Martyn buries Proteas

Damien Martyn scored his fourth Test hundred and Stuart MacGill and Glenn McGrath claimed two wickets each as South Africa were put to the sword on the second day of the third Test.

Martyn crafted 117 with strong support from the lower order as Australia amassed a first innings score of 554, before leg-spinner MacGill provided an indication of what awaits South Africa with the wickets of Kallis and Gibbs on his Test return. At 93/4, South Africa are in dire need of some rarely seen resolve, but with nothing to play for are primed to be spun to a third defeat.

To stay in the game, South Africa had to carry over their momentum of the previous evening and continue taking wickets, with the best chance of doing that in the first half hour while the ball remained relatively new. Martyn and Gilchrist recognised that and batted accordingly, both beaten early by Donald and Pollock respectively, but ensuring they saw off the dangerous initial overs safely, with the exception off a top-edged Martyn pull off Pollock falling fortuitously over Dippenaar at mid wicket.

With that done, the platform was once again set to score freely. Gilchrist was naturally the more aggressive of the two, going for his shots, while Martyn circumspectly assumed the anchor role. With a fast outfield, that approach was still enough to see Australia add 45 runs in the hour.

South Africa got a badly needed wicket when Kallis struck first over after drinks, removing Gilchrist for 34 with the score at 356. Playing a slashing front-foot cut to a ball wide of off, Gilchrist edged to Boucher seeking to thump another boundary.

One would have thought that dismissal might have slowed the scoring, but after a brief lull while Warne played himself in, it was instead accelerated as a downtrodden South Africa lost all control. With the spinners operating, Warne cut loose, sweeping Boje to the mid wicket fence, lofting him back over his head and later advancing down the pitch to smash a huge six over long.

As Australia approached the 400 mark, it appeared they felt their position had been solidified, and were happy to blast bonus runs in half an hour of carnage before lunch. Even Martyn, in his cultured way, got into the act, sweeping and then cutting Henderson to the boundary in the space of three balls.

Needless to say, Pollock swiftly brought himself and Donald back on, but the damage had been done. After a swashbuckling 37, Warne was bowled by Pollock on the verge of lunch, trying to pull a ball too full for the shot and dragging it back onto his stumps. Australia had swelled their score to 439/7, having added 131 for the session to give them complete authority, in the process ensuring South Africa would have to fight for survival later in the match on a turning, cracking pitch.

In the course of the first session, the Australians were shown to have a large chart on their dressing room wall, strategically placed so the TV cameras could see it, which was divided into days and sessions of the match. In the boxes for sessions one and two of day one they had placed ticks, while the third session had been marked with a cross. As the match wears on, they evidently plan to have the chart filled with more ticks than crosses, which they want the cameras, and hence the South Africans, to see.

Psychological warfare? What psychological warfare? In the first session of day two, they earned another tick for the chart.

Henderson and Pollock resumed, with the former bowling over the wicket into the rough and extracting some turn. Martyn initially played safely, as with a century for the taking and the South African bowling at Australia's mercy, the batsmen decided to fully cash in. After the fireworks prior to lunch, Australia were now intent on building a bigger total.

Restricted by Henderson bowling accurately outside leg and with many sweep shots only finding the short fine leg fielder, Martyn impatiently showed signs of wanting to be inventive, without quite knowing what to do, until he decided to employ the reverse sweep shot. It worked, and with Henderson operating at one end and Pollock and then Donald at the other, Martyn and Lee collected runs with increasing comfort.

Despite Henderson's defensive role, Australia still scored at better than a run a minute, with Lee showing off his good eye by driving Donald through cover and then scything him over mid off to raise the 500. After an hour of that, Boje replaced Donald to perform the same role as Henderson, striking immediately from over the wicket by bowling Lee through his legs for 29.

In a Warne-like dismissal, Lee went back to play to leg and the ball somehow squeezed through him, barely flicking the leg bail and enticing it to fall. Australia were 502/8, leaving MacGill to support Martyn's endeavour to reach a hundred.

He can't have inspired much confidence, for Martyn began improvising again, using his well-honed reverse sweep to strike Henderson for four and move into the nineties. Martyn's hundred came from 156 balls with 11 fours, and once he achieved it, MacGill began to swing at everything. He was out for 20, caught in the deep off Boje swinging for the fence again, but only after South Africa had been gleefully pummelled.

Martyn also gave the score one final push, lofting over mid off and reverse sweeping another four, before orthodoxly sweeping Boje powerfully to square leg to be caught by McKenzie for 117, ending the innings at a massive 554 and prompting an early tea break. Out of ideas, the South African bowling had been put to the sword, though Pollock and Boje could hold their heads high.

Unlike in Melbourne, openers Kirsten and Gibbs began the last session sensibly, accumulating rather than seeking to blaze. McGrath started around the wicket to Kirsten and bowled close to the off stump of Gibbs, occasionally producing pronounced seam movement back into the right-hander. With Lee also on target, Australia started auspiciously, though Kirsten and Gibbs were equal to it, with Gibbs in particular adopting a much sounder, safer approach than previously.

The most interesting part of the last session was always going to be when the spinners came on, with MacGill entering the attack first in place of McGrath at 25/0. He landed his leggies on a good length from his first over, yet it was McGrath who struck for the first wicket coming back on for Lee, dismissing Kirsten for 18. From around the wicket, McGrath squared Kirsten up with a ball that possibly bounced more than expected, taking a high edge for Ponting to hold above his head at third slip. South Africa were 37/1.

Six more runs were added before McGrath claimed his second wicket, bowling Dippenaar for three. The luckless Dippenaar has had a miserable series but he could have no complaints here, bowled by one that jagged back off the seam to flick the pad on the way into his stumps.

Although only a second-day wicket, the situation could hardly have been any better poised for MacGill, bowling on his home ground against a vulnerable team under pressure. After being taken for two fours in his previous over by Gibbs, MacGill snared the valuable wicket of Kallis for 4 with a superb leg-break. It pitched just outside leg and bounced as it turned across Kallis, clipping the shoulder of the bat on the way through to Gilchrist, who held well.

Though there were the occasional full tosses or long hops that one would expect, MacGill bowled an excellent spell, finally joined in tandem by Warne at 68/3 after McGrath was relieved. With Warne, who was taken for two fours by Gibbs in his first over, at the other end, MacGill struck again by having Gibbs caught at slip for 32. Tossing one up on off stump, MacGill enticed Gibbs to drive and the spin took the edge to slip, leaving South Africa in a deep hole at 77/4.

That brought debutant Justin Ontong to the crease, the involuntary figure of selection controversy, and was put through something akin to the cricketing equivalent of torture. With Warne bowling quicker and flatter to McKenzie, pinning him to one end, Ontong had to face up to MacGill, who had dismissed him for a pair in the tour match at the same ground. Ontong pushed hard at the ball and looked eminently susceptible to an edge, surrounded by three slips, a silly point and a short leg, and was given a harrowing time.

After spending 22 deliveries on nought, Ontong scored his first run by turning Warne to leg for a single, and with McKenzie saw South Africa to stumps on 93/4. The examination by spin is set to continue.

Scorecard: Australian 1st innings | South Africa 1st innings
Images: Day 1
Match report: Day 1