Australia v South Africa 1st Test

A lead worth having

Ricky Ponting won the toss at the WACA Ground and chose to bat, on a pitch that in December 2008 still carried the pace and bounce the ground was known for. It did not go smoothly. Matthew Hayden was caught off Makhaya Ntini for 12 and Ricky Ponting fell first ball to the same bowler, and by the fifth over Australia were 15 for 3 after Michael Hussey was also caught off Dale Steyn without scoring. Simon Katich and Michael Clarke rebuilt through the middle session, adding 149 for the fourth wicket, Katich reaching 83 before he was leg before to Morne Morkel and Clarke going on to 62.

From 166 for 5, Andrew Symonds and Brad Haddin took the innings on with a sixth-wicket stand of 93, Symonds making 57 before he was caught off Paul Harris, the off-spinner who had troubled the middle order all day. Haddin carried on to 46, Brett Lee made 29, and Jason Krejza was unbeaten on 30 as Australia were bowled out for 375. Ntini finished with 4 for 72, and Harris, Steyn and Morkel shared the rest.

Johnson runs through South Africa

South Africa's reply fell apart against Mitchell Johnson. Neil McKenzie was caught for 2 with the total on 16, and once Hashim Amla, bowled for 47, and Graeme Smith, bowled for 48, had gone inside the space of two overs at 106 and 110, South Africa were three down with the lead still 265 away. Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers repaired the innings with a fourth-wicket partnership of 124, both making exactly 63, de Villiers the one whose dismissal ended it at 234. Kallis followed just three runs later, and from 234 for 4 the innings folded quickly: Jean-Paul Duminy was out for 1 on debut, Mark Boucher made 26 as the last man out, and the last six wickets went down for 47 runs.

Johnson took 8 for 61 from 24 overs, by some distance the best bowling figures of the match, and South Africa were all out for 281, ninety-four runs behind. Peter Siddle took the other wicket to fall, Boucher caught off him, and Jason Krejza's one wicket, Hashim Amla bowled by him, came at heavy cost, 1 for 102 from 25 overs.

Haddin drags Australia clear

Australia's second innings began no better than the first. Hayden was caught off Steyn for 4, and by the 27th over Michael Hussey was out too, bowled by Ntini, and Australia were 88 for 4 with Ponting and Katich both gone cheaply as well, Ponting caught off Paul Harris for 32. Michael Clarke made 25 before he was caught off Steyn, and when Andrew Symonds was out for 37 at 157, Australia were still only 251 ahead with four wickets left.

Brad Haddin then played the innings of the match. He put on 79 for the eighth wicket with Jason Krejza and 37 for the ninth with Mitchell Johnson, and carried his score to 94 before he was stumped off Paul Harris, the last man out as Australia reached 319. Harris took 3 for 85 and Kallis, with his medium pace, 3 for 24. The target South Africa needed to win the match and the Test was 414.

Smith and Amla set the platform

A bigger fourth-innings chase, 418, had been completed successfully in a Test only once before, by West Indies against Australia at Antigua in 2003, and South Africa's target of 414 was the second-highest successful fourth-innings chase in the format's history to that point. Neil McKenzie was caught off Mitchell Johnson for 10 with the total on 19, but from there Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla batted through to stumps and beyond, adding 153 for the second wicket. Smith reached his century, his 108 coming from 147 balls with 13 fours, before he was leg before to Johnson with South Africa on 172. Amla went on to 53 before he was caught off Brett Lee at 179.

Two wickets in the space of seven runs might have opened the door for Australia, but South Africa were still only 235 runs short with seven wickets in hand, and Jacques Kallis was already at the crease.

Kallis and de Villiers close in

Kallis and AB de Villiers added exactly the same partnership total South Africa's fourth wicket had produced in the first innings, 124, before Kallis was caught off Mitchell Johnson for 57 with the score on 303. It was Johnson's third wicket of the innings, and it left South Africa needing 111 more with six wickets standing, de Villiers not out and the game still, on paper, alive for Australia. Brett Lee and Peter Siddle kept probing, but no further wicket fell.

Duminy's debut finish

Jean-Paul Duminy, out for 1 in the first innings on his Test debut, joined de Villiers with South Africa 303 for 4 and steadied the chase with an unbroken 111. De Villiers reached his hundred and stayed unbeaten on 106 from 186 balls, and Duminy finished 50 not out as South Africa reached 414 for 4, sealing victory by six wickets. AB de Villiers was named player of the match. Mitchell Johnson, with 8 for 61 and 3 for 98 in the two innings, had done as much as any bowler to keep Australia in the game, but it was not enough to defend a total that, four days earlier, had looked like a competitive one.

What Perth started

Perth was the first Test of a three-match series, and the chase set the tone for what followed: South Africa went on to win in Melbourne as well and secure their first series win in Australia, a result that had eluded every previous touring South African side. Jean-Paul Duminy, whose Test career had begun with a single at the WACA, would finish the tour with a century at the SCG. The full scorecard for Perth, innings by innings, wicket by wicket, is on this page, and the two sides that played it can be found on the Australia and South Africa team pages. In The Follow-On you can set up the same run chase and see whether you can bat South Africa home.

Sources

• CricArcade Test archive: the full scorecard, fall of wickets and partnerships on this page
• ESPNcricinfo: South Africa in Australia 2008/09, 1st Test scorecard and report
• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2010: South Africa's tour of Australia