Mulder strikes twice to give Proteas upper hand on day 1 of first Test against Australia

Two wickets for Wiaan Mulder and one for Marco Jansen, saw South Africa take control of the morning session of the first Test at Kingsmead on Friday.

The tourists, who’d won the toss, reached 84/3 at lunch, with their decision to select Nic Maddinson to open alongside Travis Head, failing.

A wicket in the final over of the session for Mulder, who trapped Marnus Labuschagne lbw, changed the complexion of the morning. Labuschagne, under pressure for his spot, had batted well to make 37, sharing 60-run partnership with Steve Smith, before Mulder, slanted one back into him, hitting him on the front pad, with television replays showing the ball would have hit the top of off-stump.

Chopped on 👀💥 Marco Jansen makes a mess of Maddinson's stumps 🔥 📺 Stream #SAvAUS on DStv: https://t.co/rM90YyQxaw pic.twitter.com/eH6hkuuRbV

Maddinson had faced 32 balls without scoring, but then chopped the 33rd onto his off-stump against Jansen, registering the third longest duck by an opener in Test history.

Maddinson, 34, who’d not played a first class match at all last season, while he underwent chemotherapy for testicular cancer, was chosen ahead of Cooper Connolly, and instead of batting at no.5 was thrust up the order to accompany Head.

The left-hander was called into the squad after Cameron Green had suffered an injury in the last One-Day International. Maddinson’s selection was not a popular one among the horde of former Australian internationals, now fronting podcasts, or doing commentary.

“Where we are at is that we are promoting the greatest pile of mediocrity that we’ve seen in a generation of cricket,” the former opener Matthew Hayden, said on the All Over Bar The Cricket podcast this week.

First Dafabet Test, Day 1! 🏏 From arrivals at Hollywoodbets Kingsmead to a thrilling opening hour of play, it’s been nothing but quality cricket! 🇿🇦 Hurry to the stadium and catch the rest of the day’s action! 🎟️ Can’t make it? Worry not! Follow every moment live on… pic.twitter.com/5BwaqtcudD

Maddinson didn’t help his cause with an understandably nervous innings, where he left a lot of wide deliveries, swung wildly at others and defended reasonably well. He had a moment of good fortune against Mulder, who took the new ball alongside Jansen, when the Proteas chose not to refer to an lbw shout, which umpire Richard Kettleborough said was not out.

It was Mulder who made the initial breakthrough, getting Head caught down the leg-side, another appeal ignored by Kettleborough, but which the Proteas referred to the television official. The ‘Snickometer’ indicated the ball had found the edge of Head’s bat.

Madison fell a short while later, but then Smith and Labuschagne, who’s not made a hundred for three years, batted with more aggression, to give Australia’s innings some impetus.

Smith, 25 not out at the break, launched Keshav Maharaj, brought into the attack in the 17th over, for a pair of sixes, while Labuschagne took advantage against deliveries targeting his pads, to access the legside boundary.

Despite dismissing Maddinson, Jansen was poor, with lines and lengths not troubling the batters.