‘Best time to bat’: Great’s Cape Town warning with Aussies out to continue comeback – LIVE

Day two of the third and final Test between Australia and South Africa gets underway at 7.30pm AEDT, with the Aussies looking to build on Mitchell Starc’s incredible opening-day performance. Live updates below!

It was looking like a disastrous start for Australia after Pat Cummins sent South Africa in to bat, with the hosts racing to 0-158.

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But after looking in serious trouble early, the visitors will now begin their first innings chasing only 329.

While Nathan Lyon broke through for Australia in the 32nd over, it was Starc who turned the game on its head with a remarkable spell late on day one, with the Proteas losing their final nine wickets for just 126 runs as the left-armer claimed 6-72 from 16.3 overs.

MATCH CENTRE: Australia vs South Africa live scores

The Aussie quick claimed four wickets in just six balls during the incredible collapse, securing the 20th five-wicket haul of his Test career.

Concerningly for the hosts, Proteas great Herschelle Gibbs, who played his domestic cricket in Cape Town and made two Test centuries in Newlands, believes their collapse has given the Aussies’ use of the pitch with conditions at their best for batting.

“Day 2 and 3 at Newlands best time to bat,” Gibbs wrote on X.

“We gonna have to bowl well but they do have an unsettled batting lineup.”

Follow all the action from day two of the deciding Test between Australia and South Africa below. Can’t see the blog? (Click here)

The Aussies have returned to the opening partnership of Travis Head and Matt Renshaw, who previously opened together against Bangladesh.

Renshaw will be hoping to rediscover the form he showed in the first Test against South Africa, where he scored 190 in the first innings before backing it up with 82 in the second.

Meanwhile, Head will be looking to build on his impressive second-innings knock of 121 in the second Test.

Cameron Green, Josh Inglis and Cooper Connolly will also be eager to make an impact after returning to the Australian side for the deciding Test against South Africa.

TEAMS

Australia: Travis Head, Matt Renshaw, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey (wk), Cooper Connolly, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.

South Africa: Aiden Markram, Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Temba Bavuma (c), Matthew Breetzke, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada.