Australia’s batting deficiencies were exposed on day four in Gqeberha, with head coach Andrew McDonald conceding that his side had been made to look fragile after collapsing for 99 and being forced to follow on for only the third time since 1988.
Australia reached 100 for 1 in its second innings but closed the day on 156 for 4, still 170 runs short of requiring South Africa to bat again. Marnus Labuschagne was dismissed after lofting to mid-on, allowing South Africa to mount a late-afternoon surge. Travis Head remained unbeaten on 87, while McDonald confirmed that Steven Smith would be able to take part on the final day despite a neck problem that had caused him to slip down the order.
The match represented a remarkable turnaround for South Africa, which ended day two on 97 for 5 before compiling 425. Marco Jansen led the attack with five wickets for 33 runs, Kagiso Rabada made an impact on his return, and Simon Harmer played a key role in the second innings as South Africa coped with the loss of Anrich Nortje to injury.
“I think any time when anything unfolds at that speed, it takes a couple of players to communicate and navigate through that, and we weren’t able to get any partnerships,” McDonald said of Australia’s 99-all-out collapse. “We’ve had some of these moments across the journey, so we’re not a perfect batting unit, and I’ve never said that we are.
“The speed at which that happened and the momentum that South Africa were able to gain through that, we didn’t envisage coming here and looking at a follow-on, that’s for sure. We felt like we were good enough on that surface; it didn’t play too many tricks, either. There was a bit of bounce. You do have to give a little bit of credit to the South African attack as well, the way they exposed some of our deficiencies in that, so I don’t want to take anything away from that.
“But there was some batter error there, and I think we are better than that. But, as it sits right now, I can’t defend that.”
Australia won the first Test in Durban by 214 runs. Despite questions over its batting for several years, the team has not lost a Test series since its tour of India in 2023, and McDonald was quick to defend its long-term record. However, Australia’s frailties were evident in its defeat in the World Test Championship final against South Africa last year and its more recent loss to Bangladesh in Darwin.
“It’s only a week ago that we were a really, really good team,” McDonald said. “We’re sitting here right now, and we’re starting to defend a team that’s performed exceptionally well. You’ll be looking for a grab and talk about the negatives and what should happen and what should move. This team’s been a really consistent team over a long period of time, so I’m not going to sit here and hang anyone out to dry.
“It’s disappointing, but as I said, those players that sit in that room are still the same players that performed exceptionally well last week. I have great belief and trust that the skillsets in that room, in particular tomorrow, can go out there and potentially turn this one around.
“If that doesn’t unfold, then we move into Cape Town, we reload, and we go again. A great strength of this group is [its response to] significant setbacks, and I’d say this is a significant setback in terms of the way that we play. We’ve been able to respond.”
McDonald declined to discuss possible changes for the final Test while the match remained in progress. When asked separately about Cameron Green’s recovery from an abdominal strain, however, he indicated that the all-rounder would be available for selection. Green has not played since sustaining the injury in the final ODI in late September and is unlikely to be able to bowl, but he could return as a specialist batter.
Josh Inglis and Cooper Connolly are Australia’s other batting options from the original squad, while uncapped wicketkeeper Sam Harper remains on the tour after being called up when Inglis was ruled out of the opening Test with a fractured finger.
