Australia bowled out for 99 and forced to follow on in Gqeberha
Australia were dismissed for 99 on day four of the second Test against South Africa in Gqeberha, and they now have to bat again straight away. That is the follow-on, a rule that sends a side back in immediately when it trails by a large margin after its first innings. BBC Sport reports that South Africa's lead was 326 runs.
The gap was built on a big South African innings. They batted until declaring on 425-9, which means the captain ended the innings while wickets were still standing. Temba Bavuma made 179 and Marco Jansen added 85.
Things looked far less certain for the hosts earlier in their innings. The ICC reported that South Africa were 97-5 before Bavuma's career-best knock sparked a recovery. That partnership turned a shaky middle order into a total that put Australia under real pressure.
Australia's first-innings deficit of 326 runs is their biggest conceded since a Test against West Indies in November 1984, according to BBC Sport. They had last been forced to follow on at Sydney in 2019, and before that at Trent Bridge in 2005.
The second innings went no better for the visitors. Jansen took 5-33, a five-wicket haul for the bowler. Steve Smith was the top scorer with 28, and no other Australian batter passed 14.
This is Australia's first Test tour of South Africa since the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, which Reuters noted when the series was about to begin in Durban. The three-match series is now level in the sense that each side has won neither match, but the Gqeberha Test is the one that has put Australia on the back foot. Their task now is to bat again from a deficit of 326 and keep the match alive.
For casual fans, the numbers tell the story. A side that scores 99 in its first innings and then has to bat again is working against the clock and the scoreboard at the same time. A five-wicket haul from one bowler can change the course of a whole innings, and here it did.
