter about a potential divide in the Australian locker room, but this is not necessarily a new phenomenon in cricket.

Several of Kayo Sport’s expert analysts were famously part of an outstanding Australian cricket team where the squad was split into two camps - the “julios” and the “nerds”.

The last time the Aussies were at Newlands was an infamous one that led to Smith losing his captaincy, while he, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were all issued extended bans.

But as former Australian captain Tim Paine noted in his autobiography The Price Paid, there was a split in the dressing room then, though it was not in any way considered a big deal.

“Cricketers keep to themselves a lot, even in the happiest teams,” Paine wrote.

“There’s coaches and players, batters and bowlers, cliques and mates. Coffee clubs, bowling cartels, walking groups, bonds formed in junior or state cricket, bonds formed on the road with the national team.

“(There are) conversations in corners, thoughts kept private, things and things not shared.”

It is no different in the current outfit. When quizzed about Smith on Sunday, captain Pat Cummins said he had been contributing and catching up with his “coffee club” and so on.

What is indisputable is that the bowlers have been gritting their teeth about the collective form of the batting group, with Travis Head, Matt Renshaw, Smith and Cameron Green more recently those who have performed, though rarely as a collective unit in a Test match.

There were pointed references during the Bangladesh series and in South Africa about the importance of building partnerships, of putting a price on wickets, of engaging in “the grind”.

That is understandable. If it has caused any tension among those holding the bat, perhaps they would do well to look in the mirror more regularly to conjure days like Wednesday, where everyone bar Labuschagne batted well.

What is also indisputable is that the late withdrawal of Smith on the morning of the Test surprised some of the Australians, with star bowler Mitchell Starc among them, as he noted in a press conference after his stunning finale with the ball on Tuesday night in Cape Town.

Whether it makes a difference on the end result is arguable, for it is a team that keeps winning.

But that gathering on Wednesday morning was all about being prepared to dig in and fight through the tough periods, Renshaw said, which they managed to do while their superstar No.4 was on the sidelines.

“We knew that they were going to come hard through periods and it was just about building partnerships,” he said.

“We’ve sort of hinted at some partnerships over the first two Tests, probably more so with the bowlers. So it was just about the batters trying to build some partnerships out there and fortunately today we had a couple of good ones.”

AUSSIES LEARN WHAT WE ALL KNEW

Coming into this series, everyone believed that Renshaw was going to be Australia’s solution to its opening conundrum.

Then the dogged left-hander was moved to No.5 in the absence of Cameron Green and after Pat Cummins had a hunch from watching his stellar play of spin bowling in the preceding ODIs.

Renshaw justified the move with an epic 190 and 82 in Durban, but on day two in Cape Town, he showed why he was initially recalled to partner Travis Head at the top of the order.

Renshaw replaced Jake Weatherald against Bangladesh not only because of his excellent form in white-ball cricket but because he also compiled three centuries in ten Sheffield Shield innings last summer.

The Queenslander averaged just shy of 50 opening the batting and after showing a promise as a spirited, but green, Test opener as a youngster almost a decade ago, it appeared his time had finally come.

His 74 at Newlands showed that it truly has with his time in the middle order a brief, but successful, experiment.

Renshaw would have been bitterly disappointed to have fallen to a Marco Jansen short ball on the cusp of tea and to have not kicked on to a third Test century.

But the 30-year-old showed all the outstanding traits from his Durban masterclass against the new ball.

He left well, punched down the ground when the South African quicks over pitched and flicked off his pads when they got to straight.

“I think as long as I keep trusting what I’m trying to do, seeing that opening is a challenge that I’m looking forward to,” he said.

“I’ve done it my whole career, so it’s not like I’ve never opened the batting. I came here thinking that I was going to open the batting for three Tests and fortunately I had a little bit of a sleep-in at five and now coming back to opening, it was just trying to be really positive and trusting that the stuff I did in the first two Tests could relate to opening the batting.”

It was a simple style that showed why former teammate Usman Khawaja decreed on Kayo Sports last week that Renshaw is a ready-made Test opener.

The absence of Steve Smith also allowed Cameron Green to relish the chance to bat at No.4, the position where he has churned out runs for several years for Western Australia and where the national selectors have been eager to deploy him.

Green has long been viewed as Smith’s heir apparent at second drop, but his time may come sooner than expected.

He was thrust into the No.4 position in early 2024 and smacked a memorable century against New Zealand in Wellington as Smith opened the batting.

Khawaja revealed that “Smudge loves batting three” and with Marnus Labuschagne’s struggles, a promotion could come against the Kiwis in Perth on December 9, with Cricket Australia saying Smith should be fit for the series.

Green is in fine form. His 65 in the first innings of this Test followed scores of 67 and 104 in his two previous Test innings against Bangladesh.

Those Top End knocks came from No.5, but Green showed the temperament that as Australia navigates a marathon ten months ahead of Test cricket, that he is ready to step up.

He withstood several short ball barrages and picked his moments to counter attack on day two - most notably when hooking Kagiso Rabada for back-to-back sixes over square leg.

Like Renshaw, he would have been disappointed not to kick on, but the blue print was drawn.

Australia’s selectors may now be compelled to look towards a top four of Head, Renshaw, Smith and Green to start the home summer, with Josh Inglis slotting into the middle order alongside Alex Carey following their half-centuries.

Importantly, Inglis was effective against the spin of Simon Harmer, who has bowled extremely well this series, with a view to the tour of India on the horizon.

He had previously scored a century on debut against Sri Lanka on a spinning deck in Galle last year.

“I think he’s got a lot of different options,” Renshaw said.

“He’s obviously got both sweeps. He can hit down the ground. He can hit over mid wicket. He is a very good player of spin. So I think that that’s the positive, and it doesn’t really give them anywhere to to bowl. (He is a) very good player of spin.”

‘WHITE LINE FEVER’ PROTEAS ‘PICK FIGHT’

In an interview with The Grade Cricketer in the days lead up to this Test, Simon Harmer shared his belief that the long-standing tensions between the two nations could “come to a head” in Cape Town.

His comments came after Harmer shed light on the war of words that erupted in Gqeberha.

As the South African spinner compiled a career-best 82 and his skipper Temba Bavuma piled on a career-best 179, Harmer said Australian captain Pat Cummins shared his belief that the hosts were batting on too long on day three.

Cummins’ words backfired, but they gave context to the obvious verbal barrage that took place as Australia were made to follow-on and were lost 19 wickets on days four and five to lose the Test match.

Marco Jansen was the ring leader for South Africa, giving Beau Webster a send-off, and he seemed to have brought more of his teammates along with him at Newlands.

Former South African captain Faf du Plessis once compared the Australians to “a pack of dogs” in the field, but it was the hosts who were howling and snarling at times on day two.

They were wicketless in the first hour, but South Africa bided their time until Marnus Labuschagne came to the crease.

As Matt Renshaw and Travis Head put together Australia’s first 50-run opening stand against the Proteas since the infamous sandpaper Test at the same venue eight years ago, an unknown South African player could be heard in the stump mic declaring that his team were waiting for the main event.

“Get that annoying No.3 in here,” he bellowed.

Once they did get Labuschagne into the middle after Head’s chop-on, the South Africans raised their intensity to a whole new level.

They hunted the under-fire Queenslander and were rewarded with a timid prod off the back foot to edge Harmer to slip for a fifth ball duck.

Harmer then led a massive celebration that was topped off by Matthew Breetzke leaping across the pitch, while staring at a stunned Labuschagne and fist bumping.

Former Australian fast bowler Brendon Julian described Breetzke on Kayo Sports as “the impala there, running across the pitch”.

While former Australian opener David Warner said that was celebration was payback for Labuschagne’s “chitter chatter from yesterday”.

The South Africans were cockahoop again after lunch when Harmer claimed that he caught Cameron Green at second slip.

Green stood his ground, however, and was vindicated as replayed showed the ball bounce into Harmer’s hands despite his big celebration.

The host’s frustrations led to a more sustained short ball tactic to Renshaw and Green. The duo put on 126, but wore several deliveries on the body and the gloves, until Jansen landed a double blow on the cusp of tea.

The Queenslander feathered a short ball through to wicketkeeper Ryan Rickelton and was given his marching orders on review.

It was the ICC No.1 ranked Test bowler and Test all-rounder’s 100th Test wicket - coming at just 20.88 - and it was also sweet payback.

Former South African pace bowler Vernon Philander said on commentary that Jansen told him Renshaw “gave him a bit of lip” when he came out to bat yesterday and would have enjoyed that wicket even more as a result.

“Whether it is bat or ball, he is picking a fight every time, and he has certainly picked the right time for a fight here,” Philander said.

“Away from the game he is probably one of the most chilled guys, but within the game, he has got a little bit of that white line fever.”

Renshaw, who was the first to go, said later he loved the challenge that comes with tackling the South Africans and said it had been pretty feisty.

“Obviously, I’ve not played Test cricket for a long time, so I’m a bit of out of the feel of the teams. But when you’ve got Jansen bowling and then Rabata comes on and then Harmer is bowling, you’ve got all of them coming in pretty hard at you,” he said.

“There’s pretty big contests, and then even with the ball, when you get a few wickets, and you’re like, ‘Okay, Jansen is coming in at seven, so ... they’re a very good team.’

“We’re in their backyard. It’s obviously pretty tough. We we had the luck of it in the first Test and they had a really strong performance in that second. It’s my first probably dip into Test cricket again (but) it’s been a pretty feisty.”

BIG TASK STILL AHEAD OF AUSSIE BATTERS

Australia needs to ram home the advantage on Thursday morning in Cape Town because what has been a superb batting pitch so far will start to deteriorate according to former Proteas seamer Vernon Philander.

With every Australian batsman aside from the out-of-form Marnus Labuschagne in the runs on Wednesday, the tourists are in a position to build a significant first innings lead.

But Philander, who famously ripped through the Aussies when they were all out for 47 when in a match-winning position at Newlands back in 2011, expects the pitch to worsen.

“This is the beauty of Test match cricket. We are so quick to expect results,” Philander said on SEN.

“But this is a really good batting surface still. I don’t think we have seen any batting demons. We have not seen any lateral movement, nor have we seen a lot of turn.

“You have to commend (the Australians) for the application they have shown. They have done an excellent job.

“But can they drive home the advantage? I do feel first innings runs will be important. I do get the feeling days four and five will be a batter’s nightmare.”

Former Australian opener Simon Katich concurs, saying that if the wicket holds and the tourists are able to bat for a decent period tomorrow, they would be in a commanding position.

“They have to hope this wicket holds. It is still playing very well. And it expect it to hold,” Katich said.

“Australia wants to bat tomorrow and well into tomorrow.”